DNF Audiobook Review – The Vanishing Station by Ana Ellickson (2/5 stars)
Reading Level:Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Release Date: April 30, 2024
ASIN: B0CG5LGFMY
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 2/5 stars
“Eighteen-year-old Filipino American Ruby Santos has been unmoored since her mother’s death. She can’t apply to art school like she’s always dreamed, and she and her father have had to move into the basement of their home and rent out the top floor while they work to pay back her mother’s hospital bills.
Then Ruby finds out her father has been living a secret life as a delivery person for a magical underworld—he “jumps” train lines to help deliver packages for a powerful family. Recently, he’s fallen behind on deliveries (and deeper into alcoholism), and if his debts aren’t satisfied, they’re going to take her mother’s house. In an effort to protect her father and save all that remains of her mother, Ruby volunteers to take over her dad’s station and start jumping train lines.
But this is no ordinary job. Ruby soon realizes that the trains are much more than doors to romance and adventure: they’re also doors to trafficking illicit goods and fierce rivalries. As she becomes more entangled with the magical underworld and the mysterious boy who’s helped her to learn magic, she realizes too late that she may be in over her head. Can she free her father and save her mother’s house? Or has she only managed to get herself pulled into the dangerous web her father was trapped in?”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a review copy of this on audiobook from NetGalley.
Thoughts: I ended up getting to about 45% of the way through this on audiobook and then setting this aside. I just didn’t like this book and found it incredibly boring. It has a lot of typical YA elements…for example, a family of swoon-worthy emotionally damaged brothers, one of which our protagonist (Ruby) both dislikes and yearns for.
The story follows Ruby Santos, a young woman who is struggling to make ends meet as a painter. Her dad is an alcoholic and is constantly making poor decisions that she has to clean up after. One day she follows him to his work, only to find out that he is involved in something dark and magical and beyond her comprehension.
I liked the idea around portal hopping and trains, but so little happens in the first half of the book that it was disappointing.
I also strongly disliked the relationship Ruby has with her father. Unfortunately, this relationship is a big part of the story. Her father is a drunk and beyond being neglectful, he constantly puts his daughter into dangerous situations and then gets mad at her for it. This is not okay. Ruby and her father (and everyone else in the story) make excuses about how he is really a good man and he is always trying. I had no patience for this and it put a sour taste in my mouth. Ruby should not be subjected to this abuse from her father, and it definitely shouldn’t be supported by everyone around her.
Ruby also has a strange obsession with her mother’s house. She is willing to sacrifice both her own and her father’s well-being for a house. She is given options to escape from having to work for this mob-like magical underworld but she refuses to take them because of a house. I thought her obsession with this house was weird. She would rather die than loose her mother’s house. I get it, the house reminds her of her dead mom, but it is just a material item. You should be able to let go of material things if your life and safety depend on doing that.
The slow pace and the strong dislike I have for these characters made me decide to stop reading this and move on to something else. I do find the concept intriguing. However, that wasn’t enough for me to get past the constant gooey yearning for a boy the protagonist dislikes, her constant excuses for her abusive father, or her weird house obsession.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was decently done. I had no issues with the narration.
My Summary (2/5): Overall this book was not for me. I liked the idea of a family representing magical portal trains. However, the way the main character makes constant excuses for her abusive father, constantly puts herself in danger, and can’t get over a house really bothered me. Those things coupled with the sluggish pace made this nearly unbearable to listen to. When I get to the point that I want to throw things at the screen in my car while I listen to the audiobook in the car…that means it is time to move on to something else. I was really that frustrated with this book. So for the safety of my car and those driving around me, I had to stop.
