From Publishers Weekly
Vinge returns to the worlds of her Hugo Award-winning The Snow Queen , blending complex characters and mythic resonances with the sweeping grandeur of an interplanetary saga. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
As the Summer Star ascends in the skies above the planet Tiamat, marking the end of more than a century of exploitation by the technologically advanced Hegemony, Moon Dawntreader--the Summer Queen appointed to lead her people back to their traditional ways--breaks with ancient custom, choosing instead to prepare to meet the Hegemony's inevitable return on equal terms. In this sequel to The Snow Queen (Dell, 1980), Vinge weaves a complex web of tangled love affairs, secret cabals, political intrigue, and high adventure centering around a unique woman and her visionary gift. The breadth and richness of this sf epic invite comparison with Frank Herbert's Dune and Isaac Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy." Although best read in tandem with its predecessor, this masterpiece of creative world-building is a priority purchase.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
The long-awaited sequel to Vinge's enormous The Snow Queen (1980), an interstellar tug-of-war between the far-from-benevolent Hegemony and the backward-but-indispensable planet Tiamat. It is now Summer on Tiamat; the Hegemony has withdrawn, leaving the planet in the hands of the Snow Queen's clone, Moon. Numerous--too numerous--subplots get underway. Moon's former lover, BZ Gundhalinu, will be sent to World's End, where a wrecked Old Empire ship has spilled semi-sentient stardrive plasma; if Gundhalinu can control the plasma, faster-than-light travel will again be possible, ending Tiamat's periodic isolation. Elsewhere, Reede Kullervo, a researcher with a rebuilt brain, addicted to his own supercharging designer drug, will be ordered by the leader of the supercriminal Brotherhood to seek the immortality elixir whose only source is Tiamat. Meanwhile, Moon struggles to control Tiamat's rebellious factions, knowing that the planet's intelligent sea-dwelling ``mers'' are the source of the elixir, and that the ancient computer that links the galaxy's clairvoyant sibyls in an information network lies buried under Tiamat's chief city, Carbuncle; she dares not permit the Hegemony to control either the sibyl network or the elixir. Overcomplicated, as usual, with too many flabby patches, but much more rigorous and logical than its predecessor. Too, the pretentious allusions have been banished in favor of a welcome infusion of new ideas: all in all, an absorbing and satisfying performance. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"As large and splendid as its predecessor." --Chicago Sun-Times

"Vinge has written a book which is a true sequel to The Snow Queen, and it's a winner. The Summer Queen is more complex, richer, and in the end more rewarding than The Snow Queen. Totally satisfying. This is the kind of book that could only be science fiction: the kind of book we're all richer for having in our field." --Tom Whitmore, Locus

"A sequel even more successful than the works that preceded it. Given that The Snow Queen won the 1981 Hugo for best novel, this is high praise indeed." --Philadelphia Inquirer

"The long-awaited sequel to Vinge's enormous The Snow Queen. . . . An absorbing and satisfying performance." --Kirkus Reviews (starred)



Book Description
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.



About the Author
Joan D. Vinge has won two Hugo Awards, one for her novel The Snow Queen. Author of ten novels and a number of film adaptations, her books have been bestsellers here and abroad. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

ANNOTATION

The long-awaited sequel to the Hugo Award-winning The Snow Queen. Moon has succeeded the Snow Queen as ruler of Tiamat and, although still only a gentle 17-year-old, she must assume the powerful role of the Summer Queen. Through her tumultuous reign, she realizes that in order to save her universe, she must be more than a queen--she must become a goddess.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Vinge returns to the worlds of her Hugo Award-winning The Snow Queen , blending complex characters and mythic resonances with the sweeping grandeur of an interplanetary saga. (Dec.)

Library Journal

As the Summer Star ascends in the skies above the planet Tiamat, marking the end of more than a century of exploitation by the technologically advanced Hegemony, Moon Dawntreader--the Summer Queen appointed to lead her people back to their traditional ways--breaks with ancient custom, choosing instead to prepare to meet the Hegemony's inevitable return on equal terms. In this sequel to The Snow Queen (Dell, 1980), Vinge weaves a complex web of tangled love affairs, secret cabals, political intrigue, and high adventure centering around a unique woman and her visionary gift. The breadth and richness of this sf epic invite comparison with Frank Herbert's Dune and Isaac Asimov's ``Foundation Trilogy.'' Although best read in tandem with its predecessor, this masterpiece of creative world-building is a priority purchase.

Kirkus Reviews

The long-awaited sequel to Vinge's enormous The Snow Queen (1980), an interstellar tug-of-war between the far-from-benevolent Hegemony and the backward-but-indispensable planet Tiamat. It is now Summer on Tiamat; the Hegemony has withdrawn, leaving the planet in the hands of the Snow Queen's clone, Moon. Numerous—too numerous—subplots get underway. Moon's former lover, BZ Gundhalinu, will be sent to World's End, where a wrecked Old Empire ship has spilled semi-sentient stardrive plasma; if Gundhalinu can control the plasma, faster-than-light travel will again be possible, ending Tiamat's periodic isolation. Elsewhere, Reede Kullervo, a researcher with a rebuilt brain, addicted to his own supercharging designer drug, will be ordered by the leader of the supercriminal Brotherhood to seek the immortality elixir whose only source is Tiamat. Meanwhile, Moon struggles to control Tiamat's rebellious factions, knowing that the planet's intelligent sea-dwelling "mers" are the source of the elixir, and that the ancient computer that links the galaxy's clairvoyant sibyls in an information network lies buried under Tiamat's chief city, Carbuncle; she dares not permit the Hegemony to control either the sibyl network or the elixir. Overcomplicated, as usual, with too many flabby patches, but much more rigorous and logical than its predecessor. Too, the pretentious allusions have been banished in favor of a welcome infusion of new ideas: all in all, an absorbing and satisfying performance.