Cold Eternity is another space horror novel and after reading the previous two books this author has written, I really wasn't sure what to expect as I had mixed feelings about both those books. And yet again, the same thing has happened with this one as I enjoyed the setting a lot, liked the creepy feeling that was being set up, then felt the let down at the conclusion of the book. Personally, it just didn't quite deliver the goods.

I didn't mind the main character, Halley, who is on the run for something in her political past. We learn quite early that Halley is not her real name and that quite a few people are after her; either they want her dead or they want the information she carries. The desperation she felt as she hunted for a job to protect herself was well-written, and I liked the way she still tried to protect herself from predators despite her qualms. When she arrived at the job, it was eerie as anything, but she managed to keep her cool and do her job. Personally, I think anyone in her position would ignore the clues that were abundant around her because she was so desperate to earn money and get away. When you are desperate, you will do anything, and ignore anything, to get what you need to escape. I didn't actually mind that aspect of her personality as I understood her desperation. And it's not like she didn't see what was in front of her, she just chose to ignore what was there because it helped her to survive and cope.

The plot itself was actually quite interesting the first half of the book, and I found it eerie and downright creepy. I couldn't figure out why Halley just accepted meeting the mechanic the way she did, but I guess there are some things you are just supposed to ignore as you read. *Sarcasm The ship itself it pretty much a graveyard, with bodies frozen in a cryogenic state aboard. And it was downright creepy. And to be fair, I love eerie ghost ships and stories that revolve around this premise so the creepiness was right up my alley. And you would think the second half of the book would up the creepiness factor, but yet again, the author ruined it by going the paranormal route instead of the horror route. Up to this point, the horror element was actually quite good and I was thinking the author had upped the game and would bypass the previous books, then bam, the paranormal stuff, which totally ruined the horror element for me.

Cold Eternity was actually quite good until about two-thirds of the way into the book, with good atmospheric horror elements and a creepiness that can only come when aboard an empty ship full of cryogenic people that no one knows what to do with. The character development was fine, and although Halley did some things that made me roll my eyes at times, it was more out of desperation than because her character was silly as she was desperate to get away from people who were hunting her. However, I wasn't keen on the last third of the book as an element was introduced that spoiled the overall creepy effect and left me feeling a bit disappointed in the ending. That being said, it was still an engaging read and worth your while if you like sci-fi horror.

S.A. Barnes certainly seems to solidify her reputation with "Cold Eternity," plunging the reader right back into the kind of chilling, isolated deep-space scenario she navigates so well. I was immediately drawn into the protagonist Halley's desperate situation – a fugitive hiding out as a caretaker on a decaying cryo-ship, essentially a museum housing hundreds of frozen bodies awaiting some future promise of immortality. Barnes excels at creating that palpable sense of isolation and mounting dread; the aging, possibly haunted, ship itself almost feels like a character, vast and unsettling.

I found the way the tension ratchets up, fueled by strange occurrences, potential sabotage or sinister motives from the other caretaker, and Halley's own eroding sense of reality under pressure, was incredibly effective. The novel skillfully blends its intriguing sci-fi premise (the ethics and creepiness of the cryo-ship) with visceral horror elements – reviewers mention body horror and a generally gorier feel than some of her previous work, which I felt served the story's intensity.

The central mystery of what exactly is happening aboard the Elysian Fields kept me thoroughly hooked. While it employs some familiar, effective tropes of the 'haunted spaceship' subgenre, the specific execution here felt engaging and atmospheric. Perhaps, for my taste, the final revelations unfolded just a touch quickly in the last chapters, but the journey getting there was undeniably tense and compelling.

Overall, "Cold Eternity" struck me as a highly entertaining and well-crafted sci-fi horror novel. It delivers perfectly on suspense, unsettling atmosphere, and scares, all anchored by a compelling protagonist fighting for survival in an incredibly creepy setting. For readers like myself who appreciate atmospheric, character-driven space horror, this is a really satisfying and spooky read.

I'm a new fan of S. A. Barnes and they have me wanting more. It's space, it's scary, and I NEED TO KNOW what happens next. Will definitely recommend to library patrons & staff.

S.A. Barnes has terrified me once again. This book is so creepy, timely, and hard to put down. I really love how this book blends a tense horror read with a believable sci-fi story. (Almost too believable in an eerie way!) Readers of Blake Crouch and Darcy Coates will enjoy this book. It has jump scares, an exploration of politics, power, and space, and a really satisfying plot!

4.5/5 stars
This book had me paranoid and checking over my shoulders in the best of ways! I already knew it was going to creep me out but I wasn't prepared for how terrifying I would find the monster, especially in a ship full of cryogenically frozen people. Every few seconds I was paranoid because I was convinced the people were waking up in a zombie state until I realized it was a separate monster. I loved and enjoyed this book and I'm so happy I got to read it.

I have really enjoyed the novels by S.A. Barnes . They aren’t quite 5-star reads for me, but they are definitely enjoyable and deliver on both the sci-fi and horror aspects! Plus, the mystery in this book was intriguing and I enjoyed trying to unravel it! And two pages into this book and I was already loving the premise of it as well! Halley has had it rough and accepts a shady job as a caretaker/security on this sort-of abandoned spaceship. And I say sort of because this ship holds a bunch of cryogenically frozen bodies.

So the job shouldn’t be that hard, right?

WRONG. In fact, it is super creepy and there are weird noises on the ship that have nothing to do with the repairs the creepy and mysterious (read: suspicious) guy who hired her is doing. One thing I love about S.A. Barnes's books is the creepy factor. She has that down perfectly! I mean, just imagine being on an isolated ship with a bunch of bodies in cryosleep and no one to talk to. And on top of that, you start to feel like there’s something lurking on the ship, possibly hunting you...

There is just something about that premise that I loved so much! Probably the fact that it was creepy... and set in space. Lol. Space horror is my jam these days, and this book definitely satisfied my craving for the subgenre! I don’t want to say too much because spoilers, but I loved the creepy descriptions of... things and situations. Lol. They were SO good! It was horrific! And I loved it!! 😆 I also liked the mystery surrounding the ship, its owner, and the AI. There were some things I guessed ahead of time and some things I didn’t, but I really enjoyed the story either way. It was CRAZY!

One thing I didn’t care about too much was her political past, and, honestly, that’s just a me thing. I’ve had too much politics in real life and I am tired. Lol. However, I did appreciate the character development Halley went through. And I actually really liked Halley as a main character. I liked that she was smart because, let’s face it, a lot of protagonists in anything horror-related are not 😂

But I enjoyed following her on her journey as she tried to get her life together and figure out what the hell was going on with this creepy job on this creepy ship that she desperately took.

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"There is no freedom, no escape. Not from Elysian Fields."
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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Another awesome book by S.A. Barnes. I don't think this one is as creepy or nail-biting as the first one, but it was still really good. There were plot points I could see coming a mile away. I may be in the minority here, but I really liked the ending. It was fitting and made sense.

The concept of this book is really cool and creepy. A floating crypt of half dead/cryogenically frozen people sets the stage for what could be a super atmospheric and haunting read.

For some reason the execution wasn't there for me. The majority of the book is spent inside the FMCs head - which is fine, but it was very slow. And then the "reveal" / explanation as to what was going on just fell flat for me and didn't make a lot of sense. It seems there are a lot of politico-social themes at play. I'm sure that will work really well for some people.

I think I am constantly chasing the high of Dead Silence and not finding it.

I just need my space horror to have a little more umph.

I absolutely adored Dead Silence and greatly enjoyed Ghost Station, but Cold Eternity just didn’t do it for me. I’m not the hugest fan of horror that burns slower in the first place, but this one burned very slow, in my opinion, and the payoff at the end just didn’t compensate enough for all of that waiting and anticipating.

The book also felt a little too long for the plot and so the pacing felt sketchy in places, with some scenes seeming repetitive in a way that didn’t feel like a stylistic choice or one congruent to the way the story was being told. (What I am trying to get across are that there are scenes that are indeed repetitive in nature because that’s part of the plot and the story, but there are also scenes that feel just simply repetitive in the way filler scenes feel repetitive.)

Barnes’ worldbuilding continues to astound, though, with a spooky, hulking ship that feels not unlike an allegorical symbol of Dante’s nine circles, leaving our protagonist, Halley, to ponder the sins of the world alone in a state of limbo.



I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear in my social media. Thank you.

Cold Eternity is the latest release from S.A. Barnes, author of Dead Silence and Ghost Station. I always look forward to Barnes new books and this one did not disappoint. This is another Space Horror novel and features a compelling protagonist, Halley, who after taking a remote assignment on an abandoned space barge, discovers there's more danger in the job than she could've ever anticipated.

In the very beginning, this was giving me light-Artemis vibes. I think mostly because Halley, the way we meet her and the things she was thinking about at that time, were reminiscent of Jazz, the MC in Artemis. You can tell that Halley is girl with a complicated past, who is trying her best to stay clear of it. I liked how the author filled that in for us over time, and I truly became attached to Halley and her well-being over the course of the story.

She takes the job on Elysian Fields, a giant space barge housing a now defunct cryo program, thinking the remoteness and isolation will help her to avoid the things she's trying to avoid. Unfortunately, life on the floating crypt isn't as harmless as she thought it would be. Constant disturbing noises, and mysterious moving figures, haunt Halley's days and nights. She finds it impossible to sleep, impossible to rest her nerve-rattled brain.

Karl, the only other human worker aboard, is just as puzzling as everything else about the Elysian Fields. Halley's thoughts race and ramble as she tries to make sense of her new surroundings. It's during this time that the Reader may begin to question how well they can rely on their narrator. Learning about the Elysium Fields, its past, Halley's connection to it and its present iteration was so compelling. Barnes does the horrors of future tech so well, and this story is absolutely terrifying if you think about it for too long...

S.A. Barnes has really made a name for herself in the SF-Horror space. She does such an incredible job creating an ominous atmosphere in each one of her stories, as well as well-developed main characters.

I feel like some Readers may avoid, or be intimidated by SciFi stories, as they feel like they may be too science-heavy, or too high-concept, for them to understand, or be pulled in by. And while I can understand that inclination with many SF-books, I would urge you, if this is you, to give S.A. Barnes's work a try. She makes her stories accessible to all types of Readers, whether you are a big-SF fan or not, I think you'll easily be pulled in by her work and find it enjoyable.

This story, in particular, is well within our range of current understanding as tech rapidly progresses around us every day. I could absolutely picture a world where a situation like this becomes a reality. Stories of futuristic tech always get under my skin. I just find it genuinely frightening to think about. All the ways such developments could go wildly wrong. Reading about it, in fun works of fiction like this, provide me with a safe place to explore such concepts, and honestly, it does help lessen some anxiety around these topics for me.

That may sound silly, but it is one of the reasons I so enjoy this type of story, and S.A. Barnes is my absolute go-to author for gripping, realistic, futuristic SF-Horror. This had a lot of unsettling moments, with a great creepy atmosphere throughout. Towards the end it did have some moments where it started to feel a little muddled for me, but overall, it was a great reading experience.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I'll be anticipating whatever Barnes releases next!!!

☄️COLD ETERNITY☄️ by @authorstaceykade is a claustrophobic encounter on a defunct spacefaring ship that will have you gagging with terror. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publishers, @tornightfire and @macmillanaudio for the ARCs and the finished copy.

🛸🛸🛸

Hailey is escaping her past and takes a seemingly cush if boring job on board the Elysian Fields, a former hospital ship shut down to the public for decades. When things start to go bump in the night and she feels as though she is being watched, she starts to have second thoughts but can't very well quit with nowhere else to turn. Unable to help her curiosity, she explores parts of the ship not meant for her and delves into the history of the mysterious family who owned the ship which leads her to uncover some seriously weird shit! And then she finds out her employer knows she is not who she says she is...

While I was not as enamored with the character of Hailey as I was with Ophelia of GHOST STATION, l think I liked the horror reveal/creature feature aspect of this one even more which was SUPER CREEPY. It is unexpected and absolutely crazy cray and I loved it. If you like locked room horror mysteries, this one just happens to be set on a docked spaceship. Space is scary and I am here for all the thrills!

This book comes out TOMORROW and you should pick it up for some deep space thrills and chills!

Cold Eternity is a nerve wracking tale of isolation and paranoia in deep space. What would you do if you were the caretaker of a mausoleum in space? That is the situation that Halley has found herself in after fleeing from her former employer who is very politically motivated to find her and ensure her silence. Now she is mostly alone on a barely functional ancient spaceship surrounded by cryogenically frozen corpses, and her only company is an engineer that never leaves the bowls of the ship and a malfunctioning hologram. That's a lot of stress on one person which makes Halley concerned when she starts to question if all of her "residents" are actually as cold as their supposed to be.

This was a really interesting horror novel. I love space horror. There is so much to play with here and I did not guess the ending. I appreciate horror that I can't predict. My only real grievance was that I felt like the ending was a bit rushed. The book has a lot of suspenseful build up but I would have liked to see more intentionality in the ending. Over all I recommend the book. The suspense is really good and I always enjoy S. A. Barnes' writing style. If you're in the mood for some creepy space ship vibes then check it out.

Thank you @torbooks and @macmillan.audio for the #gifted eARC/ALC of COLD ETERNITY!

I’m not sure how exactly S.A Barnes does it but she’s able to build these accessible sci-fi worlds that make sense to non-space nerds like me and then create horrifying scenarios that make me absolutely never want to set foot in space. Her heroines are a bit unreliable like the thriller heroines of the early aughts.

Our MC Halley is on the run and hiding from an interplanetary political scandal when she finds the perfect job and place for her to lay low… a basically abandoned ship full of wealthy people who were all cryogenically frozen over 100 years ago…. So a ship full of bodies. Not creepy at all. Nope.

The setting was perfect. The FMC was understandably exhausted (she had to push a button every 3 hours or bad things would happen) as any parent of a newborn will attest to. Things start to go bump in the night. I was completely freaked out when her interactions with the AI holograms of the ship owner’s long dead children started getting weird. I was so sure that this was going to beat out DEAD SILENCE in my space horror top spot.

And then there was a reveal towards the end that I just had a hard time with. I wish the author had chosen a different plot twist/reveal because it kind of took me out of the book. There was a scene at the end that made me a bit teary and broke my heart a little.

So DEAD SILENCE remains solidly in my top spot but if you are a space horror fan, this one is definitely worth checking out!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7457482317
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIRbaZRPR4d/

I've become such a huge fan of S.A. Barnes since reading an early copy of their first novel. Their brand of space horror really speaks to something in me, the terror of space, the isolation, the creeping dread. I didn't even know this was a genre before I read Dead Space, and now I look forward to a new Barnes book the way a person wandering the desert looks at water, as sustenance. Cold Eternity started off with a bang, and just kept right on rolling. We meet Halley Zwick, on the run from something mysterious that happened to her, and hiding out in all the wrong places. Just when Halley thinks her luck has run out, she's offered a life preserver in the form of a job on the decommissioned ship, The Elysian Fields. Although Halley had a strange encounter on board that very ship as a schoolchild, she knows it's the last place anyone would think to look for her. Almost as soon as she sets foot on the ship, weird things begin to happen. Halley's boss, Karl, dismisses her concerns as hallucinations or the work of an overwrought mind. But something very dark is occurring on board The Elysian Fields, and it's up to Halley to find out what, before it's too late.

The pure escapism of this book is fantastic. I loved every bit of it. There is some fantastically spooky imagery and tons of tension throughout. If you're looking to dive into some space horror with a fast pace, give Cold Eternity a try.

I really love how Barnes writes space horror and manages to use the sci-fi elements as tension building horror devices. This one was eerie and atmospheric like her previous ones, and the novel structure and the twist is also similar. This one worked for me better than Ghost Station and I found it comparable to Dead Silence

I love S.A. Barnes writing!
And Cold Eternity is another wonderfully written story.
This story was the best story I've read in some time! As for the characters I really enjoyed them. And how much the characters developed throughout the book. Very interesting!
All in all this book was a great action-packed space horror story.
The writing was beyond interesting and intriguing. It held my attention. And I loved the story.

So this was pretty cool! (Sorry, had to heh.) Anyway, I loooove the premise. Very The 100 Seasons 5-6, always here for that. Plus, it’s just plain thought provoking- if you could, would you freeze yourself in hopes for cures and what not? I would, tbh, because death is scary but that isn’t what we’re here to discuss.

The atmosphere is on point, and I was absolutely invested in Halley, what the heck she’s running from, and what on not Earth is happening on this ship! It’s very readable from all those perspectives. Honestly, the only thing that didn’t quite work for me is that it is very… isolated. Which I get, it lends to the ambiance, right? Wouldn’t be so creepy if Halley was among friends, eh? But the lack of characters gets to be a little grating at times, which is why I am docking a star. I did still really enjoy it, but it did lack whatever it is we get from character interactions. That isn’t eloquent, but alas, the point stands.

Bottom Line: Exciting and atmospheric with a very cool premise, just could have used a few more characters for me!

S.A. Barnes has a spectacular way of putting you right into a scene, no matter how terror-inducing it may be. And a creepy spaceship filled with bodies frozen in cryotanks is not a place most of us would volunteer to be. You feel each frisson of terror along with the main character as she grows increasingly paranoid.

Maybe she has a right to be paranoid, though—sometimes things really do go bump in the night.

This is great horror. Don’t read it at night.

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Outer-space horror seems to be having a renaissance recently and SA Barnes is right at the forefront, leading her readers into that deepest of unexplored darkness and science gone very, very wrong.

The key to good science fiction is still as it’s always been: holding on to the core of humanity amidst the unknown. ‘Cold Eternity’ does that expertly, with one woman (almost) alone on an immense cryogenic space-tomb, on the run from her past but unable to escape the demons both within and without.

Halley is an excellent protagonist in her relatability. This may be the not-too-distant future, but people are still struggling to get by, politicians remain corrupt, and everyone is held within a system that only cares about those with money. Halley fights constantly to hold on to her integrity amidst all this, despite the pull of her family and her old employers, seeking refuge where nobody except the desperate would go. And on that vast, echoing and decrepit ship, she’ll discover exactly why.

In the manner of many traditional horror movie characters, Halley can be frustrating: I found myself almost yelling at the page as she made decisions that seemed so obviously nonsensical, before realizing that if I was in her situation, would I really do any better? She stays grounded throughout, which is remarkable given what she ends up facing. Having worked in a similar background myself (the political side, not the spaceship!), I admired her as she finally stepped up instead of running, no longer buckling or compromising for the sake of those long-dead but still worth fighting for.

In its way, this is a ‘locked room mystery’, encouraging the reader to guess what’s going on behind the curtain. Who is the mysterious administrator that we never really see? What was the real intention of the Elon-esque creator of this ship, and what happened to him and his family? And that old favourite, just what is making that noise outside the door at night?

As always, SA Barnes’ writing is excellent, with gorgeously grotesque visuals and tangible Silent Hill-style ramping up of fear. Many answers are revealed at about two-thirds through, leaving me wondering just what was coming next? This an author who is far too skilled to play her hand early - and I was right.

With shades of ‘Event Horizon’, ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘Demolition Man’ (particularly the social commentary), ‘Cold Eternity’ traps the reader in its enclosed space and demands they stay until the ride comes to a complete stop. I did so with pleasure.

I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.

When S.A. Barnes writes a horror novel set in space, I am there! This book did not disappoint. When Halley is describing the scenes unfolding around her on the abandoned spaceship/museum/cryo-crypt for the wealthy, you cannot help but start to feel a little bit of her claustrophobia and her unease. While there were some plot points that were not as flowing as I normally expect from Barnes, overall I still really enjoyed the book and can't wait for another!