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."

3.5 stars

This was a spooky locked-room space horror/thriller in which our main character works on a floating station that houses cryogenically preserved bodies of the wealthy and elite. Every few hours she needs to press a button. This seclusion works well for her as she is running from political scandal.

I enjoyed the tense set-up of this novel and found the setting eerie. Our main character was a fun woman to follow and I felt her terror with each page. The pacing of this work was overall slow, however, and felt off at times. The second half of the book didn’t grip me the way I had hoped it would. I wanted more from the finale and was left underwhelmed by the book’s end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Amara Jasper is a perfectly fine reader but I was left wanting a voice a little better suited to the dark suspense Barnes lays down with her writing. There's something too upbeat about Jasper's interpretation of heroine Halley that pulled me out of the chilling darkness of the space ship Elysium Fields that ultimately made me switch to the actual book to finish the story. Jasper is a very good narrator, just not for this story.

DNF @ 56%

I really wanted to enjoy this, Dead Silence was one of my favorite books of 2022. However unfortunately Barnes has yet to put out anything that has gripped me like Dead Silence did since. I do think I could have finished this if it was something I was reading myself. However I was granted the audiobook via NetGalley and I hate to say this but the narrator's flat, emotionless delivery of every line did absolutely nothing to help me try to salvage what waning interest I had in finishing this.

I will say the scary parts were pretty good, Barnes nails creepy imagery every time. Everything else, to me, felt lifeless and dull. Such a shame, I think I'm going to have to chalk S. A. Barnes to someone who knocked it out of the park that one time, but I gotta stop feeling excited when I see them come out with something new.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes, was a great listen. The narrator Amara Jasper did a fabulous job in bringing these characters to life, providing each a unique voice. Unfortunately, where the narration fell flat for me was in the graphic descriptions of the body horror. These came off as very technical and did not provoke a response. I think they might have read better on the page then the narration we received. The beginning of the story is a very slow burn, but was overall the story was ok.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the opportunity listen to this ALC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3 Stars
Pub Date: Apr 08 2025

Tags:
#MacmillanAudio
#ColdEternity
#SABarnes
#AmaraJasper
#YarisBookNook
#netgalley

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

Cold Eternity was another fantastic space horror from S.A. Barnes! The author really leaned into monster horror with this one, and the descriptions of the monster lurking on the ship really added to the mysterious atmosphere of the novel. I loved the author's blurring of the narrative when readers are unsure whether Halley is a reliable narrator - when it turned out she really was seeing a monster on the ship, I couldn't stop listening. The audio only enhanced the narrative. While I think the author's Dead Silence continues to be my favourite of her novels, Cold Eternity is a close second.

2.5 rounded up to 3.
I really hate to give negative reviews of a new book, but this one was a swing and a miss for me. I loved Ghost Station, and the premise for Cold Eternity had me hopeful. The story is creative and engaging. The mystery of the preserved people forgotten by time and left in the care of an unreliable repairman needing one person to help keep things afloat, literally, pulls the reader in immediately. However, the overt, explicit language and sexuality, violence and gore take away from the enjoyment of the story. I would consistently get hung up by the unnecessary graphic depictions of sexual and body horror, and the ever-present foul language. It did not serve the story or characterization. It’s possible the narrator made it more distracting than had I read the print version, but the constant yelling of epithets was hard to ignore. Additionally, the protagonist’s background story ribboned throughout the main storyline was confusing and unclear. The end felt rushed and clunky.
I want to be clear that Cold Eternity was a quick, engaging read! I felt immersed in the story from start to finish. However, upon reflection of the writing as a whole, it left me feeling disappointed.

S.A. Barnes is a master of space horror! I have read and enjoyed her previous books and so it was with great pleasure (and chills!) that I listened to this book. In this one Halley is on the run, after a big scandal and lucks out on finding a job in a quiet ship filled with cryogenically frozen dead rich people. I mean, what could go wrong there? It is ramped up by Halley having to stand watch and press a button every few hours meaning she is incredibly sleep deprived and so it would be easy to see things that aren't there, right? Add in some creepy holograms that may spout messages that everyone will die and you have all the makings of a wonderful horror story! And I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it, especially out walking at night which really set the mood.

The narrator does a great job of bringing the characters and the things that creeping around in space (and old ships full of dead people) to life. This was quite the fun book to listen to and I am looking forward to see more works by this author! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to listen to this audiobook!