The Snow Queen [Paperback]

What drew me to the book was the promise of strong female characters from the imagination of a female author. To my delight it was also loaded with many other elements that warmed the heart of my twenty-something self, among them a goddess myth, ecological awareness, the struggle of indigenous cultures, and romance too! I devoured THE SNOW QUEEN and named it one of my Very Favorite Books.

After many years, I recently revisited The Snow Queen universe. What does my forty-something self think?

Joan D. Vinge's creation is marvelously complex. The decadent city Carbuncle on watery Tiamat is temporary home to a variety of cultures. Their confluence is rendered in fluid detail. Thoughtful characters struggle with themselves and each other. There is no warfare but there is plenty of adventure. Themes of traditional stories are interwoven with sci fi and contemporary elements to create a colorful, grown-up tale.

The book has a refreshing variety of female characters, in both lead and supporting roles. Even in today's adventure genres, women are still grossly outnumbered, and their population is dominated by manipulative harpies and swashbuckling babes. Not so with THE SNOW QUEEN. For example, Arienrhod the Queen is indeed cruel and manipulative, but she is also fighting the imposed subordination that paralyzes her world. And although police officer Jerusha PalaThion is admirably tough, she is also overwhelmed by her circumstances. And refreshingly, NOT a babe.

Ms. Vinge excels at getting us into the minds of her characters as they attempt to sort out emotions and moral choices. Alas, she is not always a master of dialogue. Sometimes the characters utter banalities and heavy-handed pronouncements, as if they've become aware that they are partaking in an epic story. Some characters who are shown only through their words and deeds, such as thieving nomad Blodwed, are not convincing.

OK, so the book isn't perfect. But I love it. At times Moon the heroine seems like a vacuous flower child, to whom captive animals are drawn as if she's a Disney princess. But she's also determined and plucky. As her awareness of the greater universe grows, she works hard to ensure her place in it. So I root for her. When she communes with the intelligent dolphin/seal/whale-like mers, I think, wow, what a great Girl fantasy. When she bites her sadistic captor I think, "Hooray, I'm relieved she didn't try to win him over." When she has fulfilling sex with two different men within twenty four hours, I think, "You go!"

Simply put, THE SNOW QUEEN is a terrific story. Journeys are taken. Characters grow and change. Love can be consuming and life-altering--or confusing and mushy. Endings can be satisfying without being happily-ever-after. "Go for it, it's a good one."