Womp, there it is.

I had thought GHOST STATION would be the exception but turns out DEAD SILENCE was; as in, it was the exception to what is turning about to be the rule when it comes to me and this author. I think we've broken up.

There was nothing wrong with this premise, and indeed it was what drew me in even after the disappointment of the sophomore release by this author, but I found myself experiencing a story through the eyes of a character I found very lackluster, who also bore similar resemblance (or at least her backstory did) to the last character this author featured, and whereas this at least did run horror instead of mystery it was just.. kind of ridiculous?

Basically, to come straight to the point, this just didn't feel well put together. The elements were all there to make this compelling but the execution just failed.

Sadly I don't think I'll be picking up another Barnes which means I guess I have to find a new author to fill this space horror sized hole in my life.

I loved Dead Silence but Ghost Station missed the mark for me, however I'm so happy to say that for me this was right back up there with Dead Silence! I loved how atmospheric and creepy this was, the body horror and sense of something just waiting around the corner was so much fun. I wasn't sure at any point where things were going between the oddly advanced AI, the frozen bodies, and the creepy, mysterious mechanic named Karl. I don't think I'll ever get tired of space horror, especially when they take place on ghost ships!

Now the thing that I didn't really like all that much that I've noticed is a trend with this author is the MC has a LOT of baggage and issues going on in her personal life that make them really hard for me to connect and understand them. In this case Halley is OBSESSED with doing what she thinks the right thing is and yet when it comes down to it she just...doesn't? And I was a little confused about her backstory and how her knowing the truth was such a bad thing? And the only other thing I was a little iffy about was the weird romance aspect, which I don't want to spoil but I struggled seeing where Halley was going with all that.

Overall though I really enjoyed this and I'm definitely looking forward to the next book from S A Barnes! Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the arc!

Middle of the road horror! There were some genuinely scary parts in this and it scratched the itch I had for space horror, but I feel like there were some ambitious attempts to cover various themes in this book and I'm not sure if it was all successful. This is the third book that I've read by S. A. Barnes, and I'm learning that while she does incredible atmosphere and great build-up, that I find her climax and conclusions a bit lack-luster. I probably won't read another by her, unfortunately.

S.A. Barnes has done it yet again, this time with Cold Eternity, the newest space horror that will grace bookstores everywhere on April 8th 2025.

I am so thankful to Tornightfire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book! And of course, I'm very thankful that S.A. Barnes writes these amazing books for us to consume. (And consume is the perfect word choice for this one!)

If you aren’t familiar with their books, I’ll share a quick recap of my experiences. I bought Dead Silence in 2023 and read it that same year. And wow! WOW! I loved it so much! Previously I’d only really read fantasy or scifi and Dead Silence was one of my first ventures into horror and now I have read a lot of horror! So, thank you to Dead Silence for getting me into the genre. 🩷 When Ghost Station was announced I preordered it and read it around pub day in April 2024, it was another banger and just sealed the deal that S.A. Barnes was going to be an auto buy author for me from now on.

Which brings us back to Cold Eternity! I will admit, I think this book has been my least favorite of the three, but it’s still a five star read for me. It just didn’t give me the same hair raising, chill on the back of your neck, that Dead Silence did. BUT it still did a lot of great things and the build up to the end was perfect. Also I may have been rooting for a romance subplot lol (that we did not get but that’s understandable because of the characters and setting).

Would I suggest this book to other readers? Absolutely. Especially if you are just getting into horror. I think it would be a great starting place. Creepy, spooky, a little gory, and a great story.

Just for fun: FMA - Fuck, Marry, Airlock
This was just too perfect lol

P.S. Tornightfire can we get a hardcover printing of Dead Silence please?? I'd love all of my copies to match!

Last year I received this author’s second book for review and waited FOREVER to read it, then finally picked it up at the end of the year when I was in a bit of a book slump. I was so mad at myself for waiting so long. I immediately went to my Libby app to see what else was available by S.A. Barnes. So, when this book came up for review, I quickly hit that request button.

All three of the books I’ve read by this author were fantastic. Cold Eternity opens by introducing a woman who is on the run and needing a safe place to hide until she can save up enough credits to disappear altogether. She answers an anonymous post for a job as a caretaker on a deserted ship named the Elysian Fields. This ship houses the cryogenically frozen bodies of the world’s richest and most famous people. She readily accepts, eager to finally be alone and safe for a period of time.

All of her peace and safety disappear when she starts to see and imagine strange things. But she chalks it up to sleep deprivation until all those weird things start to add up to something completely evil.

This author’s books are creepy as hell. Just imagine being alone, on an abandoned ship, with only the frozen bodies of the richest people in the universe all around you. A wonky AI system that glitches and warns you to RUN. Weird sounds and vibrations at all times of day and night. *shivers* It all lends a sense of atmosphere that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. I HOPE to see this author’s books on the big screen soon.

The atmosphere of this book fits the title perfectly - chilling and relentless. Recommended for fans of sci-fi, horror, complex female leads, creepy darkness and contemplating the value of life.

Read full review here: https://www.blog.melodyemcintyre.com/2025/02/s.html

I was soooo looking forward to this one, except I feel kinda meh about it after completion. :( I love S.A. Barnes's books a ton, & I figured this would be another romp for me. Except I think it leaned into the things I disliked the most about her other books, & I found myself wondering if I should dnf several times throughout.

So for one thing, it REALLY leaned into a pessimistic view of the future. This is 100% a me thing, but I have not been able to do most dystopia books for the past ~8-10 years. & while this book isn't exACTly dystopic, it did lean into that angle.

I also (for once in my life???) did not like the politics angle. I'm usually a HUGE politics fan in my spec fic, but in this instance it really put me off. I like politics when it feels like it actually adds to the contours of the story & is integral to the plot. Here? Not so much.

I'm not entirely sure what I thought of the AI elements. I'm leaning towards that I also felt they were shoe-horned in & not developed enough, but I'm still percolating on that.

That being said, the horror elements were SO fun. While I didn't wholly love the Thing that is causing the horror, the way Barnes actually writes her horror scenes is FANTASTIC. There's such a palpable tension that I find myself flying through these scenes and unable to put my copy down. It gets especially great in the final 1/3 of the book, & I really wish that more of that was present in the beginning.

All in all, not my fav from this author, but I still think it's worth picking up if you love space horror. I'll still be checking out books from this author in the future, even if this one didn't really work for me.

This is a book that made major improvements from her second book. It had the same space elements that S. A. Barnes is quickly perfecting, and misses the pitfalls of potentially being repetitive. It is great and atmospheric, spooky, and continues to touch on social class in space horror. As with her previous books there is an element of an unreliable narrator, but I think that it was combined with the AI "character" that worked as a really good foil. This book has reignited my love for S. A. Barnes' work!

This was a solid space horror from Barnes. It didn't go the direction I was expecting with the cryogenics, which I appreciate. I was a bit weirded out by the romance (can it be called a romance?) but that's more of a "me" thing. Barnes is great at creating atmosphere and a sense of place--I could vividly see each location in my mind.

I believe this is S.A. Barnes’ best work yet. A political outcast takes a job as a security detail in a spooky ship used to house cryogenically frozen bodies (rich people). The ensuing story has bits of The Shining, Five Nights at Freddy’s and, of course, Alien. The main character rules. Had a hard time putting this one down. Just phenomenal sci-fi horror and political commentary.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

I have been a big fan S.A. Barnes since her first book, Dead Silence. I was excited to learn of her newest book Cold Eternity. I couldn't start reading fast enough!

The story follows Halley, who has accepted a job on the spaceship, the Elysian Fields, whose cargo is a bunch of cryogenically frozen rich people from Earth. Halley's job is to watch over the cargo, do rounds on she ship, and to press a button every 3 hours. This sounds very boring to me, but Halley is happy to do as she is running from a scandal and is getting free room and board. As loneliness, isolation, sleep deprivation, and madness start to creep in, Halley starts "seeing things". The man who hired her, Karl, tries to convince her it's nothing, simply a glitch, but Halley is not so sure...

This book has definite Alien: Romulus vibes. Being stuck on a spaceship full of frozen bodies, alone is probably my worst nightmare. Thes story is a nice, good, slow, tense, burn with a looming sense of unease and dread that never goes away. It will for sure give you the heebie jeebies if you read it alone or in the dark!

I highly recommend this book if you, like me, are a fan of Sci-Fi Horror/Space Horror Thrillers. Put this book on your TBR and make it your March book club read!

4 stars

A fabulous return to form for S. A. Barnes! This is a sci-fi horror novel in which the real horror is the hubris of a wealthy man. I ate this up with a spoon.

Hailey is a decent protagonist. She’s an idealist who wants to make the world a better place, despite having been raised by cynical, hyper-capitalist parents who will do dirty work for the highest bidder. Hailey sees the little people, the downtrodden and world-weary, and wants to find ways to make their lives better. This could have made her an overly twee and naïve character, but she’s recently had her world rocked by discovering misconduct from the political campaign she’d been working for, and is feeling disillusioned about her ability to actually effect positive change in the world while sticking to her principles.

The setting is incredible. Much like in <i> Dead Silence, </i> our protagonist is isolated on a relic of past wealth and luxury. This time, however, the ship has been a graveyard from the beginning: it’s a cryogenic facility housing the frozen bodies of yesteryear’s technically-not-yet-dead rich and famous. Cryogenic technology has long since been discredited, but the corporation that promised future miracle cures to its ‘residents’ is still warehousing its tanks in a ship that, once state-of-the-art, is now a half-forgotten tub beginning to fall apart. As caretaker, Hailey’s primary job is reporting malfunctions to Karl (the only other non-frozen inhabitant of the ship) and confirming the ship’s continued existence for a distant, faceless board of directors. It’s the perfect place for her to hide from her former employers… at least, until the ancient ship’s A.I. hologram show starts to malfunction, and celebrity bodies start disappearing from the tanks.

The buildup is fantastic. I knocked a star because I felt the reveal didn’t quite live up to the buildup’s full potential, and wasn’t explored to its fullest, but it was still a satisfying ending to the story.

I would recommend this book to: fans of isolation horror, body horror, eldritch horror, pixel/hologram/animatronic horror, sci-fi horror, or <i> Angels in America </i> by Tony Kushner (trust me on this one).

Cold Eternity is a monster space horror by the same author that brought us Dead Silence. It follows Halley, who after being the center of a political scandal, has run off to a far off station and taken a new position on a ship as a security officer.

The ship?

Oh, just the failed cryoexperiment, the Elysian Fields.

And the cargo she's been charged to protect?

That's right. The frozen un-revivable bodies of the rich and elite from more than a century ago.

Halley can't shake the feeling that it isn't the bodies making her uncomfortable. It's the sounds. The load banging, the shadows, the night terrors she's been having. It all points to something more sinister.

Something monstrous.

This is the third book by S. A. Barnes I've read and much like the rest, it was suspenseful, gorey, and full of horrors. I genuinely enjoyed some of the horror elements that were accomplished through the malfunctioning AI, and single other crew member that we never see except over video comm.

S.A. Barnes was my gateway to the terrifying world of sci-fi horror, so I stalked NetGalley until this showed up and read it immediately (and then neglected to write a review for MONTHS. whoops.) I wasn't a huge fan of her last book, Ghost Station, but Dead Silence is one of my fave books of all time, and Cold Eternity gave me lots of creepy-AF Dead Silence-y vibes, but in its own unique and horrifying way. Read this!

3.0 Stars
After reading this author's last two space horror novels, I have become wary of their work. The ending of Dead Silence was frustrating and Ghost Station was overall quite dry. Normally when I strike out with an author, I would give up on an author. However, as someone who is obsessed with the genre sci fi horror, I keep holding our hope for a new favourite.

Perhaps this is a symptom of my power expectations but I was fairly happy with the first half of this novel. I enjoyed a lot of the science fiction elements and found the story itself to be reasonably engrossing. Towards the second half, my warmed feelings cooled.

I find this author struggles to write a compelling climax and ending which feels particularly important in this subgenre. This one had a decent setup but failed to come together in a satisfying way.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher

Another super spooky space horror from S. A. Barnes! I love all of these standalones, and they never fail to scare me! Cryogenics is something that really scares me, so the situation our main character finds herself in, alone on a ship with a ton of cryogenically frozen bodies, was horrifying to me. Of course, the cryogenically frozen bodies ended up being the least of her worries. The historical context in this one was also super good, and I really liked the justification for how the patriarch of the family came to be...the way he was.

This is Barnes’s weakest sci-fi horror book yet. Other than a few brief “hallucinations” of scary things that last less than a few seconds, it’s mostly this poor-little-rich-girl / wannabe politician who’s struggling with the aftermath of her first true exposure to political corruption (while trying to sound jaded and aware) while we’re backfilled a convoluted backstory between her and this ship/museum/graveyard. And not in a clever way, more like a “oh now wouldn’t this spice things up a little bit” without going back and hinting at it way.

Also really confused by how she calls herself by her false name whenever she’s thinking to herself. She claims to be curious but doesn’t explore out of bounds in the ship for some indeterminate but way too long to be believable time frame. And it doesn’t have any of the really awesome and terrifying descriptions that made Dead Silence so compelling.

I wish there were more space horror authors so I could stop requesting Barnes’s books, but there’s simply not enough out there

Cold Eternity is another great space horror novel by S.A. Barnes. You should definitely read her other two space horror books too. The story is creepy and intriguing. It has many twists and turns. The character are also interesting. It's a real page-turner you won't want to put down once you start reading it. I highly recommend this book to all horror fans!

SA Barnes' best book yet! Full of plot twists and dark atmosphere, COLD ETERNITY digs into the questions of today in a future of political corruption.

Creep-factor-wise, this was Barnes' best book by far. Not many authors can pull of jump scares in books, but she sure as hell does.
Story-wise I think I'd put this number two only sliiiiightly behind Dead Silence. Overall? Adored it.