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The Snow Queen Cycle #3
The Summer Queen
Sequel To The Hugo Award-Winning Bestseller The Snow Queen
The Summer Queen is the extraordinary sequel to one of science fiction's most celebrated novels, The Snow Queen . Set in a fully realized universe of wonders, this spectacular space epic, itself a finalist for the Hugo Award, is one of the most remarkable novels in the field.
A story that spans millennia, from the ruins of an ancient interstellar empire to the planets of the Hegemony that rules human space, The Summer Queen is the multi-layered story of Tiamat, a world where the dolphin-like mers are harvested for the youth-prolonging serum extracted from their blood. But Tiamat is much more, for beneath Carbuncle, its capital, lies the old empire's greatest an enormous forgotten technology which, though decaying, continues to affect the fates of the fallen empire's remnant cultures via the sybil-network--a data bank that binds the past and the future in its web of knowledge, As the Smith, genius mastermind of the hidden interstellar Brotherhood, tries feverishly to unlock its secrets, BZ Gundhalinu desperately strives to save the Hegemony, while the Summer Queen herself dares to create a new future for her people and her planet. And though each is acting alone, their fates will entwine in an astonishing climax that will change the universe forever.
The Summer Queen is the extraordinary sequel to one of science fiction's most celebrated novels, The Snow Queen . Set in a fully realized universe of wonders, this spectacular space epic, itself a finalist for the Hugo Award, is one of the most remarkable novels in the field.
A story that spans millennia, from the ruins of an ancient interstellar empire to the planets of the Hegemony that rules human space, The Summer Queen is the multi-layered story of Tiamat, a world where the dolphin-like mers are harvested for the youth-prolonging serum extracted from their blood. But Tiamat is much more, for beneath Carbuncle, its capital, lies the old empire's greatest an enormous forgotten technology which, though decaying, continues to affect the fates of the fallen empire's remnant cultures via the sybil-network--a data bank that binds the past and the future in its web of knowledge, As the Smith, genius mastermind of the hidden interstellar Brotherhood, tries feverishly to unlock its secrets, BZ Gundhalinu desperately strives to save the Hegemony, while the Summer Queen herself dares to create a new future for her people and her planet. And though each is acting alone, their fates will entwine in an astonishing climax that will change the universe forever.
688 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1991
63 people are currently reading
1721 people want to read
About the author
Joan D. Vinge
134 books443 followersJoan D. Vinge (born Joan Carol Dennison) is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
May 17, 2020
Whew, it took me nearly three weeks to read this! That’s unusual for me. For the most part, it wasn’t the fault of the book. I had two weeks of almost non-stop work, with very little down time. More often than not, when I finally sat down to read, some work-related issue would interrupt me and I’d have to put it back down. The third week was better, but still full of work-related distractions. It wasn’t entirely not the book either, though. It did have some slow spots. Combine that with both work distractions and personal distractions and some general restlessness, and there were times when it was difficult to make forward progress. My Kindle edition claims it’s 686 pages, but it took more Kindle page turns for the “real page numbers” to advance as compared to most of the Kindle books I read, so the edition these page numbers were based on must have had a miniscule font. The mass market paperback edition appears to be 949 pages.
This is the third book in The Snow Queen cycle. It picks up directly after the first book, The Snow Queen, and the first part takes place concurrently with the second book, World’s End. In many ways the story continues as you would expect, especially if you read the second book. There were some unexpected things though, and I think those were the parts I liked best.
I was least interested in the parts of the story that followed . However, I really enjoyed the chapters that focused on some of the new characters. Reede was especially interesting to me, even after I figured out what was going on with him. I tend to enjoy the troubled, ambiguous characters with a mysterious past. I also enjoyed most of the story surrounding a more familiar character, .
I liked the end ok, but it felt a little anticlimactic and maybe a little rushed. I don’t know that it actually was rushed, but it felt that way in comparison with the pace of the rest of the story. All the characters were given a little bit of page time so that we’d know what was going on, and aside from a couple plot points that I never bought into, I felt like we had all the answers by the end. It just seemed like more than a few pages were needed to provide a proper wrap-up.
I did mostly enjoy the book, but it was a struggle at times. I think if I’d had fewer distractions, I would have enjoyed it more because I would have made it through the slower parts more easily. I’m rating this at 3.5 stars but rounding down on Goodreads. There’s one more book in the series, but I think I’m going to stop here. I went and checked the book blurb (a thing I usually avoid doing) and it looks like it’s a side story focusing on BZ and set during the first book. I’d probably enjoy it since I liked his character, but going backward in the story timeline doesn’t appeal to me right now and I’m ready to move on to something new.
This is the third book in The Snow Queen cycle. It picks up directly after the first book, The Snow Queen, and the first part takes place concurrently with the second book, World’s End. In many ways the story continues as you would expect, especially if you read the second book. There were some unexpected things though, and I think those were the parts I liked best.
I was least interested in the parts of the story that followed . However, I really enjoyed the chapters that focused on some of the new characters. Reede was especially interesting to me, even after I figured out what was going on with him. I tend to enjoy the troubled, ambiguous characters with a mysterious past. I also enjoyed most of the story surrounding a more familiar character, .
I liked the end ok, but it felt a little anticlimactic and maybe a little rushed. I don’t know that it actually was rushed, but it felt that way in comparison with the pace of the rest of the story. All the characters were given a little bit of page time so that we’d know what was going on, and aside from a couple plot points that I never bought into, I felt like we had all the answers by the end. It just seemed like more than a few pages were needed to provide a proper wrap-up.
I did mostly enjoy the book, but it was a struggle at times. I think if I’d had fewer distractions, I would have enjoyed it more because I would have made it through the slower parts more easily. I’m rating this at 3.5 stars but rounding down on Goodreads. There’s one more book in the series, but I think I’m going to stop here. I went and checked the book blurb (a thing I usually avoid doing) and it looks like it’s a side story focusing on BZ and set during the first book. I’d probably enjoy it since I liked his character, but going backward in the story timeline doesn’t appeal to me right now and I’m ready to move on to something new.
February 18, 2016
Tako mi zao da sam zavrsila s Kraljicama. Ljetna me u pocetku izludivala sa tim sporim rastom radnje... Naivna sam bas. Zena je samo pripremila teren da se ziva polomim u seansama po 12h u okretanju stranica, a da ne pricam o tome koliko je prodrmala eticnost mojih postupaka kad sam bila na dobrom putu da slazem vlastitoj sestri kako ne mogu doci na kavu, iako ona meni cini uslugu, jer imam jos 80str. do kraja i ne postoji nista sto bi mi bilo draze od Krijesa Svjetlohodnog u tom trenutku (Krijes je usput receno, dobro) :ceznutljiv pogled: Sto mi drugo preostaje nego vracati se na Tiamat sve dok ga ne materijaliziram i upadnem u Prajnu i odem s najdrazima na neko bolje mjesto...Preporucam. Jako.
July 16, 2011
Bleaker than the first one (Snow Queen), this story reminded me of how Terry Goodkind flays one alive while reading. Vinge really brings one's emotions into play. Helpless anger over the Hegemony's utter arrogance in insisting on merhunts to obtain the water of life. Complete selfishness everywhere. The poor Summer Queen was misunderstood by just about everyone.
Unlike the first book this one does not rally around an Andersen fairy tale. Instead it tells a true story of humanity. One can recognize our own country as the Hegemony, forcing our way into a "backwards" country, taking control, killing off an indigenous species because its blood contains the key to immortality, and introducing technological "things" that snare the natives. And oh, the politics involved!
Unlike the first book this one does not rally around an Andersen fairy tale. Instead it tells a true story of humanity. One can recognize our own country as the Hegemony, forcing our way into a "backwards" country, taking control, killing off an indigenous species because its blood contains the key to immortality, and introducing technological "things" that snare the natives. And oh, the politics involved!
November 25, 2009
More Fantastic Scifi At Its Organic Best!
Okay, sounds like I'm talking about alfalfa... or bean sprouts. But I'm not!!!
The Summer Queen is Vinge's fabulous sequel to Snow Queen and continues the saga of Moon Dawntreader, sybil and newly-crowned Queen of Tiamat's Summer reign. Moon has taken up the task of encouraging technological progess independent of the Hegemony, now that the interstellar Black Gate has closed taking with it every bit of advanced tech Tiamat was able to acquire during its 150-year-long Winter. Unbeknownst to the Hegemony's manipulative government, Moon knows the true nature of sybils, as well as the secret of the mers purpose on Tiamat, a purpose that, should it be known, could change everything for her world and the advanced civilizations of the Hegemony. It could also spell destruction for all of them if the mers are hunted into extinction. Because the Hegemony is returning, long before Summer is due to end. It's a race against time to prepare Tiamat for that early return.
Even more intricate and complex than its predecessor, The Summer Queen is an exciting mystery, a heart-wrenching tragedy, and an uber satisfying adventure that nicely ties up all of the sparkly threads that Vinge has so skillfully spun.
I'm sad there isn't a sequel. :(
Okay, sounds like I'm talking about alfalfa... or bean sprouts. But I'm not!!!
The Summer Queen is Vinge's fabulous sequel to Snow Queen and continues the saga of Moon Dawntreader, sybil and newly-crowned Queen of Tiamat's Summer reign. Moon has taken up the task of encouraging technological progess independent of the Hegemony, now that the interstellar Black Gate has closed taking with it every bit of advanced tech Tiamat was able to acquire during its 150-year-long Winter. Unbeknownst to the Hegemony's manipulative government, Moon knows the true nature of sybils, as well as the secret of the mers purpose on Tiamat, a purpose that, should it be known, could change everything for her world and the advanced civilizations of the Hegemony. It could also spell destruction for all of them if the mers are hunted into extinction. Because the Hegemony is returning, long before Summer is due to end. It's a race against time to prepare Tiamat for that early return.
Even more intricate and complex than its predecessor, The Summer Queen is an exciting mystery, a heart-wrenching tragedy, and an uber satisfying adventure that nicely ties up all of the sparkly threads that Vinge has so skillfully spun.
I'm sad there isn't a sequel. :(
August 9, 2016
Napokon posle 6 meseci zavrsila knjigu..... Ali u odbranu pravila sam vrlo dugacke pauze u citanju. Sve u svemu jedna lepa scifi opera ako me razumete... I zato cetvorka od mene. <3
May 1, 2015
For those starting this book, let me offer this caution: You're going to be here awhile. This is not a quick read. The pages are very many, the print is very small, and the story and descriptions demand your careful attention. Blink and you'll miss stuff; if your attention lapses, you'll wonder what's going on.
However, I don't say any of that like it's a bad thing.
This book is a beautiful piece of speculative-fiction world building, with believable ethical codes and culture clashes as well as vivid descriptions. Characters, even minor ones, are developed with attention. I found only three of them 100% despicable, so even most of the "bad guys" are given understandable points of view. In Moon and BZ, Joan D. Vinge offers two splendidly sympathetic leads, who, while flawed, most frequently act from a sense of honor and strength. I'd read the previous book, of course, and one of the reasons I wanted to read this one was to see Moon acting as a Queen. Too many female authority figures are presented as incompetent or just plain evil or both, and Moon presents a wonderful counter to that, just as I thought she would. Moon is wise and empathetic, but also clever and uncompromising when compromise would prove fatal (in a moral as well as a literal sense). She can look at the small picture, as a wife and mother and friend, and still see the Big Picture, as a Queen. She remains as she was in the first book, a heroine well worth rooting for. Jerusha PalaThion is a wonderful bonus. Even well past her prime, she kicks serious butt, and I smiled every time she showed up on the page. Fate Ravenglass (love that name!) and Tor Starhiker also provide more female awesomeness. Yet those in search of strong male presences can find them here as well, not only in BZ but in the complex and sometimes terrifying Reede and his right-hand man Kedalion. Sparks Dawntreader is annoying (as he was in The Snow Queen), but he has his reasons, and even he shows some strength.
I did have my little disappointments. My reviews tend to focus on female characters, I know, because that's where my attention tends to go; those are the characters with whom I want to identify, to whom I want to latch on. This book, like The Snow Queen, gives me Moon and Jerusha. However, I find the new female characters introduced in this book pretty much lacking. I would have found Pandhara and Kitaro worth taking to my heart, had their roles not been so very small. I found little to like or admire in the shallow, shrewish Ariele or in the mopey, passive Merovy (though the latter does get one moment of awesome). All the female strength and power, it seems, is located securely in the older generation, which is why, even though I enjoyed this book, my heart would not pine for a sequel.
Still, if you want intriguing sci-fi world building mixed with compelling human drama, I recommend this book.
However, I don't say any of that like it's a bad thing.
This book is a beautiful piece of speculative-fiction world building, with believable ethical codes and culture clashes as well as vivid descriptions. Characters, even minor ones, are developed with attention. I found only three of them 100% despicable, so even most of the "bad guys" are given understandable points of view. In Moon and BZ, Joan D. Vinge offers two splendidly sympathetic leads, who, while flawed, most frequently act from a sense of honor and strength. I'd read the previous book, of course, and one of the reasons I wanted to read this one was to see Moon acting as a Queen. Too many female authority figures are presented as incompetent or just plain evil or both, and Moon presents a wonderful counter to that, just as I thought she would. Moon is wise and empathetic, but also clever and uncompromising when compromise would prove fatal (in a moral as well as a literal sense). She can look at the small picture, as a wife and mother and friend, and still see the Big Picture, as a Queen. She remains as she was in the first book, a heroine well worth rooting for. Jerusha PalaThion is a wonderful bonus. Even well past her prime, she kicks serious butt, and I smiled every time she showed up on the page. Fate Ravenglass (love that name!) and Tor Starhiker also provide more female awesomeness. Yet those in search of strong male presences can find them here as well, not only in BZ but in the complex and sometimes terrifying Reede and his right-hand man Kedalion. Sparks Dawntreader is annoying (as he was in The Snow Queen), but he has his reasons, and even he shows some strength.
I did have my little disappointments. My reviews tend to focus on female characters, I know, because that's where my attention tends to go; those are the characters with whom I want to identify, to whom I want to latch on. This book, like The Snow Queen, gives me Moon and Jerusha. However, I find the new female characters introduced in this book pretty much lacking. I would have found Pandhara and Kitaro worth taking to my heart, had their roles not been so very small. I found little to like or admire in the shallow, shrewish Ariele or in the mopey, passive Merovy (though the latter does get one moment of awesome). All the female strength and power, it seems, is located securely in the older generation, which is why, even though I enjoyed this book, my heart would not pine for a sequel.
Still, if you want intriguing sci-fi world building mixed with compelling human drama, I recommend this book.
April 26, 2018
Let me start by saying I think that The Snow Queen is a very good book. The Summer Queen takes the promise of The Snow Queen and leaps beyond it to achieve the status of greatness. As others have said, this is a gut-wrenching read. The book feels not so much like an emotional rollercoaster as a wrack, and it is a long one. It is at the same time an incredible epic that touches on AI, interstellar travel, colonization, sociology, comparative anthropology, religion, and consciousness theory. It takes a very deft hand to weave together the very heady philosophical ideas present here with the gut level human responses to these ideas and the events that impel them. I found myself comparing this to the Dune cycle in my head, which is about as high praise as I can give a book.
Starting from a similarly techno-medieval world and society, Vinge's universe is a constrained set of 8 planets rubbing elbows in an uneasy accord. The plot twists that break open the more limited world of the first book into the swirling torus of a universe in this book are superb. The characters crash against these twists in ways that make them or break them; a beautiful epiphany here, a quiet acceptance there, or a tragic end now and again. In the end, while great stuggles are overcome, a small increase of emotional depth in a cosmic intelligence is the true end of the book. It is a powerful lesson that I cannot recommend enough.
Truly rewarding.
Starting from a similarly techno-medieval world and society, Vinge's universe is a constrained set of 8 planets rubbing elbows in an uneasy accord. The plot twists that break open the more limited world of the first book into the swirling torus of a universe in this book are superb. The characters crash against these twists in ways that make them or break them; a beautiful epiphany here, a quiet acceptance there, or a tragic end now and again. In the end, while great stuggles are overcome, a small increase of emotional depth in a cosmic intelligence is the true end of the book. It is a powerful lesson that I cannot recommend enough.
Truly rewarding.
September 17, 2018
I gave The Snow Queen five stars. I could do no less with this. It is magnificent. The world building, the character development is all better than it was in The Snow Queen. I have to say that while I loved The Snow Queen this is better. It is very long at over six hundred pages, with teeny weeny writing...if my reading glasses weren’t handy I would have to put it down too soon. But every time I picked it up I was swept away.
Moon Dawntreader Summer is now the Summer Queen, trying to find a way to protect the Mers and in fact her entire planet from the depredations of the Hegemony. BZ Ghandhalinu meets a mysterious young man, Reeve Kullervo and the two of them find a way to make the star drive BZ discovered in World’s End usable. We find out more about the smartmatter which had destroyed the Old Empire. Once the Hegemony has a usable star drive they reappear on Tiamat’s doorstep, demanding the Water of Life. The politics in this is fascinating and at times I found myself incredibly annoyed by the Kharemougis and their incredibly stratified culture. Also the cruelty that exists throughout the eight worlds of the Hegemony.
This universe is a delight to read about...
Moon Dawntreader Summer is now the Summer Queen, trying to find a way to protect the Mers and in fact her entire planet from the depredations of the Hegemony. BZ Ghandhalinu meets a mysterious young man, Reeve Kullervo and the two of them find a way to make the star drive BZ discovered in World’s End usable. We find out more about the smartmatter which had destroyed the Old Empire. Once the Hegemony has a usable star drive they reappear on Tiamat’s doorstep, demanding the Water of Life. The politics in this is fascinating and at times I found myself incredibly annoyed by the Kharemougis and their incredibly stratified culture. Also the cruelty that exists throughout the eight worlds of the Hegemony.
This universe is a delight to read about...
November 30, 2017
Storyline: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 3/5
That was a loooooong book. It felt much longer than the numbered 688 pages. For comparison purposes, I looked at the longest book I've read this year - Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon - it having 1139 pages (and approximately 463,000 words). If the Summer Queen's approximately 381,000 words had been spread out with the same font, page, and margin size as Cryptonomicon, it would have been 936 pages long. That feels right, the heft of this story was more like a thousand page tome.
And hefty it was. So much in here. I wasn't prepared for it, didn't come expecting this all to be thrown at me. The series' first, the Snow Queen (448 pages), was a fantasy with science fiction elements that made for both a remarkable and enjoyable experience. It's greater ambitions lay in merging a science fiction world with the fairy-tale homage. It wasn't meticulously patched together, and there were some strained moments, but it was a creative work. World's End (284 pages) was a mess, a similar fantasy-sci fi type yet veering off at an odd direction and tone, leaving the reader wondering what Vinge had been thinking. She finally gets to explaining that in the latter half of that fractured story. She does have plans: World's End is a segue to larger aims. As the densely compacted pages slowly turn in The Summer Queen, Vinge reveals that she has planned an epic. I hadn't come prepared. It was like going to a sporting event expecting a standard game and it instead turning into a nail-biter of multiple overtimes. Or perhaps a music performance where the unknown opening band comes out and rocks, wowing you and shaking you with the realization of the privilege to witness them before they're widely recognized stars. As it dawned on me what Vinge was embarking on, I sat up and took greater notice. I was more alert and involved, eager and hopeful. There was no guarantee that she was going to complete what she set out to do - wouldn't necessarily be the winner of the double-overtime game or finish the set with the flair it began with - but you knew that it deserved to be considered for the title of best science fiction book of the year. This was a book that deserved consideration, at least, for entry into top lists and must reads.
The first half of the book reminded me of why epics are great. The broad terrain and far-reaching cast, the history and details, the inner politics and relationships, the slowly revealed concerns and twists. Epics draw you in with their expansiveness and let you get lost in wonder. A good author doesn't have to fill in all the details or explain all the implications; in an epic your mind is put to work for the author's purposes. The suspension of disbelief is easier as you know more of the characters and their motivations; you're able to fill in plotholes or overlooked puzzle pieces yourself. Your mind fills in what is necessary so that the story can move onward to even bigger and great things. I got to feel all of this in the first half of The Summer Queen, and that alone makes it a worthwhile read. There is a point, however, where the critical mind kicks in, where one takes for granted the pleasures of the epic and requires the promise to be consummated. In the second half of The Summer Queen, Vinge never falls flat but does suffer a fair number of noticeable misteps. Too much was promised in the first half, too much was taken on. The nearly 400,000 words in this book weren't enough to develop some of the ideas, and it would have been better had they been omitted entirely. Their absence would have done far less damage than their incompleteness. Elsewhere some of the drama turned hasty and - that debilitating flaw of storytelling - contrived. There was so much in the book that Vinge couldn't see those portions which needed the meticulous attention to detail to bring the book to a satisfactory close. She had juggled so much for so long that she had lost track of some of the most important pieces. The later writing fell prey to some unfortunate tropes that undoubtedly helped her to bring the story to an end but which also prevented it from ending with the deserved closure. Though the disappointments were many, and the flaws at times grating, the bounty of good storytelling and believable drama made this for a decidedly impressive read, worthy of being discussed and remembered.
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 3/5
That was a loooooong book. It felt much longer than the numbered 688 pages. For comparison purposes, I looked at the longest book I've read this year - Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon - it having 1139 pages (and approximately 463,000 words). If the Summer Queen's approximately 381,000 words had been spread out with the same font, page, and margin size as Cryptonomicon, it would have been 936 pages long. That feels right, the heft of this story was more like a thousand page tome.
And hefty it was. So much in here. I wasn't prepared for it, didn't come expecting this all to be thrown at me. The series' first, the Snow Queen (448 pages), was a fantasy with science fiction elements that made for both a remarkable and enjoyable experience. It's greater ambitions lay in merging a science fiction world with the fairy-tale homage. It wasn't meticulously patched together, and there were some strained moments, but it was a creative work. World's End (284 pages) was a mess, a similar fantasy-sci fi type yet veering off at an odd direction and tone, leaving the reader wondering what Vinge had been thinking. She finally gets to explaining that in the latter half of that fractured story. She does have plans: World's End is a segue to larger aims. As the densely compacted pages slowly turn in The Summer Queen, Vinge reveals that she has planned an epic. I hadn't come prepared. It was like going to a sporting event expecting a standard game and it instead turning into a nail-biter of multiple overtimes. Or perhaps a music performance where the unknown opening band comes out and rocks, wowing you and shaking you with the realization of the privilege to witness them before they're widely recognized stars. As it dawned on me what Vinge was embarking on, I sat up and took greater notice. I was more alert and involved, eager and hopeful. There was no guarantee that she was going to complete what she set out to do - wouldn't necessarily be the winner of the double-overtime game or finish the set with the flair it began with - but you knew that it deserved to be considered for the title of best science fiction book of the year. This was a book that deserved consideration, at least, for entry into top lists and must reads.
The first half of the book reminded me of why epics are great. The broad terrain and far-reaching cast, the history and details, the inner politics and relationships, the slowly revealed concerns and twists. Epics draw you in with their expansiveness and let you get lost in wonder. A good author doesn't have to fill in all the details or explain all the implications; in an epic your mind is put to work for the author's purposes. The suspension of disbelief is easier as you know more of the characters and their motivations; you're able to fill in plotholes or overlooked puzzle pieces yourself. Your mind fills in what is necessary so that the story can move onward to even bigger and great things. I got to feel all of this in the first half of The Summer Queen, and that alone makes it a worthwhile read. There is a point, however, where the critical mind kicks in, where one takes for granted the pleasures of the epic and requires the promise to be consummated. In the second half of The Summer Queen, Vinge never falls flat but does suffer a fair number of noticeable misteps. Too much was promised in the first half, too much was taken on. The nearly 400,000 words in this book weren't enough to develop some of the ideas, and it would have been better had they been omitted entirely. Their absence would have done far less damage than their incompleteness. Elsewhere some of the drama turned hasty and - that debilitating flaw of storytelling - contrived. There was so much in the book that Vinge couldn't see those portions which needed the meticulous attention to detail to bring the book to a satisfactory close. She had juggled so much for so long that she had lost track of some of the most important pieces. The later writing fell prey to some unfortunate tropes that undoubtedly helped her to bring the story to an end but which also prevented it from ending with the deserved closure. Though the disappointments were many, and the flaws at times grating, the bounty of good storytelling and believable drama made this for a decidedly impressive read, worthy of being discussed and remembered.
May 31, 2022
It took me forever to finish this book and I'm struggling to put my finger on why.
After reading The Winter Queen I was impatient to know more about Moon and her life as queen of Tiamat, so I decided to skip World's End where Gundhalinu is the main character, and carry straight on with The Summer Queen. Big mistake. In TSQ Gundhalinu's story is by far the more interesting, and though Vinge gives you all the information you need to follow his plot line, I regretted not having read WE. Moon's story by comparison is downright boring, and the romance between her and Gundhalinu doesn't at all balance all the sad and failed relationships we encounter throughout this book.
I also would have liked to get to know Reede better, as he was easily the most interesting character.
Except for this I liked the book well enough. There's nothing wrong with Vinge's writing style, except that I sometimes found her a bit wordy. This is my second Sci-fi book, and I'm enjoying the world building. I haven't read enough of the genre to comment on its originality, but to me it was exciting and new!
I'll definitely read more Sci-Fi, but next time I'll give an other writer a chance.
After reading The Winter Queen I was impatient to know more about Moon and her life as queen of Tiamat, so I decided to skip World's End where Gundhalinu is the main character, and carry straight on with The Summer Queen. Big mistake. In TSQ Gundhalinu's story is by far the more interesting, and though Vinge gives you all the information you need to follow his plot line, I regretted not having read WE. Moon's story by comparison is downright boring, and the romance between her and Gundhalinu doesn't at all balance all the sad and failed relationships we encounter throughout this book.
I also would have liked to get to know Reede better, as he was easily the most interesting character.
Except for this I liked the book well enough. There's nothing wrong with Vinge's writing style, except that I sometimes found her a bit wordy. This is my second Sci-fi book, and I'm enjoying the world building. I haven't read enough of the genre to comment on its originality, but to me it was exciting and new!
I'll definitely read more Sci-Fi, but next time I'll give an other writer a chance.
June 21, 2013
I normally don't review, but this book...ugh, I just had to.
I LOVED the first book. Snow Queen was amazing and creative and what great worldbuilding and characters! When I finally got my hands on this I was super happy.
Except it was enormous and slogging and repetitive and everyone's lives got progressively worse and depressing. Everyone's marriages failed spectacularly. Everyone was sad all the time because bad things happened to them nonstop. Yes, I know, that's life, and it happens. But it happened to pretty much every single character. And the fact that every single person's marriage failed to some degree or another was just *ridiculous*. This is not the sort of book I want to read! It was like, she canceled out any of the joy the characters achieved in the first book.
Given two stars because I liked the history of the sibyl net and Vanamoinen.
I LOVED the first book. Snow Queen was amazing and creative and what great worldbuilding and characters! When I finally got my hands on this I was super happy.
Except it was enormous and slogging and repetitive and everyone's lives got progressively worse and depressing. Everyone's marriages failed spectacularly. Everyone was sad all the time because bad things happened to them nonstop. Yes, I know, that's life, and it happens. But it happened to pretty much every single character. And the fact that every single person's marriage failed to some degree or another was just *ridiculous*. This is not the sort of book I want to read! It was like, she canceled out any of the joy the characters achieved in the first book.
Given two stars because I liked the history of the sibyl net and Vanamoinen.
May 26, 2016
I do not want this series to end!!!
This one was less confusing at the beginning.
I don't know it just might be me.
BUT LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS COVER!!!!
This one was less confusing at the beginning.
I don't know it just might be me.
BUT LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS COVER!!!!
November 3, 2016
I'm sending this back to the library early without finishing the book. I'm sorry to say so, because I consider myself to be a great example of what might comprise a built-in audience for this sequel, and I was committed to making my way through this. The literal volume of the melodrama, however, changed my mind.
This is not to say that melodrama was my dealbreaker. I sort of inhaled THE SNOW QUEEN, and acknowledged its flaws in order to do so--the syrupy texture of the romantic relationships, the book's post-racial racism (which is meant to function as enlightened social commentary), the book's Orientalism (ditto last comment), et cetera. In fact, one could make an argument that those missteps are also a symptom of one of the magical things about THE SNOW QUEEN: exactly how far the novel pushes the re-telling of the received fairy tale from which it takes its title. THE SNOW QUEEN takes the classic archetypal tale, sets it so far into the future JDV doesn't ever bother giving you chronological units smaller than the millenia for context, and then whacks it the hell out with unethical cloning, mystic shamanism, nanobiotechnology, a bizarro connection between the mystic and the nanotechnology, intergalactic economic politics that are controlled by a black hole that passes by every century-and-a-half, a species of marine life that seems best describe as like if a magic dolphin had a baby with an immortal sea lion, et cetera. Against all that, the tone with which you're instructed to take the novel's romantic subplots Very Very Seriously almost comes off as delightfully un-self-aware. THE SNOW QUEEN has a lot of irony-free fun to it, and I loved how JDV started to tie all the ambitious subplots together--an ambitious novel that is simultaneously not that ambitious in other departments. Accept that duality and THE SNOW QUEEN's Hugo win is much more acceptable than some other novels'.
Maybe the same could be said of THE SUMMER QUEEN, but the sheer length of time and pages it's taking for the book's obviously intended central event to take place--for BZ and Moon to get together again already--is torturous. The man just found a substance that is going to change the course of human history (again) and eliminate space and time as factors in intergalactic travel, but not only is all he can think of the possibility of using it to reunite with Moon, but human history doesn't seem all that close to changing anytime soon. The novel's structure of alternating chapters between characters on different worlds and with different stories has suddenly morphed into a teeth-grinding bearing down on chapter after chapter of meticulous exposition of what it means to find said substance, every step that must be taken to procure it, and more of what it means to find it. A lot of the first third of this novel might be summed up as "Meanwhile, elsewhere...". I'm sad to not be witnessing what might actually happen in the rest of the novel, but I've got to let this one go.
This is not to say that melodrama was my dealbreaker. I sort of inhaled THE SNOW QUEEN, and acknowledged its flaws in order to do so--the syrupy texture of the romantic relationships, the book's post-racial racism (which is meant to function as enlightened social commentary), the book's Orientalism (ditto last comment), et cetera. In fact, one could make an argument that those missteps are also a symptom of one of the magical things about THE SNOW QUEEN: exactly how far the novel pushes the re-telling of the received fairy tale from which it takes its title. THE SNOW QUEEN takes the classic archetypal tale, sets it so far into the future JDV doesn't ever bother giving you chronological units smaller than the millenia for context, and then whacks it the hell out with unethical cloning, mystic shamanism, nanobiotechnology, a bizarro connection between the mystic and the nanotechnology, intergalactic economic politics that are controlled by a black hole that passes by every century-and-a-half, a species of marine life that seems best describe as like if a magic dolphin had a baby with an immortal sea lion, et cetera. Against all that, the tone with which you're instructed to take the novel's romantic subplots Very Very Seriously almost comes off as delightfully un-self-aware. THE SNOW QUEEN has a lot of irony-free fun to it, and I loved how JDV started to tie all the ambitious subplots together--an ambitious novel that is simultaneously not that ambitious in other departments. Accept that duality and THE SNOW QUEEN's Hugo win is much more acceptable than some other novels'.
Maybe the same could be said of THE SUMMER QUEEN, but the sheer length of time and pages it's taking for the book's obviously intended central event to take place--for BZ and Moon to get together again already--is torturous. The man just found a substance that is going to change the course of human history (again) and eliminate space and time as factors in intergalactic travel, but not only is all he can think of the possibility of using it to reunite with Moon, but human history doesn't seem all that close to changing anytime soon. The novel's structure of alternating chapters between characters on different worlds and with different stories has suddenly morphed into a teeth-grinding bearing down on chapter after chapter of meticulous exposition of what it means to find said substance, every step that must be taken to procure it, and more of what it means to find it. A lot of the first third of this novel might be summed up as "Meanwhile, elsewhere...". I'm sad to not be witnessing what might actually happen in the rest of the novel, but I've got to let this one go.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2015
I feel sad abandoning this book after reading half of it - that's almost 500 pages. I loved the first part of the series, "Winter Queen", as a teenager, so I was so looking forward to "Summer Queen". Anyway: meandering, cardboard characters, random coincidences, clumsy foreshadowing and far, far, far too many words and too purple a prose. Such a pity.
February 22, 2010
Another favorite. It's a sequel to Snow Queen but definitely stands on it's own. I've also read and re-read this one over and over and still can't get enough. Even if you're not big into Sci-Fi you should give this book and Snow Queen a shot, they're simply amazing stories.
January 16, 2011
Vinge deals with a lot of issues: AI, genocide, animal/alien rights, feminism, industrial vs pastoral, in a really imaginative and fantastic way.
January 29, 2021
The Summer Queen by Joan Vinge.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Joan Vinge grabbed me in The Snow Queen with her spectacular world building, character depthness and a plot that winds it's way into your soul.
It's a book that sticks with you.
So, imagine my happiness when I found out there was a sequel (actually, this book is technically the 3rd, I have not read the 2nd and most likely will not). I had all intentions of reading it.....but here we are, almost 2 years after I read the first.
The beginning of this book, maybe even the first half, is a build up to an ending that had me anxious, nervous, excited, exhausted and fearful. Joan manages to create a world that spans a universe and she does it well. The characters have different challenges and events that happen over a 20 year time frame (ish, time is lived differently on different planets). You are carried in between these characters. You feel what they feel. You get angry when they make a mistake. Joan is a master and character development in my opinion.
I was so invested in this story that yesterday I read over 300 pages. I just could not stop. The ending did not disappoint.
I found some really great quotes in this book which has inspired me to start bullet journaling.
The themes of loss, greed and love are huge. There are some political issues that are definitely relevant to our time.
I highly recommend this book. But you must read The Snow Queen first.
If you enjoy SciFi, actually I believe this is considered a Space Opera, please pick this series up.
This will be moving into my top 10 favorite books.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Joan Vinge grabbed me in The Snow Queen with her spectacular world building, character depthness and a plot that winds it's way into your soul.
It's a book that sticks with you.
So, imagine my happiness when I found out there was a sequel (actually, this book is technically the 3rd, I have not read the 2nd and most likely will not). I had all intentions of reading it.....but here we are, almost 2 years after I read the first.
The beginning of this book, maybe even the first half, is a build up to an ending that had me anxious, nervous, excited, exhausted and fearful. Joan manages to create a world that spans a universe and she does it well. The characters have different challenges and events that happen over a 20 year time frame (ish, time is lived differently on different planets). You are carried in between these characters. You feel what they feel. You get angry when they make a mistake. Joan is a master and character development in my opinion.
I was so invested in this story that yesterday I read over 300 pages. I just could not stop. The ending did not disappoint.
I found some really great quotes in this book which has inspired me to start bullet journaling.
The themes of loss, greed and love are huge. There are some political issues that are definitely relevant to our time.
I highly recommend this book. But you must read The Snow Queen first.
If you enjoy SciFi, actually I believe this is considered a Space Opera, please pick this series up.
This will be moving into my top 10 favorite books.
October 4, 2024
What started as a sci fi Snow Queen riff has fully grown into its own by this book, and honestly, it's absolutely fascinating to see how Vinge decides to end the cycle for now, and that even as far back as this we have writers engaging with climate change and ecology. Does the daughter have to deal with ambient rape threats a lot? Yes, but it only really starts to come in towards the end of the book. This has still been a hell of a ride and one series I'll eagerly recommend to others.
October 5, 2011
In the sequel to her epic The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge creates a whole slew of worlds and characters that stand out among the worlds created by mediocre SF writers. The Summer Queen, Moon Dawntreader, forces her world to rebuild after the offworlders leave through the black gates after the last Festival. She convenes a sibyl college to help the Tiamatans recreate the technology that has been taken from them. She is met with anger, frustration, rebellion, and also enthusiasm and eagerness to become self-sufficient.
Along the way she discovers that the mers, the creatures the offworlders exploit for the life-prolonging water of life, are actually sentient creatures. At first she doesn't realize the import of this beyond the fact that the hunts for the water of life must be stopped. Eventually she comes to realize how vital they are to the survival of the Sibyl Net and sibyls on worlds everywhere.
While Moon is trying to make her world technologically self-sufficient, BZ Gundhalinu has become a sibyl and is attempting to stabilize the stardrive plasma on World's End so that the Hegemony can get back to Tiamat, and he can get back to the woman he loves. Reede Kullervo, also known as The Smith (which isn't explained until much later in the book), reaches out to him and helps him so that he can steal the plasma for his own organization, an arm of a greater force they both belong to.
Their worlds crash together when Gundhalinu brings the stardrive plasma back to the Hegemony. He is appointed Chief Justice of Tiamat and sent back to the planet early to re-establish the Hegemony's power and begin harvesting the water of life. But when he gets there he prevents the hunt, and resumes his affair with the married Moon Dawntreader. Reede ends up on the planet as well, trying to make a copy of the water of life for his own organization which doesn't require the destruction of mers and can be mass produced. Finally, the three players in the sibyl net's plan are together, and the possibility of saving itself can be realized.
I loved this book. My major problem with it was that it took me so long to read it. I started it on 6/2 and finished it three months later! There was so much in this book, it could have been published as two books instead of one. The first half is focused too much on world-building and story-building, and not enough on plot and progression. Also, in the second half of the book, the amount of sex scenes was completely overwhelming (and, in my opinion, quite unnecessary).
The character dynamics were extremely interesting. Once Sparks finds out that Tammis and Ariele weren't his genetic children but instead were Gundhalinu's, he completely shuts them out of his life. When Ariele's life is threatened and almost taken away, he realizes that he has been their father all along, whether they are his or not. I loved that he took the chance to save Ariele's life and did everything he could to get her back from the Source.
I appreciated the fact that Moon struggled with her passions for Gundhalinu for a long time before she gave in to them. She was loyal to Sparks in act, if not in thought. Sparks' infidelity bothered me because he hadn't been faithful to her and yet felt resentful that she wasn't being faithful to him. It made me very sad to see their relationship fall apart in such a drastic and dramatic way. The entire first book was their attempt to get back to each other, while this book was about their estrangement. Just goes to show that even if you love someone, it may not work.
The end of the novel was a little too quick. Tammis' death and the mourning that happens before Gundhalinu's release from prison on treason charges take up a mere couple of pages, while the queen's happiness at the end and the resolution between Ariele and Reede seem like they've been months in the making. In fact, it's only been a matter of days (possibly a couple of weeks). I'm glad, though, that everyone mostly got what they wanted, except perhaps Merovy, who lost her husband as he was finally trying to make it work between them.
There were a few plot points I didn't really understand, like when Reede tells the queen that Sparks is dead. Why not just say that he wants to leave and let her live her life with Gundhalinu? Maybe it was necessary for her closure to think that he was dead, and could give herself to the man she loves. I disagreed with that plot point. I also didn't understand the point of Ananke being revealed as a woman. It was only part of the story once, and then never again. She continued to be a man to all concerned parties, and even at the end she is still a man. Why bother? What did it add to the story?
In all, I could have done without all the sex, without the strange points that didn't contribute to the story, and I would have preferred this to be two books. I don't have a problem with long books when it's really necessary, but this was essentially two books in one, not just one long book. It was, however, overall a great book. If you've read The Snow Queen you should read The Summer Queen.
Along the way she discovers that the mers, the creatures the offworlders exploit for the life-prolonging water of life, are actually sentient creatures. At first she doesn't realize the import of this beyond the fact that the hunts for the water of life must be stopped. Eventually she comes to realize how vital they are to the survival of the Sibyl Net and sibyls on worlds everywhere.
While Moon is trying to make her world technologically self-sufficient, BZ Gundhalinu has become a sibyl and is attempting to stabilize the stardrive plasma on World's End so that the Hegemony can get back to Tiamat, and he can get back to the woman he loves. Reede Kullervo, also known as The Smith (which isn't explained until much later in the book), reaches out to him and helps him so that he can steal the plasma for his own organization, an arm of a greater force they both belong to.
Their worlds crash together when Gundhalinu brings the stardrive plasma back to the Hegemony. He is appointed Chief Justice of Tiamat and sent back to the planet early to re-establish the Hegemony's power and begin harvesting the water of life. But when he gets there he prevents the hunt, and resumes his affair with the married Moon Dawntreader. Reede ends up on the planet as well, trying to make a copy of the water of life for his own organization which doesn't require the destruction of mers and can be mass produced. Finally, the three players in the sibyl net's plan are together, and the possibility of saving itself can be realized.
I loved this book. My major problem with it was that it took me so long to read it. I started it on 6/2 and finished it three months later! There was so much in this book, it could have been published as two books instead of one. The first half is focused too much on world-building and story-building, and not enough on plot and progression. Also, in the second half of the book, the amount of sex scenes was completely overwhelming (and, in my opinion, quite unnecessary).
The character dynamics were extremely interesting. Once Sparks finds out that Tammis and Ariele weren't his genetic children but instead were Gundhalinu's, he completely shuts them out of his life. When Ariele's life is threatened and almost taken away, he realizes that he has been their father all along, whether they are his or not. I loved that he took the chance to save Ariele's life and did everything he could to get her back from the Source.
I appreciated the fact that Moon struggled with her passions for Gundhalinu for a long time before she gave in to them. She was loyal to Sparks in act, if not in thought. Sparks' infidelity bothered me because he hadn't been faithful to her and yet felt resentful that she wasn't being faithful to him. It made me very sad to see their relationship fall apart in such a drastic and dramatic way. The entire first book was their attempt to get back to each other, while this book was about their estrangement. Just goes to show that even if you love someone, it may not work.
The end of the novel was a little too quick. Tammis' death and the mourning that happens before Gundhalinu's release from prison on treason charges take up a mere couple of pages, while the queen's happiness at the end and the resolution between Ariele and Reede seem like they've been months in the making. In fact, it's only been a matter of days (possibly a couple of weeks). I'm glad, though, that everyone mostly got what they wanted, except perhaps Merovy, who lost her husband as he was finally trying to make it work between them.
There were a few plot points I didn't really understand, like when Reede tells the queen that Sparks is dead. Why not just say that he wants to leave and let her live her life with Gundhalinu? Maybe it was necessary for her closure to think that he was dead, and could give herself to the man she loves. I disagreed with that plot point. I also didn't understand the point of Ananke being revealed as a woman. It was only part of the story once, and then never again. She continued to be a man to all concerned parties, and even at the end she is still a man. Why bother? What did it add to the story?
In all, I could have done without all the sex, without the strange points that didn't contribute to the story, and I would have preferred this to be two books. I don't have a problem with long books when it's really necessary, but this was essentially two books in one, not just one long book. It was, however, overall a great book. If you've read The Snow Queen you should read The Summer Queen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2017
It's been a while since I read this book, but since I just wrote a review for the first book in the series, I thought I might as well write down some thoughts on this one.
The only strengths of this book are the strengths of the original. The world-building, the cultures, the political clash, the themes of human greed and environmentalism.
Everything else is considerably less well-edited or thought-out.
I don't care that it's dreary or sad or that marriages fail, considering the events and trauma of the first (and second) book that's hardly unexpected. I just found that I didn't care or feel emotionally invested in any of it. While Moon wasn't a perfect character in the first book, she did develop into a strong and sympathetic person in the end. All of her autonomy however was completely drained in this book - she's entirely tied up in the dudes in her life and that seems to be the end of her as a relevant character. Her daughter seems to be her replacement, but she just came off as mildly annoying and lacking in any of the traits that made the teenage Moon in Snow Queen charismatic. I don't even remember what the daughter's name is anymore!
Also this book was weirdly sexually obsessed. Everyone had a kink. You know what kind of a character they were, in fact, based on their cliched bedroom habits. I suppose the original Snow Queen had a similar flaw but considering how much more preoccupied this book is with sex, it's much more apparent. I started skipping the sex passages because I wasn't invested in the characters anymore and thus the sex seemed awfully trivial. Randomly, one of the biggest reveals in the book ended up embedded in one of these unnecessary sex scenes. Why?
The first book made fairly great strides in feminist topics. This book just dials it all back. Most of the interesting characters who actually go and CHOOSE to do interesting things are dudes. The rest of the women spend time humming and hawwing about something something feminine powers/bebbies/motherhood while being entirely reliant on these interesting, autonomous dudes (a few women start out as independent and interesting, but fear not, they quickly meet their demise at the hands of the great bebbies). Look, I actually buy the argument that some of the traditionally-feminine pastimes and "powers" can be interesting; but unlike the Snow Queen, this book completely fails to make you believe that sentiment.
That being said, some of the new cast (not all of them dudes) are pretty interesting and great additions to the story. I wouldn't have minded if this book chose to focus a lot more on these new characters while putting the old cast more in the background. The old cast, did, afterall, have a whole two books to themselves already and had gone through a ton of development already.
Considering that this book builds further on the fantastic foundation of the Snow Queen I can't really give it less than 3 stars. If you loved the world of the Snow Queen, and you want to see more, I wouldn't say that this book would ruin the experience. But there is a definite drop in quality.
The only strengths of this book are the strengths of the original. The world-building, the cultures, the political clash, the themes of human greed and environmentalism.
Everything else is considerably less well-edited or thought-out.
I don't care that it's dreary or sad or that marriages fail, considering the events and trauma of the first (and second) book that's hardly unexpected. I just found that I didn't care or feel emotionally invested in any of it. While Moon wasn't a perfect character in the first book, she did develop into a strong and sympathetic person in the end. All of her autonomy however was completely drained in this book - she's entirely tied up in the dudes in her life and that seems to be the end of her as a relevant character. Her daughter seems to be her replacement, but she just came off as mildly annoying and lacking in any of the traits that made the teenage Moon in Snow Queen charismatic. I don't even remember what the daughter's name is anymore!
Also this book was weirdly sexually obsessed. Everyone had a kink. You know what kind of a character they were, in fact, based on their cliched bedroom habits. I suppose the original Snow Queen had a similar flaw but considering how much more preoccupied this book is with sex, it's much more apparent. I started skipping the sex passages because I wasn't invested in the characters anymore and thus the sex seemed awfully trivial. Randomly, one of the biggest reveals in the book ended up embedded in one of these unnecessary sex scenes. Why?
The first book made fairly great strides in feminist topics. This book just dials it all back. Most of the interesting characters who actually go and CHOOSE to do interesting things are dudes. The rest of the women spend time humming and hawwing about something something feminine powers/bebbies/motherhood while being entirely reliant on these interesting, autonomous dudes (a few women start out as independent and interesting, but fear not, they quickly meet their demise at the hands of the great bebbies). Look, I actually buy the argument that some of the traditionally-feminine pastimes and "powers" can be interesting; but unlike the Snow Queen, this book completely fails to make you believe that sentiment.
That being said, some of the new cast (not all of them dudes) are pretty interesting and great additions to the story. I wouldn't have minded if this book chose to focus a lot more on these new characters while putting the old cast more in the background. The old cast, did, afterall, have a whole two books to themselves already and had gone through a ton of development already.
Considering that this book builds further on the fantastic foundation of the Snow Queen I can't really give it less than 3 stars. If you loved the world of the Snow Queen, and you want to see more, I wouldn't say that this book would ruin the experience. But there is a definite drop in quality.
November 16, 2019
Lots of ideas, mediocre execution
I am disappointed by the Summer Queen. I though the Snow Queen was disjointed but generally good. I though World’s End had a certain kind of poetry. However, the Summer Queen feels like a relic of the era in which it was written. It also needs editing, a lot of editing.
In the first place, the book appears to be an apology to fans for the state of affairs at the end of the Hugo award winning novel that kicked off the series. In short, the Summer Queen ended up with the wrong fellow, and the wrong guy ended up leaving the planet. By the end of this 700 page tome, the world feels a little bit more like it should be. However, one wonders what interesting stories could have been written in this universe had the author not felt compelled to set things right.
Technically, I was not impressed with Vinge’s writing. The book technically spans decades, but people seem to age all over the map. Relativistic travel can not explain all of it, and might even exacerbate the problem of aging between all of these characters. It gets worse with the discovery of Star Drive, as suddenly characters appear and disappear all over the galaxy with little impact of their voyage. Characters seem to change motivations and beliefs for no good reason. Other characters are so shallowly drawn that their motivations, while nonsensical, are generally inscrutable. Her treatment of queer characters feels dated and out of touch, a painful reminder of what the eighties meant for the LGBTQ community.
At the heart of things, I was mostly displeased by the maguffin that formed the real crisis for our protagonists, and yet ultimately was resolved by deciding not to keep a secret, that really need not have been kept. The ultimate resolution, though it came at a time of high drama, could as easily been done at any time in the preceding pages, and everyone involved would have benefited far more - including those that were keeping the secret. It almost as if Vinge was looking for a way to drive the action, but only come up with a nonsensical desire to keep a silly secret. Perhaps if through worldbuilding or clever plotting she had induced me to suspend disbelief, I would have enjoyed this. Instead I walked away wondering so much ink had to be spilled, and so many characters had to die to get to something that could have been resolved by Page 50.
I am disappointed by the Summer Queen. I though the Snow Queen was disjointed but generally good. I though World’s End had a certain kind of poetry. However, the Summer Queen feels like a relic of the era in which it was written. It also needs editing, a lot of editing.
In the first place, the book appears to be an apology to fans for the state of affairs at the end of the Hugo award winning novel that kicked off the series. In short, the Summer Queen ended up with the wrong fellow, and the wrong guy ended up leaving the planet. By the end of this 700 page tome, the world feels a little bit more like it should be. However, one wonders what interesting stories could have been written in this universe had the author not felt compelled to set things right.
Technically, I was not impressed with Vinge’s writing. The book technically spans decades, but people seem to age all over the map. Relativistic travel can not explain all of it, and might even exacerbate the problem of aging between all of these characters. It gets worse with the discovery of Star Drive, as suddenly characters appear and disappear all over the galaxy with little impact of their voyage. Characters seem to change motivations and beliefs for no good reason. Other characters are so shallowly drawn that their motivations, while nonsensical, are generally inscrutable. Her treatment of queer characters feels dated and out of touch, a painful reminder of what the eighties meant for the LGBTQ community.
At the heart of things, I was mostly displeased by the maguffin that formed the real crisis for our protagonists, and yet ultimately was resolved by deciding not to keep a secret, that really need not have been kept. The ultimate resolution, though it came at a time of high drama, could as easily been done at any time in the preceding pages, and everyone involved would have benefited far more - including those that were keeping the secret. It almost as if Vinge was looking for a way to drive the action, but only come up with a nonsensical desire to keep a silly secret. Perhaps if through worldbuilding or clever plotting she had induced me to suspend disbelief, I would have enjoyed this. Instead I walked away wondering so much ink had to be spilled, and so many characters had to die to get to something that could have been resolved by Page 50.
July 9, 2020
Alas. I am torn. I absolutely love the worldbuilding of this series. An ancient universe-spanning civilization whose technology was both its crowning achievement and its downfall? A mysterious genius who left behind a vast, near-omniscient databank of knowledge for future generations? A planet with seasons that last centuries and an intricate, precarious ruling system about to be toppled? Yes, yes, and yes. I adored it in the last book and the sequel offered even more intriguing details.....
...but the lives of the individual characters, the details of their stories, were so relentlessly bleak and depressing that I just couldn't bring myself to keep reading. It is very, very rare for me to give up on a book after investing so much time and energy into it, but it was making me miserable. I pressed on for over half the book, and then I had to stop. Hardest of all was the love triangle predicated on what I might call the Titantic Falllacy, which is that someone from a one-time dalliance in your youth is somehow more meaningful than your husband of decades who raised children with you. Obviously their marriage had problems; I wouldn't deny that, but why set up the one-time dalliance as some kind of unshakeable bond? It didn't work for me at all.
But that worldbuilding. Whew. I am torn.
...but the lives of the individual characters, the details of their stories, were so relentlessly bleak and depressing that I just couldn't bring myself to keep reading. It is very, very rare for me to give up on a book after investing so much time and energy into it, but it was making me miserable. I pressed on for over half the book, and then I had to stop. Hardest of all was the love triangle predicated on what I might call the Titantic Falllacy, which is that someone from a one-time dalliance in your youth is somehow more meaningful than your husband of decades who raised children with you. Obviously their marriage had problems; I wouldn't deny that, but why set up the one-time dalliance as some kind of unshakeable bond? It didn't work for me at all.
But that worldbuilding. Whew. I am torn.
April 11, 2009
Great book & a continuation of the story begun in The Snow Queen. There's one in the middle, World's End, but I never liked it as much - I think I just didn't like the character it explores as much.
This is a character-driven book with not a lot of action. If you're looking for space adventure - look elsewhere. Having said that, the last third of this book is so suspenseful that I almost missed my stop because I was reading it on BART.
Lots of levels and lots of layers. Ms. Vinge really loves her story and her characters and obviously had a great deal of fun creating all the different worlds and political wheels upon wheels. It was fun to visit other worlds and see what else was out there in her universe, but I think I loved most of all the bits and pieces of the people of Tiamat roaming around their planet amidst the Hegemony's rubble.
Interesting, engrossing, and emotionally engaging - this whole series is great.
This is a character-driven book with not a lot of action. If you're looking for space adventure - look elsewhere. Having said that, the last third of this book is so suspenseful that I almost missed my stop because I was reading it on BART.
Lots of levels and lots of layers. Ms. Vinge really loves her story and her characters and obviously had a great deal of fun creating all the different worlds and political wheels upon wheels. It was fun to visit other worlds and see what else was out there in her universe, but I think I loved most of all the bits and pieces of the people of Tiamat roaming around their planet amidst the Hegemony's rubble.
Interesting, engrossing, and emotionally engaging - this whole series is great.
July 20, 2011
Usually authors start out clean and pure and then, as popularity grows, they get raunchier slowly over time. Like Michael Crichton. However, Joan Vinge didn't do the gradual thing. She completely changed between one book and another. This book had tons of sex and "f" words. I ended up skimming over lots of stuff, just to find out how the Snow Queen series ended. In the end, the two books don't seem to gel since they have such different styles. Plus, the characters are so self-centered that you just can't care about them. None of them would listen to the people that were most important to them or take any time to try to talk things out. They made a big mess of their lives.
August 29, 2012
This took a long, long time to finish. While it has the same characters and a few extra ones, it seemed to lack the drive and passion. I was so inspired and amazed at the first book and this finishing one seemed more of a 'duty' write. As if the author had to tell us the rest of the story. This one did not seem to have the balance and lightness of the first one. It was rather depressing, though the first book had its share of negative things, this book just wasn't as delightful. Perhaps, it was simply because I was so refreshed with the original story and had made up my own notions about how it would end or at least the emotion of how it would end. I felt let down.
November 23, 2013
Speculative fiction at its long-winded best: fractured reflections of universal themes. Some of the grandest conflicts are oversimplified (killing animals is bad), but most are densely nuanced (the dangers and the benefits of colonialism). The imagery is lovely.
Sex and sexuality are much more visible than in The Snow Queen. Sometimes this is successful; sometimes it's problematic, like the treatment of queerness; and sometimes it's "the flaming sword of his manhood," which, OH JOAN VINGE NO.
Sex and sexuality are much more visible than in The Snow Queen. Sometimes this is successful; sometimes it's problematic, like the treatment of queerness; and sometimes it's "the flaming sword of his manhood," which, OH JOAN VINGE NO.
August 13, 2016
Finally, a second part that is better than the original. The Summer Queen let Joan D Vinge flesh out her characters a lot more and give them much more interesting conflicts. The many interconnecting stories make me feel like I was reading Game of Thrones again (probably with as many sex scenes...). There are also curiously abounding mentions of Finnish literature, especially in the names of several characters. Just putting that out there.
Sometimes the scenes stretch out a little longer than necessary, but overall it is a very enjoyable read, more so than the original book. If the reader was left with a need to revisit Tiamat, this is a very good opportunity.
Sometimes the scenes stretch out a little longer than necessary, but overall it is a very enjoyable read, more so than the original book. If the reader was left with a need to revisit Tiamat, this is a very good opportunity.
January 17, 2020
Highly recommend entire series
Wow, what a rich and detailed story. I can't believe this hasn't been made into a movie, or series. That ending though, I did NOT see that coming. Looking forward to Tangled up in Blue.
Wow, what a rich and detailed story. I can't believe this hasn't been made into a movie, or series. That ending though, I did NOT see that coming. Looking forward to Tangled up in Blue.
June 30, 2021
I have two tattoos from this book. One of my favorite books of all time.
October 31, 2019
Several millennia ago, an ancient empire had the most magnificent technology and inventors, including a gay couple who created a network that functions like the internet, except instead of computers, the ability to “compute” is given to those who can withstand a smartmatter virus. After the ancient empire collapsed, society rebuilt itself in a system of eight planets monitored by the Hegemony, and the people who compute still exist. It’s base of operations is the most tech-savvy planet left, which is high tech, but a mere shadow of the ancient empire.
The least “worthy” planet, called Tiamat, has antithetical clans called Summers and Winters who worship a sea goddess. Backwards, ignorant by Hegemony standards, this planet has one asset: sea creatures whose blood grants temporary immortality. For 150 years while a Winter Queen reigns, she encourages off-planet technology, decadence, and the sea creatures are hunted almost into extinction by people from the seven other planets who get there through a black hole.
Then, it’s summer, when those not native to Tiamat leave because the black hole will close and all travel will cease, and a Summer Queen reigns for 150 years while the sea creatures replenish their population. Summer queens encourage prayer, harmony, and fear technology.
Published in 1991, Joan D. Vinge’s third book in the Snow Queen Cycle, The Summer Queen, is riveting, unforgettable, and creative. While things have always followed the same pattern on Tiamat, change has been brewing. The same queen isn’t supposed to reign the full 150 years — they are human — but the last Winter Queen did because she was drinking the blood of the sea creatures. At the end of her reign, she was tossed into the sea to drown, as per tradition. The Summer Queen, a young woman named Moon, is also different. She knows the source of the computer-like network, and she also knows that the sea creatures are sentient beings. These facts mean she isn’t a mindless goddess worshipper. She works to save the creatures, encouraging the people of Tiamat to see the benefits of some technology in their efforts. This is one plot thread.
The biggest change to the planet is a side effect of love. BZ Gundhalinu, the man Moon saved in The Snow Queen and discovered the mystery of Fire Lake in World’s End, figures out how to travel to other planets when the black hole is closed. Tiamat is now open permanently, and the sea creatures are likely to be hunted to extinction — fast.
There are many other plot threads, including watching Moon’s twin children become young adults and how they become similar and different from their parents. Is a new crew of characters led by Reede, strangely one of the brightest scientists alive who knows more about smartmatter than anyone else, despite being about twenty and having a deadly drug dependency. And then there’s the everyday issues with ruling a planet, like listening to complaints and fighting off threats to Moon’s rule.
Joan D. Vinge writes a wonderfully immersive story, full of unforgettable characters (even though there are at least ten individuals who affect the plot like primary characters). Vinge crafts longing and romance and sex scenes in a way that moves the plot forward and adds depth to the world. The science fiction aspects are believable, though unrealistic currently, as most science fiction technologies are, but I was able to follow all of it. Depending on which planet the characters are on, the environment can feel shiny and modern or downright apocalyptic.
At almost 700 pages, The Summer Queen might be a hard sell, but I haven’t cared about a story so much in ages. It’s as if when I’m not reading the book, I’m missing out on an alternate reality that’s important. You may have read my complaints about how long it took me to finish The Summer Queen. I set daily reading goals for myself as a sort of “homework” assignment, and due to the small font and scrunched spacing, I missed my target goals every day, which set me back with other novels and reviews.
Had I more information about the book during my planning, this would not have been an issue. I recommend you get an e-book edition instead of the physical copy so you can adjust the font. Highly recommended, and I can’t wait to read the last book in the quartet, Tangled Up in Blue.
This review originally appeared at Grab the Lapels..
The least “worthy” planet, called Tiamat, has antithetical clans called Summers and Winters who worship a sea goddess. Backwards, ignorant by Hegemony standards, this planet has one asset: sea creatures whose blood grants temporary immortality. For 150 years while a Winter Queen reigns, she encourages off-planet technology, decadence, and the sea creatures are hunted almost into extinction by people from the seven other planets who get there through a black hole.
Then, it’s summer, when those not native to Tiamat leave because the black hole will close and all travel will cease, and a Summer Queen reigns for 150 years while the sea creatures replenish their population. Summer queens encourage prayer, harmony, and fear technology.
Published in 1991, Joan D. Vinge’s third book in the Snow Queen Cycle, The Summer Queen, is riveting, unforgettable, and creative. While things have always followed the same pattern on Tiamat, change has been brewing. The same queen isn’t supposed to reign the full 150 years — they are human — but the last Winter Queen did because she was drinking the blood of the sea creatures. At the end of her reign, she was tossed into the sea to drown, as per tradition. The Summer Queen, a young woman named Moon, is also different. She knows the source of the computer-like network, and she also knows that the sea creatures are sentient beings. These facts mean she isn’t a mindless goddess worshipper. She works to save the creatures, encouraging the people of Tiamat to see the benefits of some technology in their efforts. This is one plot thread.
The biggest change to the planet is a side effect of love. BZ Gundhalinu, the man Moon saved in The Snow Queen and discovered the mystery of Fire Lake in World’s End, figures out how to travel to other planets when the black hole is closed. Tiamat is now open permanently, and the sea creatures are likely to be hunted to extinction — fast.
There are many other plot threads, including watching Moon’s twin children become young adults and how they become similar and different from their parents. Is a new crew of characters led by Reede, strangely one of the brightest scientists alive who knows more about smartmatter than anyone else, despite being about twenty and having a deadly drug dependency. And then there’s the everyday issues with ruling a planet, like listening to complaints and fighting off threats to Moon’s rule.
Joan D. Vinge writes a wonderfully immersive story, full of unforgettable characters (even though there are at least ten individuals who affect the plot like primary characters). Vinge crafts longing and romance and sex scenes in a way that moves the plot forward and adds depth to the world. The science fiction aspects are believable, though unrealistic currently, as most science fiction technologies are, but I was able to follow all of it. Depending on which planet the characters are on, the environment can feel shiny and modern or downright apocalyptic.
At almost 700 pages, The Summer Queen might be a hard sell, but I haven’t cared about a story so much in ages. It’s as if when I’m not reading the book, I’m missing out on an alternate reality that’s important. You may have read my complaints about how long it took me to finish The Summer Queen. I set daily reading goals for myself as a sort of “homework” assignment, and due to the small font and scrunched spacing, I missed my target goals every day, which set me back with other novels and reviews.
Had I more information about the book during my planning, this would not have been an issue. I recommend you get an e-book edition instead of the physical copy so you can adjust the font. Highly recommended, and I can’t wait to read the last book in the quartet, Tangled Up in Blue.
This review originally appeared at Grab the Lapels..
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