Title: Cold Eternity (9781250884954)
Genre: Space Horror 👻
Author: S.A. Barnes
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Anticipated Pub Date: April 8, 2025
Steve’s Rating: 4.5 ⭐ out of 5 ⭐


I am so glad Tor Nightfire (apparently) made a three-book deal with S.A. Barnes, a fellow educator-author who’s become one of my favorite writers working today. Her latest, Cold Eternity, takes what worked really well with Dead Silence (2022) and Ghost Station (2024) and absolutely rips (that’s a good thing) a new story with new characters, all of which build on those successes.


I loved that those earlier stories offered characters’ choices that made sense given who their actions showed them to be. I shivered at the sense of growing dread Barnes built through increasing and eventually explosive bouts of tension finessed into the plots of those books, and I felt compelled, as I wrote in my review of Ghost Station, to keep reading until I was through the whole story.


At the start of Barnes’ latest, our protagonist Halley is on the run from the consequences of well-intentioned but naive choices made from a position of privilege, and she’s slumming it, looking for under-the-table work that’ll keep her fed without letting folks know who she is. Halley takes on a spaceship caretaker’s role on a massive, supposedly dead ship… tasked with making what amount to janitorial rounds and pressing a check-in button every three hours, our main character is reduced as the story proceeds and she realizes she’s not alone. What ensues is more than a little creepy, even for a seasoned horror reader.


Barnes’ narrative voice is strongest when our character is alone, facing insurmountable odds, and gathering from her core what she needs to survive. The settings are again standouts in this novel, as they were in Barnes’ first two. The political intrigue at times feels a bit forced, but this is a slight knock against an otherwise stellar (no pun this time) work of great skill and artistry.


I recommend you read this book. If you’re not sure about space horror, give it a whirl. If you already know S.A. Barnes’ work, you didn’t need to read this review because you already knew you wanted more from this author. It’s coming, April 2025, from Tor Nightfire.

Another slam dunk in the space horror genre from SA Barnes. Halley is on the run from her parents and former employer so she takes a job on Elysian Fields a space barge which is the perfect place to lay low being a floating crypt. Her boss who can never seem to be found on board keeps her mainly alone. She begins hearing and seeing things that cannot possibly be and finding talisman around her room. Is she going insane from the isolation or is something way more sinister at hand in this ship. Wonderfully told it’s terrifying and pulse pounding at every turn. Alien meets AI meets the Shining I cannot wait for the next one. Big thanks to Tor Nightfire for the arc in exchange for a review. I loved every weird moment. 5⭐️

Holy creepy vibes, my book peeps!! 🙌

Imagine yourself alone (well, essentially) on a spaceship, level upon level filled with cryogenically frozen people and a theater housing AI holograms!! Oh, and let’s not forget that you’re also stuck with something else that lurks in the dark and is very hungry… 😳🫣

Heebie jeebies galore with this one!! Just another reason why S.A. Barnes is an auto-buy author for me!! Highly recommend!! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and S.A. Barnes for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review!! ❤️

One thing about me, if SA Barnes writes a space horror? I’m gonna read it. There’s something about Barnes’ writing that is so engrossing. I always know when I read one of her books that it’s going to be an atmospheric slow burn horror that just encompasses that feeling of dread.

Cold Eternity by S. A. Barnes is the kind of sci-fi horror that I have come to expect from this author, both hauntingly creepy at times and addicting to read.

I will say I found the tone of Cold Eternity quite different from the authors previous books. Although clearly science fiction as far as it taking place in a significantly futuristic world, there was less of the space-y, space travel, space ships feel to this book compared to the others - not to say it was nonexistent, it just wasn't as present feeling and the setting almost felt as if it could have been anywhere at times, not necessarily a spaceship as it was. It had less of the horror of potential alien influence and more of a vibe of something horrifying occurring in a science fiction setting for a majority of the book, until much closer to the end when things began to grow more apparent. This isn't to say it wasn't fantastic in its own way, just a note that it was a very different vibe from previous books; which of course isn't necessarily a negative. It was very much good in its own right.

The first half of the book seemed to have almost more of a psychological horror aspect to it. As Halley is unable to trust her own eyes and experiences as she is gaslit at every turn when she things she sees or experiences something. As a result much of the book is spent with her questioning if something was really going on, and then investigating further to see if she truly is losing her mind, or something more sinister is occurring on the ship she has accepted a job on. All the while, she has her own past which is threatening to haunt her and cause her issues which adds to this vibe and leaves much room for paranoia and uncertainty.

It isn't until the last part of the book that the overwhelming sense of horror hits and it ends up being very much worth the wait and had me invested in the book all over again. This was, as always with this author, a book that I flew through and did not want to stop once I started which is a testament to how incredible the author is at writing this genre of book. For all that it's just for one book, and a few hundred pages at that, it's difficult not to become invested in Halley's story and survival which makes it even more of a phenomenal read. As more information on Halley becomes available this feeling just increases and I loved the aspects of her present that tied to her past and how certain things about the ship she is on are relevant to her past experiences (without giving anything away).

Suffice it to say I loved this book and now find myself with the struggle of waiting for the next fantastic sci-fi horror book that S. A. Barnes comes out with. This author has definitely become an auto-read for me and I find myself left with the struggle of waiting for the next release because I am honestly obsessed with every book that comes out.

So you're hiding from your old boss, some thugs, and, of course, your parents, on a floating cemetery ship filled with rich corpsicles who thought cryogenics would eventually allow them to be cured. You're alone. There are weird noises. You have to keep a schedule that only allows 3 hours of sleep at a time. You're getting paid peanuts, your boss is into some sketchy business, and all you have are bad choices.

Now imagine that there's something impossible skittering and creeping its way around the ship. Your boss is gaslighting you. And a hologram in the shut-down theater somehow knows your *real name*.

Another brilliant spooky space novel by S. A. Barnes! Riffs on Family dysfunction, political corruption, bitter disappointment with yourself, and *oh hell no, what was THAT?* in the emptiness of space. :happy shivers:

This one was closer to 3.5 Stars for me. I loved her other two Space Horror books, but this one fell a little short.

Cold Eternity follows Halley, an ex-political worker who was involved in a scandal. It starts off a little Han Solo finding smuggler jobs. Halley finds a job looking after famous, rich cryogenically frozen bodies on a planet/ship that is pretty destitute. Maybe from lack of sleep, or maybe she is actually seeing it, but she swears she sees a body on the cameras.

Halley is not a great main character. She's just a rich girl who had everything handed to her and then tries too hard to be a hero. There were definitely a lot of references to the United States and the way it will probably end up, which was terrifying. This was a fun, well-written read. Perfect for those that like A.I. and space.
Without giving too much away, the plot did not go the way I thought it would, and the actual reasoning was kind of lame. There were just a few "sub-genres" that did not need to be included when it comes to sci-fi/space horror. I will still eagerly read S.A. Barnes next novel with hungry eyes.

ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review

Slow build space horror that will have you begging for solid ground. Follows MC Halley as she takes a sketchy job in order to disappear after befriending the wrong people. The job in question is on a derelict ship known to be floating the solar system carrying the frozen remains of countless people. Her role is to keep an eye on things but from her first day there nothing is as it seems. While I still believe the authors first book was the best this was still a thrilling and creepy read. Matters are only worsened by the fact that Halley is trying to stay incognito and even if she could call for help who would come?

What is better than a story about a haunted house....a story about a haunted space ship! S.A. Barnes again delivers delightfully creepy scares in space. I can't wait for the next book!

This book was perfectly atmospheric and spooky! SA really knows how to make you feel like you are right there along side these characters. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire book waiting to see what would happen next. This was one of my favorite FMCs she’s written and seeing her motivation and her story progress was so much fun. Such a good one!!!

Nothing captures my attention faster than space horror. I've thoroughly enjoyed S.A. Barnes previous two titles and couldn't wait to read this one. While it's my least favorite of her novels, I still really enjoyed my time. I thought the concept was unique and intriguing and of course the writing is top-notch. I think the main reason why I didn't enjoy this book as much as the previous two is the lack of other characters. "Dead Silence" and "Ghost Station" all had ensemble casts whereas this one only had the one main character with a few side characters. That definitely added to the isolation aspect of the horror, but I missed the interactions between characters.

I'm also a sucker for romance and have appreciated the minor romance subplots in the previous two novels. In "Cold Eternity" I wanted either more romance or absolutely nothing hinting to that at all. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who has previously enjoyed S.A. Barnes before or other space horror novels/media.

She's done it again!! S.A. Barnes is my favorite new author and a favorite at the library I work at. This was such a great mystery, jaw dropping really. I absolutely loved this book!!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was tricky, it had a lot going for it, but WAY too many concepts shoved into a shorter story. I wish the background of the main character was trimmed, it left me confused and pulled out of the tension every time it was mentioned, as well as the AI angle. The fact that it was advertised as an AI horror story doesn't really hold true either. Not sure.

By now I have read all of Barnes’s books, and out of the three of them, this is the best by far.

The pacing is much better in this book than it was in [book:Ghost Station|127280445] or [book:Dead Silence|57693184] - both of which I found a bit tedious and hard to get all the way through. From the get go, I noticed an immediate difference in <i>Cold Eternity</i>.

I will say that the backstory of the FMC was a little hard to follow at first and was a bit boring (while not necessarily run of the mill, it was mundane, if that makes sense), but the actual action itself made up for that.

To go back to the pacing, <i>Cold Eternity</i> managed to snag and then keep my interest throughout. There was a good build up of the horror once we got to our main location (a spaceship filled with mostly dead, which is still a little alive people - spooky!). I really appreciated how in this book, there was a steady build of the dread and what was going on, so it really did leave me wondering what the hell was going to happen next.

Now the actual reveal itself was a little silly, in my opinion, BUT I can’t be too much of a hater because one of my favorite franchises is <spoiler>the Alien franchise, and that has some silly shit going on if you don’t fully buy-in.</spoiler>.

There is one scene in particular that really got me, and re-affirmed my belief that there is no reason your footsies or toesies should ever be outside of your blanket at night.

Overall, a huge step up in Barnes’s writing chops; and while it didn’t quite reach that level of stupid, non-stop and trashy horror/thriller fun of some other reads, I still enjoyed it and will read Barnes’s next book (if there ever is one!).

Cold Eternity follows Halley, a young woman on the run from an interplanetary planetary scandal. She has a huge target on her back and is desperate to avoid two groups gunning for her location. After an attack in the middle of the night, she finds the perfect job opportunity on an old spaceship built for cryogenically frozen humans with only one other person on the staff. The program is defunct and is used as storage for all the frozen bodies of wealthy humans. Completely isolated and far from reach, Halley soon realizes the job is not perfect. With long hours of little sleep, she starts seeing things crawling in the hallways and creeping, slithering sounds in the vents that keep getting closer to her room …

S.A. Barnes has done it again! She is the queen of sci-fi horror, and I will always devour her books. They’re truly incredible and amazing, incredible additions to this niche, fabulous genre. Cold Eternity was immaculate. I LOVED the twist—I screamed it was so great—and this one was particularly my brand of super scary and horrifying. It was so interesting to see if Halley was losing it or if there was truly something more going on. The bodies were just so creepy and haunting. The fact that it was only two people on the very isolated ship—the vastness of space is so terrifying to me—with weird stuff going made it sooooo creepy! The book kept me on the edge of my seat, and I loved every minute. There was such an interesting take on AI, and I loved how everything ended.

Halley is a great main character. She’s got a lot going on and it was so nice to see her growth throughout the novel. She’s so caring and wants the world to be better and it was so admirable that she truly cared for the cryogenically frozen people and Aleyck. I loved their relationship and was so glad that they each got a happy ending in a way.

This book was just perfect for sci-fi horror fans and S.A. Barnes knocked it out of the park like usual. I am desperate to read everything single thing she writes—she's one of my favourite authors and this just made her even more so.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a phenomenally scary sci-fi with a great take on humanity, greed, AI/technology, and the terrifying possibilities with the vastness of space and being super isolated.

A huge thank you to Tor and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love this author's brand of scifi/horror. Very entertaining and very good at creeping you out. The pacing is good and I liked the slow reveal on why the main character found herself in such an unfortunate situation. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for future books from this author.

I really want to love S.A. Barnes' books, but each time they let me down more than the last. Like the others, the concept for this book was strong, but I found myself skimming early on and could not bring myself to care about the main character's back story. I'll probably give her next book another chance, but in the meantime I will have to find other space horror authors whose books keep me invested.

S.A. Barnes has quickly become one of my favorite voices in horror. This is one to read with the lights on! Terrifying and lonely with an all-too-human center, you'll be rooting for the heroine from page one!