#cold eternity

[bereft-of-frogs]

God dammit I fucking knew I’d find the romance

Can someone less romance inclined start writing space horror because I simply cannot deal with another SA Barnes book with a basic ass romance subplot

Also if someone could start writing space horror who can also write atmosphere and description that would be cool too. No basic ass romance and some actual texture to the description that would be great

[libertyreads]

March TBR--

So, like February, we're going to have quite a few ebooks on the TBR for the month. We have three huge NetGalley ARCs we're reading in March (seriously, so excited for these). We'll also be trying out a new to me Romance Subgenre and reading this SciFi book that one of my husband's coworkers gave to him to give to me since I guess he heard I enjoy SciFi? I think he also heard I've been looking for some really good SciFi (the fucking Expanse has really ruined me for a lot of SciFi out there).

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky--I'm going into this one knowing very little. My husband said his coworker really enjoys this author and wanted to pass it along. After Earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species. In the silence of space they could communicate mind-to-mind with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors simply disappeared. Now, 50 years later, one of these elite finds something the aliens abandoned in space. But, are they returning? And if so, why? I'm just hoping for some good SciFi. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Archer by Rebecca Sharp (Kindle)--This will be my next attempt at reading Romance subgenres that are new to me. In this one, we're reading about a bodyguard romance. I think Goodreads calls is a "romance bodyguard thriller" so I really have no clue what to expect. This is book 1 in the Reynolds Protective series. Keira McKenna has lived her life in Witness Protection following her father's testimony against Boston's Irish mob. But when crimes start happening in the town she's settled in, Keira knows the mob has found her. She must rely on the Reynolds Protective agent to keep her safe. All the girlies love a good "Touch Her and I'll Kill You" moment so let's see if it will live up to the hype for me.

Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff (NetGalley)--When I saw the cover for this one on NetGalley, I was so drawn in. And then I read the synopsis. This is a cozy horror novel set in the idyllic town of Lake Argen. Generations ago, the founders made a deal with a dark force. In exchange for their service, the town will stay prosperous and successful, and keep outsiders out. It's worked great. Until a visitor goes missing, and his wealthy family sends a private investigator to find him and everything goes sideways. Now, Cassidy Prewitt, town baker and part-time servant of the dark force has to contend with a rising army of darkness, a very frustrated town, and a very cute PI who she might be falling for.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (NetGalley)--In the follow up to The Tainted Cup, Ana Dolabra may have met her match. In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire's reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air--abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remain locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are under constant guard. Before long, Ana's discovered that they're not investigating a disappearance, but a murder. And that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to pass through warded doors like a ghost and who can predict every one of Ana's moves as though they can see the future.

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes (NetGalley)-- Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads to a gigantic space barge housing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth's most wealthy citizens to lay low. The ship and its cry program are long defunct, but Halley starts to think she sees figures crawling in the hallways. It's not long before she realizes she may have gotten herself trapped in an even more dangerous situation than the one she was running from.

[abookishidentity]

Books I recently checked out of the library

Cold Eternity by S.A Barnes- I read another book by this author before. I believe it was called Dead Silence. Mixing science fiction and horror elements is something that works for me. I think I need to read more book by this author because she has cool ass ideas and explores interesting topics. I have already finished with this book. Good stuff.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey- I have also read other books by this author and I need to read more. This book has an interesting plot and I do like reading about characters who are twins as I am a twin.

The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed- Pretty sure I found out this book by looking at a list of dystopian books and finding this at my local library. Books wracked with climate change/disaster are normally a bummer to read but there is an element in it that appeals to me.

The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao- I read Watermoon a month ago and I decided I should out the author's other work. I just hope it's not too similar to her previous work but I don't think it would be.

Yesterday by Felicia Yap- I think this is another book that I found while looking a dystopian book list and finding this in a local library. Only remembering yesterday and or having a limited memory is just a fascinating topic to explore.

[weirdothebird]

soo i just read a book (cold eternity by S. A. Barnes) in more or less one sitting and im like, a bird that just hit your window(yes, YOUR WINDOW, go help me, will you?).

Breif Unsolicited Review:

It is pretty gorey and body-horror-y, but im pretty okay with that stuff in a written format. So many times it described something scary only for the character to immediately negate it upon observation. I suspect a common horror thing, but it got old after a while.

There was this interesting premise of a runaway, plus the musty space museum was a very cool setting. A lot of elements seemed to be lifted from various stories i have seen before.

Very unpredictable in terms of overall plot direction, but there were a lot of times when i figured out the new twist a couple paragraphs before our protagonist did.

I like when all this space stuff is reduced to mundanity, and this book definitely did that. I think thats the coolest part, although i cant quite imagine being so far in the past to someone like that.

Would recommend to anyone who likes mundane space and tech shit and will not be too scared(idk how i will be sleeping tonight)

[allbookedupblogstuff]

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes

TL;DR: A delightful spooky time. Source: NetGalley, thank you so much! Plot: Woman on the run takes a questionable job in a dark spaceship full of bodies. Characters: We’re pretty limited on this, but I enjoyed who we had. Nothing mind blowing here. Setting: The highlight of this book. I found the ship exceptionally creepy. Horror: S.A. Barnes did some great twists with some familiar tropes. I…

Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes

[bobcalzone]

Cold Eternity, by S.A. Barnes

Novel grade: C+ (3/5)

Aside from getting halfway through IT twice in high school and college (I lost the book both times, don't ask how), I've never really ventured into the realm of horror novels. Unfortunately, this one did very little to convince me.

This novel started out trying very hard to convince me it had a tense, creepy atmosphere, but it almost never landed; maybe part of that was the medium, but most of it was the contrast between the attempts at a hard sci-fi setting and the supernatural feeling to the early scares. The only aspect of the horror that particularly got to me involved an infrequently but impossibly sentient AI, but even that took a disappointing turn (both narratively and atmospherically), and both halves of the climactic reveal were ridiculous to the point of absurdity. The story itself is competent, so I don't rate the novel as low as ones I genuinely dislike...but there also wasn't particularly much to enjoy.

Next up: Sympathy Tower Tokyo, by Rie Qudan!

[syllic-wyrd]

Starting a new read tonight ^^ I love SA Barnes' space horror 💕

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Cold Eternity | Author: S.A. Barnes | Publisher: Tor (2025)