The Snow Queen

I had a picture book of the classic children's tale, "The Snow Queen" when I was a kid. It showed these two children growing up next door to each other, being best friends, and being in love. Then one day a piece of a mirror that Lucifer made falls into the boys eye and turns him mean. Not long after, the snow queen, a mysterious woman in a white sleigh comes and takes the boy away. The girl is hurt, but believes that there is some way to save her love and thus goes after him. Along the way she meets obstacles, ages, and eventually finds her love. This is that story, only set in a word where a huge space spanning empire has collapsed and left behind a smaller, less magnificent version. There is an intergalactic conspiracy to keep the people of one world, Tiamat, where our two young lovers (Moon and Sparks) hail from, technologically stupid, and mysterious keys to the survival of the human race seeded throughout humanity. There are clones, battles, love and deceit. While there is no magical mirror that turns Sparks into a bad person, as in my picture book, there is temptation in the form of a potion that will keep the drinker forever young-only this potion is harvested from the blood of the otter like creates that live on Tiamat, who are seen as holy by the Summer people who live on the Islands spanning the planets middle. There is the snow queen, leader of the half of the Tiamat people called the winters (who live in the north), who in an effort to prolong her reign seeded the Summer people of Tiamat with eight clones of herself. And there is one clone who survived to maturity-Moon, the lover of Sparks, the boy stolen by the snow queen. This book is awesome, epic and really, really exciting, There is a kind of slow build up, but the second half of this book heads along at breakneck speed until you cannot put it down because you have to know what happens next. If you like sci-fi, you will like this book. And it has a beautiful cover. Five stars, recommended. I am told that you should read "World's End" before the sequel "The Summer Queen" or you'll miss out on a whole lot, so that's what I'm going to do, even though it does deviate a little from the storyline.

The best one-line description of this book that I can come up with is this: Imagine if "Dune" had been written by a female anthropologist. It is a book about the changing of power on a planet, much like Dune. Instead of a planet that is almost entirely desert, Tiamat is a planet almost entirely ocean. Instead of sandworms and the Spice, Tiamat has dolphin-like mers and the Water of Life. Instead of featuring one man with a unique ability, it stars Moon, a woman who is seemingly less than unique; she is the clone of the current queen of Tiamat. As the book continues, however, it becomes clear that Moon is unique, as she is the only one with the ability to see the truth about their place in the universe, and the only one trusted with the secret of the sybil mind. But it is so much more than Dune, really. The world of Tiamat and the Hegemony is as large and complex and ancient as the world of Arrakis and its empire, perhaps larger; it is so large that it is not even apparent that this is the future of humankind as we know it until you get deep into it. There are layers upon layers of political scheming in this universe, so deep that no single character can explain it all. There are so many different levels of conspiracy and technology and religion that is difficult to grasp it all at once. But none of it will mean anything unless Moon can keep them from destroying themselves.... It is a brilliant book, and its sequel, the Summer Queen, is as good or better. Joan D. Vinge has a unique insight that makes you feel like you are discovering something new instead of reading a book. I heartily recommend it to anyone who has interest in the kind of thoughtful science fiction that opens the mind with possibilities.

From page one of this book, I was hooked. Published in the 1980, this book was cutting edge with one dreamt about ideas of successful cloning. Amazing how the power and awe of this book lasts today.The story is a futurized version of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen." Personally, I'm an admirer of writers who can successfully translate traditional stories into modern literary works, and Joan D. Vinge pulls it off spectacularly.Her main character, Moon, is a loving young woman who loves her cousin Sparks and goes through several trials and torments to save him from her clone, the ruthless, power-hungry, and vain Snow Queen Arienrhod. But Sparks isn't the person Moon remembers. He gets swept up in the crazy city of Carbuncle. Soon, Moon is also swept up in this whirlwind.Love, suspence, action, and a mystery more cosmic than the people of Tiamat realize. This is a substantial book (but not quite as much as its sequel) that leads the reader beyond the imagination and into a whole new world.

A writer with Joan Vinge's talent crosses all genres because she has that unique ability of writing a story about people. Her sci-fi rendition of Andersen's Snow Queen is phenomenal. Its got fascinating elements of sci-fi: a fallen Empire, dozens of cultures and races, twin suns, century-long seasons, and corruption of immortality. Its brimming with eye popping oohs and awwws; Vinge twists the scientific into the fantastical. Her characterization evokes genuine interest in their lives and struggles. She's become my favorite author since then. I just wish she'd get back into writing - though I understand genius can not be rushed.

I first read this book as a young, impressionable freshman in High School. Since then I have read and re-read it. As I've grown up I have changed in many ways, but this book still brings me back to those fantastic days. It is an amazingly visual book. The characters, the world, the languages, both emotional and physical spoken by Joan are vivid, captivating and memorable. During my re-readings, I have many times imagined this book and it's sequal, The Summer Queen, come to life on the big screen. The story is very adaptable to that medium with high adventure, romance, amazing costumes and characters, classic good vs. evil.... I think it would be a simply wonderful movie, whether written for a young audience or a more mature one. Anyone agree?