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The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
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The Summer Queen

by Joan D. Vinge

Series: The Snow Queen Cycle (3)

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495610,052 (3.97)10
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Showing 5 of 5
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. ( )
  kraaivrouw | Apr 11, 2009 |
Thanks to the introduction of power-packed character Reede Kullervo; a secret society; and ancient history, this book continues the ambitions of the Snow Queen without repeating them. Negatives: the timeline of the book is a bit hard to follow; ten minutes or five years may pass between each chapter. Also, you want to slap both Moon and Sparks for pretty much the whole book. A whiny pair. ( )
  faganjc | Jul 20, 2008 |
Another massively long novel set on the world of Tiamat, like in the Snow Queen. As the seasons shift, things change, but the wealthy and powerful still want their longevity treatments, so the hunting of the mer race continues.

A technological advancement does allow the isolated planet more offworld communication, but that certainly doesn't solve all their
problems.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/summer-queen-joan-d-vinge.html ( )
  bluetyson | Jan 16, 2008 |
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! ( )
  Ananda | Oct 8, 2006 |
Its rare that I complain about a book being too long, but I'm going to make that complaint about this work. It is the equivalent of a 19th century Russian novel set in outer space that just goes on and on and on. My copy had a tiny size font, but still ran to over 650 pages.

Still it was a worthwhile sequel to The Snow Queen, meanders and all. We find out what happened on Tiamat, how Moon and Sparks get on, the mystery of the mers, sibyls and Carbuncle is all solved. Though the way they all of sudden figure out FTL travel was rather forced, it did allow readers to find out what was going on other planets of the Hegemony. ( )
  worldsedge | Sep 21, 2006 |
Showing 5 of 5
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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0765304465, Paperback)

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 secret: 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.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400)

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