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Stasis
By 2479, more than ten thousand people lie cold in their pods, four hundred meters down, fifty years into a sleep meant to end in 2729. Twelve of them are already awake.
Daniel Cole woke first. His pod failed years before anyone was meant to stir, and he came up alone into near-freezing dark and recycled air that tasted of metal. He stayed that way for almost four years. Then he started waking others, ten he had chosen, one at a time, until he faked his own thaw so the rest would believe a broken machine had picked them, not him.
Mara Quinn reads people for a living, and Cole comes back wrong, his calm running half a second behind where a frightened man's should. He walks the sealed corridors like he has lived there for years, not the few months he claims.
The reserve meant to carry the sleepers safely to 2729 only stretches so far. Twelve sets of lungs are spending it now.
Daniel Cole woke first. His pod failed years before anyone was meant to stir, and he came up alone into near-freezing dark and recycled air that tasted of metal. He stayed that way for almost four years. Then he started waking others, ten he had chosen, one at a time, until he faked his own thaw so the rest would believe a broken machine had picked them, not him.
Mara Quinn reads people for a living, and Cole comes back wrong, his calm running half a second behind where a frightened man's should. He walks the sealed corridors like he has lived there for years, not the few months he claims.
The reserve meant to carry the sleepers safely to 2729 only stretches so far. Twelve sets of lungs are spending it now.
- GenresScience Fiction
296 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 4, 2026
STASIS has the bones of a compelling, sci-fi thriller, but ultimately fails to fully draw me into its world. We begin with the knowledge that humanity is travelling in stasis pods on a spaceship as the old world is "ash," but a small group of people woke decades too early. They struggle with the idea that their being awake means breaking into the provisions meant to sustain the colony once it is safe for everyone to awaken, meaning their living is a death sentence for some of their fellow humans still in stasis. However, some of them realize that their pods opening up ahead of time is not an accident, as they thought: there is plenty of evidence that someone woke up first, then woke the rest of them up on purpose. Who could it be?
Honestly, I thought the novel would be about people trying to determine the first person to wake and their motives, but this is where I felt the plot fell short. Descriptions of people's trepidations and feelings deep inside that they knew who did it but didn't want to say out loud go on for pages and pages, and every awake character gets their own sections where they wonder this. Halfway through the book I felt like the plot had barely moved forward, especially since by that time the reader is well aware who did it, but still has no answers why, so it simply feels as if we have sat and merely watched these people look warily at one another for days, with no real sense of danger or urgency.
The start of an intriguing plot is absolutely there, but it was very slow to get going. Perhaps future books in the series are faster-paced.
Honestly, I thought the novel would be about people trying to determine the first person to wake and their motives, but this is where I felt the plot fell short. Descriptions of people's trepidations and feelings deep inside that they knew who did it but didn't want to say out loud go on for pages and pages, and every awake character gets their own sections where they wonder this. Halfway through the book I felt like the plot had barely moved forward, especially since by that time the reader is well aware who did it, but still has no answers why, so it simply feels as if we have sat and merely watched these people look warily at one another for days, with no real sense of danger or urgency.
The start of an intriguing plot is absolutely there, but it was very slow to get going. Perhaps future books in the series are faster-paced.
October 30, 2026
Suspenseful Whydunit
When we first meet Daniel Cole, he's standing in front of a 400m rocky deep, hosting 10000 people in suspended animation for another 250 years. Why? “The old world was ash.” It was gone.
Now, 12 people are awake, including Cole who first woke up ‘accidentally’ after 50 years, while “the other ten he had reached in and woken by hand…everything after, he had chosen.” Eight women and two men, with unique capabilities. The ninth woman, Grace, he'd left asleep, but her pod was mysteriously yanked open. And he'd his reservations for both her strong moral center and upcoming question that would wreck the recitation. And for four years, he'd built answers that failed him when she spoke three words, expecting his reply.
And when, by and by, Cole is caught in the middle of a fury, an unanswerable question pops up, “He chose us. Why these ten. Why us.” A man in the room knew what others didn't and were reaching for, but he withheld.
But earlier on, the author tells you “he could bury the when…he could not bury the why.” And “the why” is a formidable narrative drive.
There are many “why questions” whose suspense intensifies after the Opened, Not Failed chapter and you know this is it when you hit the Chosen chapter, especially before and after the 280-page mark.
I had to check out its sequel.
Stasis keeps you flipping through its suspenseful plot twists.
When we first meet Daniel Cole, he's standing in front of a 400m rocky deep, hosting 10000 people in suspended animation for another 250 years. Why? “The old world was ash.” It was gone.
Now, 12 people are awake, including Cole who first woke up ‘accidentally’ after 50 years, while “the other ten he had reached in and woken by hand…everything after, he had chosen.” Eight women and two men, with unique capabilities. The ninth woman, Grace, he'd left asleep, but her pod was mysteriously yanked open. And he'd his reservations for both her strong moral center and upcoming question that would wreck the recitation. And for four years, he'd built answers that failed him when she spoke three words, expecting his reply.
And when, by and by, Cole is caught in the middle of a fury, an unanswerable question pops up, “He chose us. Why these ten. Why us.” A man in the room knew what others didn't and were reaching for, but he withheld.
But earlier on, the author tells you “he could bury the when…he could not bury the why.” And “the why” is a formidable narrative drive.
There are many “why questions” whose suspense intensifies after the Opened, Not Failed chapter and you know this is it when you hit the Chosen chapter, especially before and after the 280-page mark.
I had to check out its sequel.
Stasis keeps you flipping through its suspenseful plot twists.
November 7, 2026
Stasis by D.A. Graham is a slow-burn moral thriller about control disguised as care. Tell me, if someone saves your life by taking away your choices, did they really save you? This book asks this hard question.
The story takes place in a giant underground shelter. Ten thousand people sleep in pods, waiting centuries for the Earth to heal. But something goes wrong. Cole’s pod broke way too early, and he woke up all alone. After years of loneliness, he secretly wakes up other people so he can have a family.
At first, everything seems fine. Then the air gets worse, food runs low, and two soldiers notice Cole is hiding something big. When one pod wakes up all by itself, a woman named Grace opens her eyes and can tell he isn’t telling the truth.
The strongest part of the book is its focus on trust, control, and choice. The story has a lot of conversations, discoveries, and difficult decisions. Cole is not an evil villain. He cares about the group and works hard to keep them alive. But he also acts like a master puppet master. He even chose a woman named Cleo to wake up because he liked her.
As I said, the book moves slowly. The author spends a lot of time describing machines, air filters, and resource math. If you want fast action, this book might feel slow. What makes this book work so well is the psychological tension. As this is the first installment in the series, we hope to see more action in upcoming books.
The story takes place in a giant underground shelter. Ten thousand people sleep in pods, waiting centuries for the Earth to heal. But something goes wrong. Cole’s pod broke way too early, and he woke up all alone. After years of loneliness, he secretly wakes up other people so he can have a family.
At first, everything seems fine. Then the air gets worse, food runs low, and two soldiers notice Cole is hiding something big. When one pod wakes up all by itself, a woman named Grace opens her eyes and can tell he isn’t telling the truth.
The strongest part of the book is its focus on trust, control, and choice. The story has a lot of conversations, discoveries, and difficult decisions. Cole is not an evil villain. He cares about the group and works hard to keep them alive. But he also acts like a master puppet master. He even chose a woman named Cleo to wake up because he liked her.
As I said, the book moves slowly. The author spends a lot of time describing machines, air filters, and resource math. If you want fast action, this book might feel slow. What makes this book work so well is the psychological tension. As this is the first installment in the series, we hope to see more action in upcoming books.
October 28, 2026
Compelling futuristic story
The premise of Stasis makes for a compelling story. Humans are put in cryogenic stasis until the earth is safe to live on again. However, some of those people wake up too soon.
The book delves into how each choice made has consequences not initially seen. The story focuses on the decisions the few are forced to make and the moral reasoning behind them.
I would have liked a bit more back story to find out why they were being preserved for the future. I also found some of the wording hard to follow.
Since this is the first in a series, I will definitely be reading the next one because I am curious about what happens next. All in all, Stasis is an interesting futuristic tale that most science fiction fans would enjoy.
The premise of Stasis makes for a compelling story. Humans are put in cryogenic stasis until the earth is safe to live on again. However, some of those people wake up too soon.
The book delves into how each choice made has consequences not initially seen. The story focuses on the decisions the few are forced to make and the moral reasoning behind them.
I would have liked a bit more back story to find out why they were being preserved for the future. I also found some of the wording hard to follow.
Since this is the first in a series, I will definitely be reading the next one because I am curious about what happens next. All in all, Stasis is an interesting futuristic tale that most science fiction fans would enjoy.
November 8, 2026
Does one man's loneliness justify stealing the future from others? How do you rectify a wrong when the perpetrator is still necessary for your own survival? If anyone is familiar with the movie Passengers, this book treads similar waters but on a grander scale.
It's hard to rate a book you equal parts loved and hated. The premise, setting, and cast of characters have so much potential. The writing style and constant use of specific rhetorical devices hold the first three back. There are some beautifully composed lines, but the overuse chokes them out. It also keeps the characters from feeling like separate points of view rather than just different designations on paper. The overall language choice don't fit the norms of hard sci-fi either.
It's hard to rate a book you equal parts loved and hated. The premise, setting, and cast of characters have so much potential. The writing style and constant use of specific rhetorical devices hold the first three back. There are some beautifully composed lines, but the overuse chokes them out. It also keeps the characters from feeling like separate points of view rather than just different designations on paper. The overall language choice don't fit the norms of hard sci-fi either.
October 31, 2026
"Stasis" by D.A. Graham is an immersive sci-fi psychological thriller. As the earth has become unsafe for human beings, they are put in stasis underground.The pod of Daniel Cole fails and he wakes up before time. He remains alone for four long years. However, as the story unravels, he intentionally wakes up others. The story line revolves around the question of why Daniel wakes up these people, their mutual trust and speculations, and whether his decision was justified. The narrative is compelling and the characters are layered.The book is part of the series yet can be read standalone. It is one of those reads that keeps the reader on edge about what happens next. A treat for sci-fi fans.
November 2, 2026
It took me abit before I caught up with the story but I found it quite compelling, it's interesting that im used to stories where people are taken to space to preserve humanity, this one however was different. People were in pods underground and one of them Cole, his failed midway and he decided he needed company, honestly I would have done the same thing.
I absolutely loved the storyline and the flow. This book really entertained me and im definitely looking to read the rest in the series, I found it very entertaining.
I absolutely loved the storyline and the flow. This book really entertained me and im definitely looking to read the rest in the series, I found it very entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews