Welcome to Elysian Fields. A ship full of frozen people. And something else. You cannot run. But can you hide?

This was one of my most OMG need to have for 2025 books, and I was so happy when I could read it in December. But did it deliver? Nah. It didn’t.

Let’s start with what worked. What worked was that I love how isolated everything was. There is something in the walls. Clicking. Clanking. Is it the caretaker working tirelessly on the ship? Is it something else? I loved that uncertainty added with that the MC at times saw things in the shadows. In the exhibitions that were dotted around the ship. She saw things on the camera. But our girl was also heavily sleep deprived. She has to be up and around every 3 hours to press a button. Sleep is not happening much. As the story continues though and things get more hairy and she finds even more things on the floor we, the reader, get a feeling that something is truly up. But what can our MC do. She is not just in a building on Earth or a planet. She is on a ship. In the middle of nowhere. There are no escape pods.

There are the frozen people who strangely don’t seem to always match with the ones who are supposed to be in there. Too young. Too old. Too new.

And there is a dash of romance between our MC and an AI/hologram. Which I enjoyed. It didn’t fit, at all, but it was kinda cute. Especially when we learn more about that hologram.

But yeah, at times it just lost it scariness. And I think for me it all fell apart when we found out about what was lurking. I am sorry, it was not scary. Well, maybe a bit, but mostly in how destructive it was. As soon as we learn what it is and how it came to be, I am sorry I was just giggling. I just couldn’t take it serious. It definitely sounds like something that type of person would do.

And I frankly didn’t give a bit about the MC and her backstory, in fact it took just way too much away from the spooky stuff. I am just not a politics girlie and I had expected something a bit more interesting. I found myself tuning out and having to drag my ADHD back to senses at times when we got more into it.

Then there is the ending which just felt all too simple and easy. And too chaotic. Plus, maybe a bit silly. I don’t want to spoil too much. But it just didn’t work for me there.

I also was confused that while she was talking in her head she was using her fake name. Like girl, why even there? Maybe so she wouldn’t slip up? But it was just odd to me.

All in all, I still had fun reading, but I just wanted it to be scarier. Higher stakes. Less silly monsters in the dark. Less billionaires being billionaires.