Customer Reviews

Cold As Ice

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For years Charles Sheffield has been one of my favorite science fiction authors--right up there with current "wouldn't miss" authors like Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, Ursula LeGuin, Robert Sawyer and Gene Wolfe--and this will be as much a eulogy as a review of COLD AS ICE. I looked forward to a Sheffield novel or novelette every year or so. Some say he wrote space opera--but if so, it was a superior kind. COLD AS ICE, set in the near-future solar system and something like a sequel to THE JUPITER PROJECT, is less of a space opera than, say, Sheffield's "Convergence" tales. I read it years ago and reread it last week before going on to its 2002 sequel, DARK AS DAY. Sheffield's last book is quite good after a somewhat frivolous start, grows better with each chapter, and I genuinely recommend it, but COLD AS ICE remains my personal favorite of all his longer fiction.

Sheffield had the mind of a scientist, a waggish wit, and the soul of a poet--a rare combination in science-fiction, which has been able to attract writers of significance like Ted Sturgeon, humorists as prolific as Ron Goulart and Terry Pratchett, and scientists like Gregory Benford, but seldom has the genre had an author whose elements were so mix'd as in Charles Sheffield, enabling us to shout, "This was a writer!" Sheffield's poetic diction and irrepressible wit probably emerged from his own temperament. He seems to have been a glorious romantic who had next to no male supremacy hangups. "At the Eschaton," a novelette that whirls us, a la Olaf Stapledon, from our time to the far distant future, is the most genuinely romantic work ever to emerge out of science-fiction, a mind-blowing exploration of "eternal love." It remains the best sci-fi short novel I've ever read (although the novel-length expansion was one of Sheffield's lesser efforts).

In a different way COLD AS ICE is also a superb romance, with realistic, sometimes imperfect, relationships of many kinds, from friendship to love (both mature and immature). While these interactions are building, the action never for a moment lets up, and the science, while cutting-edge, is extrapolated from current physical theories. The setting, mainly on Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa, is deliciously described and the preservation of Europa from human contamination has resonance for our time. It's a slam-bang adventure tale, with (as usual in Sheffield) a mystery to be solved. But most of all I appreciate Sheffield's subtle, realistic, and warm humans in this fine book--something, alas, Arthur Clarke has never achieved. Humans like "Megachirops" the Great Bat, a fat and sometimes too-arrogant genius (whom we met in THE JUPITER PROJECT and who shows up for a third appearance in DARK AS DAY, I'm happy to report), the three young people of special talents whose mystery is the backbone of the book, and even the lesser characters.

It's correct to call this a next-step-in-human evolution novel, but it takes evolution in small steps--don't look for CHILDHOOD'S END or BLOOD MUSIC. In Sheffield's mature stories the main characters may be superior but are never one-dimensional. Like Bat, they are quite fallible. The up-and-coming young sci-fi novelist, Peter Hamilton, could learn a lot by studying Sheffield's books. Hamilton's space-operatic "Confederation" series shows promise, but the hero is too much a universal genius to be true, and ultimately he becomes a crashing bore. Sheffield never bored us. I don't want to believe he's gone!

This book is set in the near future after a major war between sects of humans that occupy the asteroid belt region and those on Earth and Mars. The plot revolves around a new weapon that one side hopes will tilt the war in their favor. Unfortunately for them, events turn sour, they attempt to cover their tracks, and we are left with a mystery.

The book is well-written and easy to read. The plot does not create a great deal of suspense, and the resolution involves violations of biological principles that lack a real SF cover. As such, the stage is SF with interplanetary travel, frozen worlds that have been terraformed and the like. The plot, however, is fantasy involving biological responses beyond any norm. The mix is more than mildly annoying.

Cold as Ice is a very fine work, by one of the best science fiction writers of our time. I am sorry indeed to hear of Charles Sheffield's passing last year. I enjoyed the wit, humor and hands on realism of this book, and others of his. Of the works of his I have read, this is the best yet. The story line keeps one engaged, the background of the Great War that is now over, leaving humanity bruised and battered, and the space lanes strewn with lost hopes and ghost ships is a engaging and believable background indeed. And the characters are real, human and they invite us to follow their efforts in many ways.

The issues of science in service to politics, war and social needs is raised in subtle ways, and the sacrifice and challenges faced in many ways in this story evoke and raise questions for contemporary contemplation.

I would urge any who have encountered Sheffield's work to read this as one of his best, and congratulate those other readers who already know and appreciate the fine qualities of this superior work.

For some reason the publishers like comparing this author with Asimov and Clark. Surely by the late 90s this puts off more people than it encourages. I can see similarity with Asimov in that there are central characters engaged in a bit of detective work and its mostly a battle of brains rather than brawn. Thankfully it doesn't have 95 pages of dialogue where you are supposed to spot the clue. Anyway... this book is fun to read. He's taken the same universe as the Ganymede Club and selected the one of the same characters, but not the one you might expect... Bat. Mostly set in space, or underwater, or under planets .. good escapist stuff

I found COLD AS ICE a little hard to get into. It starts with an engaging scenario, then jumps forward 25 years and presents the reader with a number of seemingly unconnected characters. Not that the characters aren't interesting, but it takes quite a while before connections begin to be established.

Overall, the alien locations are well-drawn, there are some unique and intriquing characters, and the action moves along satisfactorily once it gets going. On the downside, the plot was a bit transparent and it never devoloped much suspense. I never had the feeling that I just couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

Perhaps the number of high ratings here are partially a comment on the state of the scifi genre these days. To my mind, this is really a mediocre book, but I still find it one of the more enjoyable scifi books I've read lately. Maybe I'm just not making great choices. In my younger days, I read a lot of what I still think was outstanding scifi. Books like DUNE, DOUBLE STAR, the FOUNDATION series, RITE OF PASSAGE, LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS, RINGWORLD, etc. I'm just not finding books of that calibre in this genre anymore, and it's not for lack of trying. So, whether it's a commentary on me or the state of scifi, I'm giving this a four-star rating. It's a weak four, more like 3.7 (a B- in letter-grade terms), and a very mild endorsement. Rip-roaring scifi it's not, but it will have to do until something better comes along.

"Cold as Ice" was my introduction to Charles Sheffield. It is a very enjoyable book and an excellent introduction to Sheffield's style of Hard Science Fiction. One of the character in the book, "Bat", is one of my favorite characters of all times and definitely an archtype of note for me, at least. The plot moves and reads well. It is not overly complex or deep. It is clean and efficient prose. If you want to check out Charles Sheffield as an author, "Cold as Ice" is a great place to start.

I had never read Sheffield before and I liked this book. I am a fan of near furture science fiction and this fits that category. The locations, in our solar system, are familiar. People are still people, (no aliens) and the Great War has left enough of Earth for people to rebuild. The story developes the characters in parallel so for half the book you do not know which one is key or where you are going. Things converge nicely in the second half and all ends well. It was a good, exciting read. Some romance, no sexual descriptions, no violence. Fair amount of techno-speak and scientific explanations, sounds feasible to me even if the timeline is ambitious.

I did think the ending was a bit too tidy and I look forward to the sequel to learn more about these characters and their mission. Actually, I have read the sequel and it is the same universe but not the same characters. Too bad, it would be nice if Sheffield could link both stories all in yet another novel.

As a reader who reads alot more fantasy than sci-fi, I found Cold as Ice to be a very stimulating plot. It has just the right mixture of romance, character interactions, entertaining characters (Bat, of course), mystery, and sci-fi/outer space to capture your interest. A very good plot that carries you along until all mysteries are solved, with a little bit of suspense to carry you over. Charles Sheffield's best work yet!

I loved this book from start to finish! The mystery and suspense kept my eyes glued to the pages. A real page turner!!!!

This book is not bad, but it is far from being among the greats in Science Fiction. The beginning is very disjointed -- many characters are introduced in many different setting and the reader has no idea what's going on or how the characters relate. Its hard to keep them straight. Around the middle of the book, things start to come together and some plot begins to develop. Finally the book comes to a conclusion and the reader thinks "so what". There are aspects of a mystery story, but the mystery, when revealed, is not a big deal -- one wonders why anyone ever tried to keep it secret. The strengths of the book are in the details -- good characterizations and realistic depiction of the "surroundings". However, a weak plot and the rambling, disjointed style make it less than outstanding.