I will say I found the tone of Cold Eternity quite different from the authors previous books.
Although clearly science fiction as far as it taking place in a significantly futuristic world, there was less of the space-y, space travel, space ships feel to this book compared to the others – not to say it was nonexistent, it just wasn’t as present feeling and the setting almost felt as if it could have been anywhere at times, not necessarily a spaceship as it was. It had less of the horror of potential alien influence and more of a vibe of something horrifying occurring in a science fiction setting for a majority of the book, until much closer to the end when things began to grow more apparent. This isn’t to say it wasn’t fantastic in its own way, just a note that it was a very different vibe from previous books; which of course isn’t necessarily a negative. It was very much good in its own right.
The first half of the book seemed to have almost more of a psychological horror aspect to it. As Halley is unable to trust her own eyes and experiences as she is gaslit at every turn when she things she sees or experiences something. As a result much of the book is spent with her questioning if something was really going on, and then investigating further to see if she truly is losing her mind, or something more sinister is occurring on the ship she has accepted a job on. All the while, she has her own past which is threatening to haunt her and cause her issues which adds to this vibe and leaves much room for paranoia and uncertainty.
It isn’t until the last part of the book that the overwhelming sense of horror hits and it ends up being very much worth the wait and had me invested in the book all over again. This was, as always with this author, a book that I flew through and did not want to stop once I started which is a testament to how incredible the author is at writing this genre of book. For all that it’s just for one book, and a few hundred pages at that, it’s difficult not to become invested in Halley’s story and survival which makes it even more of a phenomenal read. As more information on Halley becomes available this feeling just increases and I loved the aspects of her present that tied to her past and how certain things about the ship she is on are relevant to her past experiences (without giving anything away).
Suffice it to say I loved this book and now find myself with the struggle of waiting for the next fantastic sci-fi horror book that S. A. Barnes comes out with. This author has definitely become an auto-read for me and I find myself left with the struggle of waiting for the next release because I am honestly obsessed with every book that comes out.
