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Cold as Ice #2
The Ganymede Club
In the years following the Great War and the death of half the human race, Lola Belman, a therapist on Ganymede, meets a patient whose past is a mystery, and a dangerous group will stop at nothing to keep Lola from exploring the past and discovering their existence. Reprint.
342 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
5 people are currently reading
239 people want to read
About the author
Charles Sheffield
218 books171 followersCharles A. Sheffield (June 25, 1935 – November 2, 2002), was an English-born mathematician, physicist and science fiction author. He had been a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronomical Society.
His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.
For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.
He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.
Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.
He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.
He was married to writer Nancy Kress.
His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.
For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.
He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.
Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.
He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.
He was married to writer Nancy Kress.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 10, 2021
This is the middle book of Sheffield's Cold as Ice trilogy. It explores more of the post-war setting set up in the previous book, and explores Bat's character more fully now that he's almost an adult. The space setting is very well described and quite convincing, with less a feel of being lectured than the previous book. (I do think it necessary to have read it prior to this one to avoid being lost. And you'll want to read the next one, too, to tie up the loose ends...) It's a good story from a master of hard-sf.
April 10, 2025
Replacing review disappeared by GR 10/04/2025
4.0⭐ Middle book in Sheffield's trilogy beginning with Cold As Ice. It's a very decent science fiction mystery, reminiscent a bit of Issac Asimov's mysteries. Like the other books it's set in a solar system recovering from a terrible war, in which many horrific crimes and dangers remain hidden. This case begins with a strange encounter out among the moons of Saturn and follows the consequences of that event ( murder and skulduggery) over the next 40 years. Well written, with good science, the story is pretty much stand alone ( the series is tied together by the character The Bat, who"s kind of Nero Wolfe of the space ways.
It features a great John Berkey cover (who did the art for all three books in the original printing).
4.0⭐ Middle book in Sheffield's trilogy beginning with Cold As Ice. It's a very decent science fiction mystery, reminiscent a bit of Issac Asimov's mysteries. Like the other books it's set in a solar system recovering from a terrible war, in which many horrific crimes and dangers remain hidden. This case begins with a strange encounter out among the moons of Saturn and follows the consequences of that event ( murder and skulduggery) over the next 40 years. Well written, with good science, the story is pretty much stand alone ( the series is tied together by the character The Bat, who"s kind of Nero Wolfe of the space ways.
It features a great John Berkey cover (who did the art for all three books in the original printing).
April 3, 2013
There is a category of frustrating books that are not quite bad enough to put down, yet not quite interesting enough to keep reading. I think this is the archetype. The beast took me forever to read because I kept falling asleep. I suppose I was more interested in the outre' mood science fiction can provide, and this book is more in the nature of a thriller. There is very little scene / mood setting. It could have almost as easily taken place on Earth in the present day. Not what I was looking for -- especially disappointing when other series I have read by this author are spectacular.
June 8, 2015
This book, ostensibly the sequel to Sheffield's earlier book, Cold As Ice, instead takes on a life of its own as a story reminiscent of his Godspeed, a YA novel. With two teen protagonists and a conspiracy hatched by survivors of an extraterrestrial phenomenon, this story is a straightforward account of the their associated adventures. A good, uncomplicated read.
June 5, 2024
Lola Belman works as a haldane, a psychiatrist therapist who treats patients for which conventional therapies have been ineffective. She and her young brother Spook were survivors of the war between Earth and the Belt that decimated both. Spook is a computer whiz and gravitates to the online world of Puzzle Net and meets the even more savvy Rustum ‘Bat’ Battachariya, an obese genius. Lola’s latest patient, going by the name Bryce, is troubled by memories that can’t possibly be his own, including some where he dies, and when Lola dives deep into his psyche she finds that they aren’t even the same person’s memories. What the memories eventually reveal however, is a small group of people who seriously do not wish the information hinted at in the memories to surface and the decision is made to eliminate Lola, Spook, Bat and Bryce. An assassin is engaged to do the task, the outwardly genial Jinx Walker, but his overconfidence leads to suspicion and the plot is revealed. The deaths of other conspirators causes the foursome to flee and try to find out just what the hell they knew and why people wanted them dead. The puzzle seems to have something to do with a very ill-fated Saturn expedition and relatives who all seemed to have died at the same time. Charles Sheffield has given us a murder mystery that works just as well as a YA novel. Part of a loose series of books it is well worth a read.
December 18, 2024
Review:
The Ganymede Club, the second of Sheffield’s books in the Cold As Ice trilogy, is set a little earlier in his timeline. The main action occurs in 2072, only 5 years after the end of The Great War, but we also catch glimpses of activity in the solar system as early as the 2030s. This book focuses on two siblings, refugees from Earth, trying to make a life on Ganymede. Through the older sister’s work and the younger brother's curiosity, they get swept up in the suspicion and paranoia of an exclusive group trying to protect their secret to near-immortal longevity. Again, Sheffield offers a fun sci-fi mystery, this time with deception and assassins. Bat (a younger Bat) is the only returning character between the two books. I appreciate how Sheffield writes him. He is never quite the main character, but perhaps he is Sheffield’s and the reader’s favorite. (4.5)
Discussion:
The Ganymede Club deals with the idea of longevity in two unique ways. First is the Club itself and its members, who were on the first human-crewed Saturn exploration mission in 2032 and prolonged their lives thanks to some alien phenomenon they discovered exploring the surface and structure of the moon Helene. Since their discovery, the Club carefully guarded the secret and covered their tracks. However, the second way it deals with longevity is in the character of Danny/Bryce, who was once a casino kingpin back on Earth (Danny) who fakes his death and moves to Mars only to be killed and have his mind uploaded into a new body (Bryce). Discovering his real past as Danny, the circumstances of his death, and its possible connection to the Club brings him into Lola’s office and the Club to Lola. Ultimately, at the novel's end, Danny can not help but try to chase after the remaining Club members and find their secret. It was interesting how Sheffield explored this concept through two different mechanisms. The idea of longevity is, of course, in stark contrast to the annihilation of Earth during The Great War, so narrowly escaped by Lola and Spook (9 billion dead, including their parents).
The Ganymede Club, the second of Sheffield’s books in the Cold As Ice trilogy, is set a little earlier in his timeline. The main action occurs in 2072, only 5 years after the end of The Great War, but we also catch glimpses of activity in the solar system as early as the 2030s. This book focuses on two siblings, refugees from Earth, trying to make a life on Ganymede. Through the older sister’s work and the younger brother's curiosity, they get swept up in the suspicion and paranoia of an exclusive group trying to protect their secret to near-immortal longevity. Again, Sheffield offers a fun sci-fi mystery, this time with deception and assassins. Bat (a younger Bat) is the only returning character between the two books. I appreciate how Sheffield writes him. He is never quite the main character, but perhaps he is Sheffield’s and the reader’s favorite. (4.5)
Discussion:
The Ganymede Club deals with the idea of longevity in two unique ways. First is the Club itself and its members, who were on the first human-crewed Saturn exploration mission in 2032 and prolonged their lives thanks to some alien phenomenon they discovered exploring the surface and structure of the moon Helene. Since their discovery, the Club carefully guarded the secret and covered their tracks. However, the second way it deals with longevity is in the character of Danny/Bryce, who was once a casino kingpin back on Earth (Danny) who fakes his death and moves to Mars only to be killed and have his mind uploaded into a new body (Bryce). Discovering his real past as Danny, the circumstances of his death, and its possible connection to the Club brings him into Lola’s office and the Club to Lola. Ultimately, at the novel's end, Danny can not help but try to chase after the remaining Club members and find their secret. It was interesting how Sheffield explored this concept through two different mechanisms. The idea of longevity is, of course, in stark contrast to the annihilation of Earth during The Great War, so narrowly escaped by Lola and Spook (9 billion dead, including their parents).
June 30, 2019
A very interesting story.
Content warning for subtle sexism (women's bodies and looks are described in a way that men never are) and overt fatphobia (it is clear how disgusting and slovenly Bat is; his fat is not an asset or even neutral but a way to set him apart from other characters).
Still, worth the read.
Content warning for subtle sexism (women's bodies and looks are described in a way that men never are) and overt fatphobia (it is clear how disgusting and slovenly Bat is; his fat is not an asset or even neutral but a way to set him apart from other characters).
Still, worth the read.
February 3, 2024
7 stars out of 5. The book opens with First Saturn Expedition which occurred in 2032. On page 93 you realize the separate stories that form each chapter are connected. The main story is set in 2072. Bat (Rustum Battachariya) is a 16 year old gamer on Ganymede who meets fellow gamer Spook (Augustus Belman, age 15) on Puzzle Network. Spook and his sister, Lola, came from Earth 5 years ago and Lola has just received her graduate degree in psychology to become a 'haldane'. She helps only the most disturbed patients understand their problems. She remembers well escaping from Earth in the war 5 years before, but the newest patient, Bryce Sonnenberg is having flashbacks to a life he never could have lived. Spook lives with Lola and steals her files on this patient, examines them with Bat, and they find themselves ensnared in the biggest puzzle they've ever encountered. Why would anyone want to kill Lola? The flashbacks are intense. The chases through the tunnels of Ganymede are intense. And the main characters errors increase their risk. The hook is what exactly happened on that First Saturn Expedition? - 26,000 + dead in Gaza, the US retaliated for a drone strike on a US base in Jordan, hitting 85 insurgent bases in Iraq and Syria. Even this book was hard to concentrate on with WWIII looming in the background of reality.
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October 23, 2025Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Charles Sheffield returns to the Solar System of his novel Cold As Ice, to spin a tale of the years immediately following the Great War, a horrifying spasm that was over in weeks, but killed half the human race.
February 21, 2021
Way better than Cold As Ice
May 23, 2021
Also the book is full of insights about lives of ordinary people.
September 30, 2022
I really enjoyed this sci-fi - I am a therapist and the book follows the life of a young 'haldane', or futuristic therapist. Worth the time for sure.
October 26, 2020
The Ganymede Club hits upon the faults of his previous book in the series, Cold As Ice, with more articulated backgrounds and complex personalities of the main characters. Forgetful characters are not gone, mind you, but at least it's slightly balanced with a development of the ones you're more focused on. Like his previous book, Sheffield leaves you with more questions than anything, but some of the questions brought up by his previous book are answered here - what was it like during the Great War? What was the upbringing of Bat like? How did humans expand onto other planets? etc.
There is certainly less of a technical description in this one than in Cold As Ice, but in my opinion there's enough astro-mechanical explanations that will suit your fancy if you enjoyed those elaborations from his last book. Additionally, I found it satisfying to see a focus on slightly more compelling characters than on astro-mechanical explanations. Where as the technical/character ratio in Cold As Ice was around 75/25, The Ganymede Club balances it out somewhere around 60/40.
There is certainly less of a technical description in this one than in Cold As Ice, but in my opinion there's enough astro-mechanical explanations that will suit your fancy if you enjoyed those elaborations from his last book. Additionally, I found it satisfying to see a focus on slightly more compelling characters than on astro-mechanical explanations. Where as the technical/character ratio in Cold As Ice was around 75/25, The Ganymede Club balances it out somewhere around 60/40.
February 7, 2017
Ora vabbè che i lettori di Sf sono spesso dei nerd... ma non puoi dopo tre righe mettermi li le macchine di Von Neumann come se niente fosse e senza spiegazioni. Stella persa!
Per fortuna che mi ero letto l'anno scorso L'anello di Caronte dove il buon McBride si era preso la briga di spiegare che fossero
e poi è una delle prime regole: non puoi parlare di qualcosa, introdurre un termine , senza prima averlo spiegato! Le basi, le basi!
In questo libro ci si aspetta che il lettore segua l'autore e non il contrario.
Se non riesci a stare al passo peggio per te sembra dire, la mia storia procede lo stesso!
Mi piace!
Anche la Rete Enigma e il Pipistrello sono delle belle idee come anche il fatto che azione e reazione si susseguano senza troppe pagine nel mezzo ma come diretta conseguenza l'una dell'altra.
L'interazione col lettore è fin qui davvero notevole. Credo che leggerò anche il prequel e certo altro di questo autore.
Finale avvincente e palpitante alla fine la stella l'ho lasciata perché non è stata una mancanza di rispetto ma considerazione verso le capacità deduttive del lettore.
Mi piace il suo stile da prendere ad esempio!
Per fortuna che mi ero letto l'anno scorso L'anello di Caronte dove il buon McBride si era preso la briga di spiegare che fossero
e poi è una delle prime regole: non puoi parlare di qualcosa, introdurre un termine , senza prima averlo spiegato! Le basi, le basi!
In questo libro ci si aspetta che il lettore segua l'autore e non il contrario.
Se non riesci a stare al passo peggio per te sembra dire, la mia storia procede lo stesso!
Mi piace!
Anche la Rete Enigma e il Pipistrello sono delle belle idee come anche il fatto che azione e reazione si susseguano senza troppe pagine nel mezzo ma come diretta conseguenza l'una dell'altra.
L'interazione col lettore è fin qui davvero notevole. Credo che leggerò anche il prequel e certo altro di questo autore.
Finale avvincente e palpitante alla fine la stella l'ho lasciata perché non è stata una mancanza di rispetto ma considerazione verso le capacità deduttive del lettore.
Mi piace il suo stile da prendere ad esempio!
September 4, 2014
This a murder mystery set on Ganymede a moon of jupiter. The book is full of. fascinating characters and plot twists I will read more of this author's works. This one of the works Asimov or Heinlein would be reading if they were alive today.This is universe where space travel is the norm. Yet the solar system is still a mysterious and strange place. It's solar system in which there has been war that billions of combatants and non combats have died in a war where no side could claim victory. The story focuses on refugees from this war and what happens them as they live rebuilt lives and stumble in a mystery spans decades and lives of the living and the dead.
December 20, 2013
More high action in the solar system. Bat reappears in this prequel, which is awesome. He makes up for an otherwise tenuously connected plot.
One character is a Haldane; a futuristic psychologist who interfaces with people using technology and psychoactive drugs.
Her patient is some weird guy who has impossible memories, which is never satisfactorily resolved, or at least I didn't get it. I don't know. I found the ending hard to follow.
One character is a Haldane; a futuristic psychologist who interfaces with people using technology and psychoactive drugs.
Her patient is some weird guy who has impossible memories, which is never satisfactorily resolved, or at least I didn't get it. I don't know. I found the ending hard to follow.
February 1, 2012
Still reading it...
That will change very shortly, as I cannot put this book down. Sheffield's skillful writing and perfect timing has me craving more with each turning of the page. He could give mystery writers a real run for their money with this book. I enjoyed 'Cold as Ice', but it pales in comparison to 'The Ganymede club'.
That will change very shortly, as I cannot put this book down. Sheffield's skillful writing and perfect timing has me craving more with each turning of the page. He could give mystery writers a real run for their money with this book. I enjoyed 'Cold as Ice', but it pales in comparison to 'The Ganymede club'.
May 31, 2012
Another excellent book by Sheffield. He returns to the Solar System of Cold as Ice and "Bat" Battachariya, the genius with computers and the Puzzle Network. This time Bat is 17 years old and gets involved with another young genius and his sister. It's a very intense story full of intrigue and suspense. Do read it, you'll enjoy it.
February 6, 2013
I think I picked up this book on the "free for the taking" cart at my local library and read it some time later. It wasn't particularly memorable, though I remember some interesting geek sci-fi concepts I enjoyed pondering. The storyline spans several volumes, which is why I may have lost it at times. Other than that, 'just ok.'
September 22, 2013
Good stuff from Charles Sheffield. I think I came in in the middle, but that didn't matter a bit. Fast-paced space mystery with tons of fascinating detail. While The Ganymede Club never flagged for a minute, the ending fell a little flat and suffered from telling rather than showing the climax. Fun nevertheless.
September 11, 2013
Another great read by Charles Sheffield.
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July 27, 2018This was serious young adult writing before the "young adult" or YA became a buzzword
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews