Joan D. Vinge
Completed 6/29/2013, Reviewed 6/30/2013
4 stars
“The Snow Queen” is based on the Hans Christian Andersen’s
fairy tale “The Snow Queen.” In a way, I
wish I knew this before beginning the book.
I read the fairy tale after the novel, and understood why she made some
of her plot choices. However, for the
general reader, it is not necessary to read the fairy tale before the
novel. Vinge’s book stands on its own.
After reading so many earlier Hugo winners, I’ve become
accustomed to short SF novels. I find myself impatient with the later, longer
novels, looking for plot movement rather than prose and extensive
characterization. I struggled with this
book for this reason. From the
beginning, it seems that the plot is simple; we can predict how it’s going to
end. So just get on with it. At some point, though, I stopped fighting it
and realized how well the book is written.
Vinge’s prose is lovely. It
creates an amazing universe and gives us very well developed characters.
The other trouble I had with this book is that it is
basically a sweeping romance. I have
never read books normally categorized as romance, but I have read romantic best
sellers like “The Thorn Birds.” This
novel reminded me of that type of book.
A woman goes on an epic journey, battles evil, and discovers her true
self as she searches for her one true love, all in an SF/fantasy setting.
This book also fails the Bechdel test.
To pass this test, a work of fiction must satisfy the following requirements:- It has to have at least two women in it,
- who talk to each other,
- about something besides a man.(I didn’t add a
footnote, but you can do a quick internet search to
confirm. And Alison Bechdel is an
awesome graphic novelist.)
The main characters
are all strong woman. Vinge even notes
that she wanted to write a book with strong female characters. However, in the end, all their primary
motivations are the finding or keeping of men.
And even though they talk to each other about major plot points, it all
boils down to men.
The realization of this made me want to dismiss the book as nothing
but a glorified romance. Again, I had to
get over myself and my prejudices to realize that this is a really good
book.
So despite all the negativity I’ve unleashed, I give this
book 4 stars. I loved the subplot of the
mers, the revelation of the nature of the sybils, and the extensive use of
masks. A whole paper could be written
about masks. The snow queen herself is
deliciously evil, and yet not without a pinch of humanity.
“The Snow Queen” is a marvelous book, and well worth the
read. I highly recommend it,
particularly as a wonderful example of the transition point in the evolution of
the science fiction novel. It is epic in
style and creates an incredible universe (and borrowing from a quote on the
book jacket) not seen much in science fiction since “Dune,” and the works of
Ursula LeGuin.
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