Halley is on the run after uncovering political corruption. In fear for her life, she takes a job on the space ship Elysian Fields, which is full of cryogenically frozen bodies. The only other living person on the ship is the engineer who hired her. So what are those weird noises?

The creepy, dark atmosphere was so good, but it was the suspense that had me glued to the story. It was almost like a thriller the way the story threw out little clues, then big reveals. There was one obvious reveal, but the way it was done was excellent.

I liked Halley very much. She was naive, but also had her heart in the right place. She wanted nothing more than to help people, and got into a lot of trouble because of it. Will keep my eye on what this author does next.

| Thank you @macmillan.audio for the free listening access! |

📕(𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍):
𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙁𝙈𝘾 • 𝙨𝙘𝙞-𝙛𝙞 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 • 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 • 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩 • 𝙘𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙨 • 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙨 • 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 & 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 • 𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘 • 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 • 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙨 • 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡 • 𝘼𝙄

💭:
This was my first book by this author and it definitely won’t be my last!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book and was fully immersed in the story.

Atmospheric reads like this one have the ability to make me feel like I’m in the middle of the storyline.

*𝙉𝙤 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡 - 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙈𝘾 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘.*

Things I enjoyed:
-𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 🛸
-𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 👻
-𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 🦄
-𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 💪
-𝘊𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 + 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘐 🤖
-𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 ✍️
-𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 💋

⭐️:
I would recommend going in blind to get the full experience versus me regurgitating the premise.

🎧:
I really really enjoyed the narrator’s voice, it reminded me of the video game Mass Effect.

The voice actress in Cold Eternity gave me space, and bad a$& FMC vibes!

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes delivers an action-packed, spine-chilling space horror where the quest for eternal life takes a dark turn, unraveling into a terrifying fate that might even be worse than death.

Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth’s most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago…

The cryo program, created by trillionaire tech genius Zale Winfeld, is long defunct, and the AI hologram "hosts," ghoulishly created in the likeness of Winfeld’s three adult children, are glitchy. The ship feels like a crypt, and the isolation gets to Halley almost immediately. She starts to see figures crawling in the hallways, and there’s a constant scraping, slithering, and rattling echoing in the vents.

It’s not long before Halley realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from….

I don't usually gravitate toward space-based novels, horror or otherwise, unless they involve characters such as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. However, after hearing good things about S.A. Barnes' previous work (Dead Silence, Ghost Station), I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. Barnes wondrously creates an atmosphere of tension and unease that rivals, if not surpasses, the chills of more grounded horror stories. Set in the vast, isolating vacuum of space, these tales are nothing short of atmospheric, eerie, and downright terrifying.

Halley is on the run from a political scandal and finds herself taking a high-risk job aboard a massive space barge chalked full of cryogenically frozen bodies. The position is shrouded in mystery, and while the pay is less than ideal, it offers her the only real chance to escape her troubled past. But Halley's fight for freedom becomes far more dangerous when the ship begins to reveal its unsettling secrets. As a protagonist, Halley is incredibly compelling, and I found myself rooting for her safety every step of the way. The other characters, while not particularly likable save for one, are the kind that you love to hate, adding tension and complexity to story at hand.

Although some of the technical jargon, descriptions, and sci-fi elements occasionally lost me—as someone who isn't a huge fan of space novels—that didn't take away from the power of Cold Eternity. The story remained thrilling, delivering chilling moments, intensely brutal scenes, and a deeply atmospheric tone. Barnes has crafted a tale that is both literally out of this world and figuratively spine-tingling.

Narrated by Amara Jasper, the Cold Eternity audiobook transforms Barnes' gripping tale into a vivid, immersive experience. Jasper's voice places you right aboard the ship, where every eerie creak amplifies the chilling atmosphere of the story.

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes is a wonderful example of why stepping out of your comfort zone can be rewarding—even if it gives something that might scare you (pun intended). While I won't be diving into a romance novel anytime soon, this chilling, suspenseful story was close enough to my wheelhouse that is was worth the risk. Now that I've turned the final page, I can confidently say it was the right decision. Barnes has crafted a horrifying, spine-tingling tale that will stay with me for a long time. The vivid storytelling pulls you in and makes every twist feel like a jolt. And one thing's for sure—I’m steering clear of cryogenic freezing after experiencing the unsettling world depicted in this horror.

This was a descent read (I listened to it on audio). And although interesting as I was reading it, I fear it will be somewhat forgettable in the grand scheme of things. So if I had the print copy, I'd probably un-haul it, but it's worth the time if you are into sci-fi, horror, and mystery/Thriller as it perfectly blends the genres equally - something not easy to accomplish. I may read more from this author in the future.

I picked this one up based on the author only and didn’t even bother to read the synopsis. Had I, I probably would have noped right out of it at the words “political scandal”, because MY GOD am I sick of politics in books right now. And granted, being a SF story, it’s bound to have some politics at the very least. I’ll admit it, I almost DNF’ed around 35% because of a section on politics that was strangely specific… I can’t possibly be the only one sick of hearing this stuff until I’m beaten to death with it.

But I digress. I love S. A. Barnes’ work and space horror is my jam. I recommended Ghost Station to everyone I know who reads SF. So when I saw that she wrote another book, I snatched it up based on her name and nothing else. Aside from the unanticipated politics (again, my fault for not reading the synopsis), I really enjoyed the story. There’s something about space horror that just really gets into your bones. Especially since, for the vast majority of us, space is a complete unknown. So literally anything could happen there. What is it they said in Alien? “In space, no one can hear you scream.” That’s what I love about her books, because she really capitalizes on that sense of otherness in space when you are completely alone, dying teammates aside. I’ll admit, while I enjoyed this story, it didn’t have the same oomph for me that Ghost Station did, but I’d still recommend it to anyone who is a fan of space horror.

Huge thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

This is my second SA Barnes novel that I've read and it's also clocking in at 4 stars, which means I really need to get off my ass and read Dead Silence, too.

Cold Eternity follows Hailey, a woman on the run from a past mistake, who takes a job as a sort of caretaker on a ship that houses a legion of cryogenically frozen people who hope to one day be revived. The job seems simple enough - do her rounds, check in with the board - but not is all as it seems.

This book was well paced and interesting, but more than that - it was scary! There aren't many books that I feel uncomfortable reading before bed but this one got me. The last quarter of the book had me looking around at every little sound my house was making just to make sure whatever was in the book wasn't also in my house.

Kudos to SA Barnes for writing a great story with great characters. It definitely went in a direction I didn't see it going in and that made it all the more enjoyable. Great for horror fans who love space horror, or who just want to read a book that's enjoyable and fun.

Thanks NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

COLD ETERNITY follows Halley. Halley is on the run, trying to stay out of the limelight after a political scandal she didn't mean to get wrapped up in. She answers a job listing that seems perfect, working on a deserted ship in space where most of those on board are cryogenically bodies. With only one living person and an AI to interact with, it seems perfect. Very quickly, Halley realizes that the ship isn't exactly the ideal setting she expected. She begins to see and hear things she shouldn't and she soon realizes she may be in danger, though she isn't sure what from.

I really loved DEAD SILENCE by this author and this synopsis gave me a lot of hope for similar vibes and thankfully I really enjoyed this one too! Halley has been in the middle of a messy political scandal so her reasons for shipping off into what is essentially a graveyard in space are reasonable. The setting is perfect for creepy atmosphere as well, especially knowing in that others haven't lasted at this job for long.

This took me a bit to settle into and it is for sure a slow burn, but once the action picked up, I was very hooked. I think the author did well with drawing the pacing out to keep it slow burn, but also dole out information regularly to keep up the intrigue!

"Cold Eternity" by S.A. Barnes is a spooky space horror set on a decaying cemetery of a spaceship full of the cryogenically frozen. It has been a few years since I last read a full length horror novel, and I absolutely adored this one!

I have heard of this author being called the "queen of space horror" and, if this book is anything to go by, I can definitely see why! The suspense and building dread were very well done and the descriptions were in the Goldilocks zone of not too long winded and clunky and not too sparse. The twist was great and I did not see it coming!

My only real critique is a mild spoiler, so warnings for that! The little bit of romance we got didn't quite grab me, since I felt like there was a jump between what we saw as an attraction or admiration in childhood to what we ended up getting later on in the story. I did think that it helped build on the mourning angle, though.

Thank you to S.A. Barnes, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for loaning me this free audiobook in exchange for a fair review

4.75⭐️

A thrilling and horrifying sci-fi space epic that takes you to the brink of sanity, and makes it hard to hold down your lunch.

Disclaimer: I read this as a tandem read with the audiobook and ebook from NetGalley. I also received a physical copy from Tor. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Let's address the audiobook first. If you are a previous fan of SA Barnes and the audiobooks of ghost station and dead silence, then you know how cinematic and immersive they can be. I'm sad to report there was no sound effects, ship noises or dreadful music associated with this audiobook. Which is a detour from the previous audiobooks. I hope they bring back the cinematic experience because it was missed. But the narrator did an excellent job and overall I did enjoy the audiobook.

The premise of this story was really unique and interesting. I loved the setting and I really felt the story unfolded and flowed really well. Just when I thought we had reached some big reveal there was another even more surprising revelation right behind it. This big bang way of constantly revealing new information really kept me on my toes and at the edge of my seat.

This book was full of body gore!! The descriptors were done so well I felt like I could really see what was going on. The horror aspects blended so well with the sci-fi that I never felt like I was simply reading one genre or the other. The genre blend was effortlessly done.

The only small downside for me was the FMC tended to ramble a little too long with the internal monologue at times. Which slowed the pace for me. It was minimal, but it did happen and therefore affected my read.

A solid solid read that I honestly would read again. I loved it!!!

Have to go with 3 stars for this one. Too many threads and too ridiculous in the end for me.

This is about Halley who goes into hiding because she “knows too much.” She takes a sketchy job on a ship with a bunch of people frozen with defunct cryo tech. Then the creepy shenanigans begin!

I will say that I spent most of the book thinking something was SO painfully obvious it was getting annoying… and I just wasn’t right. 😂 Guessed a twist super wrong. You got me there, Barnes.

I think Barnes writes an engaging, fun, entertaining read. The book is *fine*! But it got convoluted in the end, and I wish there weren’t quite so many outrageous things happening. Keep it simple. The reason Halley went into hiding was just not that interesting to me, and it kept coming up without really mattering until the very end. And then I just felt like, we don’t need this on top of everything else!

I also wished this was in 3rd person because I was really tired of Halley’s inner monologue. 😂 I’m sure it’s supposed to be relatable, but it was also exhausting.

I will continue to read Barnes’ stuff because sf horror is few and far between, and I do find her work mostly fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Picture this. A huge, ancient space ship...almost like a hotel with many levels and rooms. With public fountains, luxury suites and even a theater of sorts. Long hallways with lots of doors. And all of it empty.

That's because all of these "residents" are dead and have been frozen using cryogenics. At the time in which this story takes place, cryogenics has long been abandoned because it didn't work. But someone needs to care for these residents. Enter Hailey, (real name Katarina). She's on the run and looking for a place to lie low. She gets the job, not there's a lot of competition to spend months alone out in space, (Carl, the caretaker is the only other person aboard ship and he's always off fixing things), endlessly patrolling floors and checking on residents. Hailey begins to hear things, the lights flicker on and off, there's strange hair in her bed and there's something wrong with some of the residents. Is all this in her head, or is there really something wrong on this ship? You'll have to read this to find out!

Space horror man, I love it! Especially when it's done as well as this. Dripping with atmosphere and isolation, I felt the tension building and building. Action started ramping up about 2/3 way through and then the horror kicked into gear. Everything was coming to a head and then....well, I can't spoil it, but I feel like things peaked too soon, or perhaps it wound up too quickly. In thinking back on it, there was one scene I was looking forward to but it happened at a remove and I was disappointed by that.

Another thing of note-I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed this as much reading it as I did on audio. A lot of the time we're in Hailey's head, because who else is with her? As words, that adds up to a lot of text and little dialogue. (Not that anything is wrong with that, but sometimes pages of solid text are intimidating.) Anyway, the narrator, Amara Jasper, was terrific! Her character's frustration with herself, her determination, her sheer bravery, came through in Jasper's performance. The character of Hailey was well written, complicated, and performed expertly.

I shaved off half a star for my bit of disappointment, but overall I thought this audiobook was splendid, creepy fun! Highly recommended!

*ARC from publisher

Cold Eternity is S.A. Barnes best book yet. I couldn't put it down. It is always really nice to see an author's books just keep getting better.

Popcorn Space Horror. Suspenseful, entertaining, cinematic. I loved the FMC Halley, and her inner voice/her talking to herself. She applies for a “too good to be true job as a caretaker/security monitor for a dry docked ship with no experience necessary, low wages but with room and board provided. Must be comfortable with isolated working environment and limited outside contact.” Sounds perfect to me. But her real job entails pushing a button every 3 hours, a security requirement for the board of directors and doing rounds on certain levels of the ship that contain cryogenically frozen bodies while her boss supposedly repairs other portions of the ship. Death was supposed to be temporary but trillionaire Zale Winfeld died before figuring out exactly how. It starts to get creepy when she thinks she sees a body crawling across the floor in one of the monitors while waiting to press the button. There’s also an AI programmed hologram that she develops a friendship with. She is talking to the bodies. She’s hearing things. Is it sleep deprivation or something sinister? It’s a wild ride. I listened to this audiobook in one day. Amara Jasper was an excellent narrator and I wanted to keep listening until the conclusion. I will definitely listen to this audiobook again and space out. ALC was provided by Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. I received an audiobook listening copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The audiobook for Cold Eternity was well done in my opinion. The narrator's delivery and tone was consistent throughout the story and aligned well with the main character. No complaints from me! My rating more so reflects my feelings on the story itself.

About the story itself: Dead Silence is an all-time favorite of mine, and while Ghost Station had its flaws, it still managed to be an enjoyable read. This had me going into Cold Eternity with high hopes, but it ended up missing the mark.

The story leaned heavily into the elements I didn’t enjoy in Ghost Station—namely, the slower pacing and a main character with a backstory that didn’t feel all that compelling. The political aspects felt tacked on and tended to interrupt the narrative right as it was starting to build momentum.

What disappointed me most was the shift away from the psychological tension that Barnes executes so well. The AI component was one of the more intriguing parts of the story, and I wish it had been explored more deeply. Instead, the plot veered into creature-feature territory, which is a very hit-or-miss horror subgenre for me.

There were several points where I seriously considered DNF-ing, but I pushed through, hoping for a payoff that never quite landed. That said, I’m still rooting for Barnes and will keep an eye out for whatever she does next. But this one was very mid.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early copy of this audiobook.

I think space horror is a truly underrated genre since there’s so much you can do with the atmospheric elements and the sense of dread and SA Barnes really carved out a space for herself. Her books are a little formulaic but it’s a formula that usually does work for me. If you liked her other 2 books this one will be no exception.

Our FMC is on the run and decides to take a low key and low paying job on a ship full of cryogenically frozen bodies to watch over them. In the future people are able to freeze themselves to wait for better lives or cures for diseases that don’t exist yet. I think it’s this element of humanity that sets apart this book from her other works. I found the hope added another layer of devastation.

A great pallet cleanser and very gripping read. The audiobook narrator did a great job as well.

Escaping the consequences of a political scandal, Halley takes a job maintaining a space ship that's acting as storage for rich folks' centuries old cryogenically frozen bodies. Shortly after arriving, she begins to see and hear odd things. On top of that, being surrounded by frozen dead bodies and the glitchy holograms of the ship's founders doesn't help with her sense of creeped-out-ness. Even worse, Halley's only living contact is playing a game of mental chess. Between potential blackmail, possible ulterior motives and gaslighting she's left own her own as she watches her life crumble via news updates.

Cold Eternity reminded me a lot of '90s space horror films like Event Horizon, Fire in the Sky, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Virus, etc... It was a fun, if maybe a little campy genre, but I enjoyed. This would fit comfortably on that shelf at your local Hollywood Video. A great addition to the sci-fi horror world.

Space horror, say less! This one was so atmospheric, chilling and kept me up long into the night! I loved it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review. The narration was so good, I felt like I was in space watching this unfold first hand! SA Barnes writes space horror/fantasy the absolute best!! If she’s writing it, I’m reading it! 4 cosmic stars!

Overall, this was a good story and kept me in suspense the entire time. Trying to figure out what was going on, I did feel a couple times I connected the dots faster than the character and I also (personally) felt the character was not as mentally put together as you would expect from her past- and as much as she alludes to it. As the story continues, we learn more about the character's past and what happened for her for her to end up where she did. Regardless I did enjoy the story though a touch gory for me.
S. A. Barnes has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. While I am not jumping up and down to tell people to read it like I did with the last two, I do plan to continue reading what she writes.

I listened to the audiobook of this books thanks to NetGalley. The narrator did a phenomenal job encompassing the horror and shock in the characters tone. So much emotion was shining through each character in this book just from the tones used.

3.5/5

3.5 / 5

Cold Eternity
S. A. Barnes

*I received a digital ARC, via Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Macmillan Publishing and
S. A. Barnes.

I thought this action/sci-fi/horror started out strong, but around the halfway point, my mind began to wander.
I thought the pacing could have used a bit more work.

But maybe S. A. Barnes just isn't for me. I'm not the biggest fan of "action sci-fi" so I do think this book will be enjoyed by many, especially those who liked Dead Silence and/or Ghost Station.

To me, all the novels feel bit similar...
But I think they are well written enough to keep me turning the pages, wanting to know how things are going to play out.

Will recommend to some who enjoy a certain kind of sci-fi horror.

3.5 / 5

A claustrophobic, sci-fi horror that will have you rethinking your need to leave this planet.

If you loved SA's previous sci-fi horror, Ghost Station (2024), you are going to LOVE this too. Ghost Station was one of my top 10 favourite reads last year, and Cold Eternity did not disappoint.

It's like SA knows exactly what I want from a claustrophobic, sci-fi horror and then gives it to me. This book reads like a film in my head. I could clearly see and feel exactly what our main character was going through and I finished this book in three days (which is fast for me!)

There's this really clever story plot about our main character needing to press a button every three hours without fail. It starts messing with her ability to sleep, to explore the ship, and to trust herself. Genius! Loved that.

Amara Jasper does an amazing job with the narration. I read this book in tandem, where I read the first half and listened to the last half. She does a great job of ramping up the anxiety and fear our MC is feeling.

Read this book if you want
🚀 Claustrophobic, sci-fi horror
🚀 Unreliable secondary character
🚀 Cryo-tanks on a ship called, Elysian Fields (IYKYK)
🚀 Is she crazy or is it sleep deprivation?
🚀 Unreliable technology

Thank you to NetGalley and Mcmillan for this amazing ARC! I can't wait to see what's next from SA Barnes.

This book is best read while walking through a spaceship of nightmares while whispering, "I'm fine. Everything is fine."