I acquired a assessment copy from the writer. This doesn’t have an effect on the contents of my assessment and all opinions are my very own.

Chilly Eternity by S.A. Barnes

Mogsy’s Score: 3.5 of 5 stars

Style: Science Fiction, Horror

Collection: Stand Alone

Writer: Nightfire | Macmillan Audio (April 8, 2025)

Size: 293 pages | 9 hrs and 38 minutes

Creator Data: Web site

There’s simply one thing irresistible a couple of haunted-in-space story, which might be why I at all times come again to S.A. Barnes. Whereas none of her books have fairly crossed that line into “phenomenal” territory for me, I can at all times rely on her to ship a reliably stable and entertaining expertise.

In Barnes’ latest novel Chilly Eternity, the premise is straight away intriguing. The story follows Halley Zwick, although she’s been identified by a number of names. A girl with a sophisticated previous making an attempt to outrun her overbearing household and a political scandal, she is pressured to just accept a shady, criminally low paying job simply to remain beneath the radar. The position itself is simple sufficient, requiring Halley to press a button each few hours and do some rounds. Nevertheless, it’s located aboard a derelict barge in house often known as the Elysian Fields. Initially constructed to protect the cryogenically frozen our bodies of the wealthy and highly effective with a hope that future medical developments will permit or their revival, the ship was even repurposed to be a museum for a time however is now nothing however a decaying relic left floating within the void.

Straight away, Halley is warned by her mysterious and unbearable boss Karl that she shall be anticipated to carry out her duties independently, and that there are areas of the ship which can be completely off-limits. Preferring to work alone anyway, Halley takes no situation with following his directions—till unusual issues begin taking place on Elysian Fields that transcend the standard quirks of an getting older, crumbling ship. Unexplained noises echo via the vacancy, and Halley thinks she catches sight of somebody or one thing within the shadowed corridors—though, so far as she is aware of, the one residing souls aboard are Karl and herself, with everybody else locked away perpetually in cryogenic sleep.

Following within the footsteps of her earlier novels Useless Silence and Ghost Station, the creator returns with one other tense, atmospheric thriller that leans laborious into the themes of isolation, paranoia, and rogue know-how. As soon as extra, Chilly Eternity is filled with unsettling imagery and claustrophobic situations which add to the mounting dread. One in every of Barnes’ biggest strengths lies in her potential to craft eerie, immersive situations which have an virtually cinematic high quality to them. Actually, as somebody who just lately watched the most recent Alien film Romulus, I might assist however draw some inevitable parallels, from the derelict spaceship setting to the glimpses of horrifying monsters lurking at midnight.

Nonetheless, though the guide had a lot to maintain me turning the pages, there have been a handful of causes that stored it from being actually memorable. For one, the pacing felt uneven, with the story taking its candy time unraveling the central thriller. With out revealing too many spoilers, onboard the Elysian Fields is a cryogenically frozen particular person whose reminiscence has been preserved, and with whom Halley has a historical past. Nevertheless, this relationship is rarely explored to my satisfaction, remaining largely surface-level. Equally, hints about Halley’s troubled previous are scattered all through the guide however are largely withheld till the ultimate stretch, when all is revealed in a single large dump. Whereas I usually recognize sluggish burn when it’s constructing towards one thing impactful, right here the narrative felt much less like a cautious calculation and extra like stalling.

One other factor that tripped me up was among the repetitiveness within the plot. The cycle of Halley’s routine which amounted to creating rounds, listening to unusual noises or seeing unusual issues, then questioning her sanity grew to become a little bit of a slog. I get that readers are presupposed to sympathize with the protagonist’s rising paranoia and exhaustion, however the way in which it was dealt with made massive parts of the novel’s center part really feel pointless or redundant. I discovered myself wishing for extra selection within the horror and thrills, or at the very least some deeper insights into the ship’s macabre historical past throughout among the quieter stretches.

However total, did I benefit from the guide? The reply is sure, which is a very powerful half. Though not flawless, Chilly Eternity is undeniably entertaining and has its justifiable share of spooky moments. I actually ate it up in a really brief period of time. Like I mentioned, though the story is unlikely to stick with me for lengthy, I knew I might rely on it for a enjoyable, stable learn.