The Snow Queen Series: Difference between revisions

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''The Snow Queen Series'', by Joan D. Vinge, is a series of four books set in the far future world of the Hegemony. The first and titular book, The Snow Queen, is a multifaceted, old-fashioned space opera cast in the form of a high-tech fairy tale, with nods to Dune and Welsh mythology. It won the 1981 Hugo Award for its author.
''The Snow Queen Series'', by Joan D. Vinge, is a series of four books set in the far future world of the Hegemony. The first and titular book, The Snow Queen, is a multifaceted, old-fashioned space opera cast in the form of a high-tech fairy tale, with nods to Dune and Welsh mythology. It won the 1981 Hugo Award for its author.


Tiamat is a mostly oceanic world which orbits a black hole, and seasons there last for hundreds of years. In the warm years, the Summer Queens rule and the planet reverts to primitivism; in the cold years, a single Snow Queen kept perpetually at age 18 by the water of life, a youth serum extracted from the blood of a native sea mammal. In the Winter years The Hegemony, remnants of a once mighty star-spanning empire, are able travel through the nearby black hole to exploit Tiamat’s resources and use it as an R n’ R stop; in the Summer years, the black hole becomes too unstable for space travel, and the planet loses whatever luxuries and technology it had.
Tiamat is a mostly oceanic world which orbits a black hole, and seasons there last for hundreds of years. In the warm years, the Summer Queens rule and the planet reverts to primitivism; in the cold years, a single Snow Queen kept perpetually at age 18 by the water of life, a youth serum extracted from the blood of a native sea mammal. In the Winter years The Hegemony, remnants of a once mighty star-spanning empire, are able travel through the nearby black hole to exploit Tiamat’s resources and use it as an R n’ R stop; in the Summer years, the black hole becomes too unstable for space travel, and the planet loses whatever luxuries and technology it had.


The story begins when Arienrhod, a Winter Queen whose reign is soon to end, seeks to break the cycle of exploitation by cloning herself among the Summer fisherfolk, with the idea of retrieving her daughter at adolesence and having her reign as the next Summer Queen. However Moon, her clone daughter, has other ideas for her life; raised among simple villagers, she falls in love with her cousin Sparks, becomes a sacred advisor/prophetess known as a Sibyl, and is kidnapped and taken off-world where she learns the true nature of the sibyl network and the decay of the forner Empire. Sparks, meanwhile, travels to the capitol city of Carbuncle to find his fortune and becomes the Snow Queen’s lover and chief huntsman responsible for the slaughter of the sacred mers that provide the means to eternal youth. This is only the rough outline of the plot.
The story begins when Arienrhod, a Winter Queen whose reign is soon to end, seeks to break the cycle of exploitation by cloning herself among the Summer fisherfolk, with the idea of retrieving her daughter at adolesence and having her reign as the next Summer Queen. However Moon, her clone daughter, has other ideas for her life; raised among simple villagers, she falls in love with her cousin Sparks, becomes a sacred advisor/prophetess known as a Sibyl, and is kidnapped and taken off-world where she learns the true nature of the sibyl network and the decay of the forner Empire. Sparks, meanwhile, travels to the capitol city of Carbuncle to find his fortune and becomes the Snow Queen’s lover and chief huntsman responsible for the slaughter of the sacred mers that provide the means to eternal youth. This is only the rough outline of the plot.
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** Tangled Up in Blue
** Tangled Up in Blue
** World's End
** World's End
** The Summer Queen
** The Summer Queen




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* [[After the End]]: The Hegemony is all that remains of a once mighty human starfaring Empire.
* [[After the End]]: The Hegemony is all that remains of a once mighty human starfaring Empire.
* [[AI Is a Crapshoot]]
* [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot]]
* [[Bizarre Seasons]]: Though the exact length in Earth years of Tiamat's two seasons is never explicitly stated, Arienrhod reflects she has barely been given two (human length) lifetimes for her reign, so 160 for each is a good guess. Enough to turn over 8 generations.
* [[Bizarre Seasons]]: Though the exact length in Earth years of Tiamat's two seasons is never explicitly stated, Arienrhod reflects she has barely been given two (human length) lifetimes for her reign, so 160 for each is a good guess. Enough to turn over 8 generations.
* [[Blind Seer]]: Fate Ravenglass. She even has a [[Third Eye|third artificial eye]] in the form of a band across her forehead.
* [[Blind Seer]]: Fate Ravenglass. She even has a [[Third Eye|third artificial eye]] in the form of a band across her forehead.
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* [[Dark-Skinned Redhead]]: Sparks Dawntreader, who is half Kharamoughi (a dark-skinned offworlder race.)
* [[Dark-Skinned Redhead]]: Sparks Dawntreader, who is half Kharamoughi (a dark-skinned offworlder race.)
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: Arienrhod's nobles are described as favoring bizarre, androgynous fashions and trying to play-kill each other with stunguns. They are also hinted to have group sex with each other.
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: Arienrhod's nobles are described as favoring bizarre, androgynous fashions and trying to play-kill each other with stunguns. They are also hinted to have group sex with each other.
* [[Evil Albino]]: Arienrhod, although she is not so much evil as ambitious and decadent. However, {{spoiler|she did also try to kill her Summer subjects by infecting them with an offworld virus.}}
* [[Evil Albino]]: Arienrhod, although she is not so much evil as ambitious and decadent. However, {{spoiler|she did also try to kill her Summer subjects by infecting them with an offworld virus.}}
* [[Evil Is Sexy]]: Arienrhod, and she is not afraid to use it.
* [[Evil Is Sexy]]: Arienrhod, and she is not afraid to use it.
* [[Fantastic Caste System]]: There are several.
* [[Fantastic Caste System]]: There are several.
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* [[Heroic Albino]]: Moon Dawntreader, though not technically an albino, is described as having pale skin and hair like cream, with light green eyes the color of moss and mist agate.
* [[Heroic Albino]]: Moon Dawntreader, though not technically an albino, is described as having pale skin and hair like cream, with light green eyes the color of moss and mist agate.
* [[Immortality Immorality]]: The wealthy, decadent few who can afford to take the Water of Life.
* [[Immortality Immorality]]: The wealthy, decadent few who can afford to take the Water of Life.
* Lovetriang: Moon, Sparks, and BZ Gundhalinu; also Arienrhod, Moon, and Sparks.
* Lovetriang: Moon, Sparks, and BZ Gundhalinu; also Arienrhod, Moon, and Sparks.
* Jerkass: Herne, and arguably {{spoiler|Sparks Dawntreader.}}
* Jerkass: Herne, and arguably {{spoiler|Sparks Dawntreader.}}
* [[Junkie Prophet]]
* [[Junkie Prophet]]
* [[Masquerade Ball]]: These are held by the Snow Queen to honor the Hegemony's periodic visits. Moon was implanted in a Summer woman at one of them.
* [[Masquerade Ball]]: These are held by the Snow Queen to honor the Hegemony's periodic visits. Moon was implanted in a Summer woman at one of them.
* [[New Meat]]: BZ Gundhalinu.
* [[New Meat]]: BZ Gundhalinu.
* [[Reentry Scare]]: When Elsevier takes Moon back to Tiamat, their ship is shot down.
* [[Reentry Scare]]: When Elsevier takes Moon back to Tiamat, their ship is shot down.
* [[Sapient Cetacean]]: The mers, even though they are more seal-like. They sing like whales though.
* [[Sapient Cetacean]]: The mers, even though they are more seal-like. They sing like whales though.
* [[Single Biome Planet]]: Tiamat is a water world with a few scattered islands.
* [[Single Biome Planet]]: Tiamat is a water world with a few scattered islands.
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[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:The Snow Queen Series]]
[[Category:The Snow Queen Series]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snow Queen Series, The}}
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