Cold Eternity

By: S.A. Barnes

Narrated by: Amara Jasper

"You'll want to read this one with the lights on."—Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author

Cold Eternity is the newest action-packed space horror from S.A. Barnes perfect for fans of Severance, where desperation for eternal life leads to a fate 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….

Also by S.A. Barnes:

Dead Silence

Ghost Station

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

©2025 S.A. Barnes (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"You'll want to read this one with the lights on. Terrifying and lonesome with a heroine who you'll root for, S.A. Barnes has quickly become one of my go-to horror authors!"—Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author

"Cold Eternity is the S.A. Barnes Creature Feature we've all been waiting for! Tense, nasty, and melancholic. The perfect combination of sleep deprivation and a space station monster!"—Caitlin Starling, author of The Starving Saints

"So well done and creepy, with a twist that will shock you!"—Hildur Knútsdóttir, author of The Night Guest

Original and Scary

This was a fun read. I could not stop listening. The Narrator was excellent. I liked the smoky velvet in her voice. Scary, original, well paced plot.

Sorry but no

Really wanted to like this book but it was waaay to slow. Took more than half the book for it to pick up.

Liked it but not as much as her other 2 books

Good but suffered some from the MC not really having much contact with other sentient beings. So we spend a lot of time in her head or listening to action sequences, both are well done but I really missed the amount of dialogue usually present in a book. This probably accounts for this book being much shorter than her others.

Still, given how much I read and how much is not so good, I found this one much more enjoyable than most--in part because like all her books there are a number of "mysteries" the MC needs to solve.

Interesting concept and good story.

The voice actor couldn't settle on Alec or Alex's when plurals came up, and there are a few cutting errors. The story is gripping even though the start is slow. Fans of multidimensional main characters will perhaps enjoy the first 12 chapters. A lot of groundwork is layed early for good payoff.

Chilling and Compelling

I get so excited whenever S. A. Barnes puts out another sci-fi horror book. I binged this one in just a few days. I didn't want to stop listening. Definitely worth your time if you're a fan of the genre.

Great escape

I really like the of earth stories. Space is daunting all on its own, add humans to it & it’s just fun!

Speechless

I think this is my favorite yet. It leaves you wishing, wanting and chilled. I couldn’t believe how well everything fell together!
Katerina’s plight was something we could all touch and her predicament left my anxiety reeling. Def a re-read.
Also the narrator killed this! I’d listen to her read me anything!

Derelict Space Horror at its Finest

Barnes is a master at crafting the sort of tense, claustrophobic atmosphere that really elevates a book like this. It's the same dread that the original "Alien" film inspires- that sense of a vast, creaking hulk of a ship where who-knows-what could jump out of who-knows-where at any moment.

3.75 stars overall, but still worth the time

All 3 SA Barnes space horror stories are good. Not mind blowingly epic, but not slow and full of exposition. Atmosphere is always mildly creepy, with moments of very creepy. Characters are always fleshed out enough without it being too much. Narrators don’t make silly decisions. Plot lines are the best part -unique, well planned, realistic but still out there.

The author lets loose on this one a little more, as far as sci fi, than the other 2 stories (when they lean more into the science than the fiction)

Good telegraphing of the twists towards the end. Was much more a feeling of satisfaction than eye roll when things happened.

Worth the credit.

Good story

Would prefer less f bombs but otherwise an interesting plot and a good story