Moon Dawntreader is a reluctant Summer Queen whose dream to be a sibyl was realized only to find it isn't quite what she thought it would be. When the network you believed to be an access to truth and spirit is actually an outdated computer system that's failing on top of that, you can get a little disillusioned, but if you're Moon, you understand how important it is to your culture anyway, and can put aside your own feelings to save it. But even such a huge responsibility is only a drop in the bucket compared to everything Moon's planet of Tiamat is attached to. There are a host of other characters--some mean her harm, some want to help her but have inadvertently hurt her, and some don't care about Tiamat as long as they can get what they want from it.This book is a mess in the best way possible--because it shows exactly how messy this network of conspiracy, history, personal connection, and greed can get. It's hard to follow sometimes because so many characters exist and Vinge tends to give them all very real, very layered pasts and personalities, so sometimes the sheer glut of detail causes some stumbles. (I had a lot of experiences of "oh yeah, that's the one who XYZ" while reading it, only to realize I must've forgotten some other important thing or not comprehended it fully.) Another very good thing about this book is that very few characters stand out as unrelatable--even if you didn't like what someone was doing or considered them a villain, you could still understand where they were coming from, and their motivation was rarely simplistic. Moon herself had a ton of duality to her story, and I like characters who have to fight themselves as well.
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!
What do You think about The Summer Queen (2003)?
Great! I wish I had read this and the first book (The Snow Queen) back to back instead of waiting a couple of years. It was a little difficult to get back into, but once I did it was great. Vinge has a masterful way of writing real, emotional characters who also have interesting adventures. Of course, so much plot and depth makes for a thick book, but it is worth it. A weird note, but I really loved the way the second to last (or third to last) chapter was just a goodbye among different characters. It was very sweet and good way to start wrapping things up.
—Alexis
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, th
—Lo
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.
—Kit
