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WoGF Review: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Guest Blogger, Allie McCarn (Allie), reviews science fiction and fantasy books on her blog Tethyan Books. She has contributed many great book reviews to WWEnd including several Grand Master reviews featured in our blog. Allie has just kicked off a new blog series for WWEnd called New Voices where she’ll be reviewing the debut novels of relatively new authors in the field.
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Published : The Dial Press/Quantum, 1980
Series : Book 1 of the Snow Queen Cycle
Awards Won : Hugo, Locus SF Awards
Awards Nominated : Nebula Award
The Book :
“In the world of Tiamat, power changes hands every 150 years, due to the periodic opening and closing of a galactic stargate. During the winter cycle, the Snow Queen reigns, and technophile ‘Winters’ live in a society supported by contact with people from the Hegemony, a government that spans a number of worlds. At the end of this cycle, the Snow Queen and all the world’s technology are sacrificed as the offworlders leave through their closing stargate. Then begins the reign of the Summer Queen, and the primitive, superstitious Summers.
The current Snow Queen, Arienrhod, has no intention of relinquishing her power and watching her technological world collapse. Though she has many schemes to change the cycle, one involves her own clone, a young woman named Moon. Raised as a Summer and in love with her cousin Sparks, Moon has her own ideas about what her life will hold. She intends to be a sibyl, a wise woman of the Summers who can channel answers to nearly any question. However, the fates of Moon, Sparks, and Arienrhod may not be theirs to control…” ~Allie
This is the first novel I’ve read by Joan D. Vinge, which makes it my 3rd novel in the Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge. The Snow Queen is from relatively early in her writing career, four years after her 1976 nomination for John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for the novelette “Tin Soldier” (published in 1974).
The Snow Queen is the first book of the Snow Queen Cycle, but it stands alone as a novel. I’m not sure whether or not I will continue the series, simply because the story does seem complete.
