The Snow Queen

[Oscar] Wilde ranked the critic with the artist: it takes an artist to praise, he said, but anyone can pick something apart. —Barbara Belford (Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius)

Have you ever read a really good book and then been totally unable to explain why you liked it, or even summarize the plot without making it sound stupid? My July WOGF book, Joan D. Vinge's The Snow Queen, has defeated me.

To get the stuff you can get from the synopsis out of the way: it's a space operatic retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's story of the same name (which, to my shame, I haven't read). Probably the most enjoyable part of the book was the clever way in which Vinge blended science fiction and fantasy elements. As I was reading, I kept thinking of names like Zelazny and Le Guin. It was really great fun to read a story full of nods to Andersen and Shakespeare in a convincing, sprawling science fiction universe.

At this point, unfortunately, my powers as a book reviewer peter out. This has been my hardest WOGF review to write so far, and I've discovered that it's not just me. I feel that I can only really do two things in a book review: I can pick the book apart or I can try to add something to it. This certainly isn't a perfect work, and I could pick some nits if I was so inclined, but I liked the book too much to do Vinge that disservice. As for trying to add something to the book, I feel totally at a loss. There's so much going on in terms of the story and the setting and the characters that I could only give the briefest and most unworthy kind of synopsis. And frankly: Vinge is cleverer than me. She's done such a good job of laying out for the reader what she was trying to do that I feel like there's nothing for me to add.

As I'm not enough of an artist to priase this book properly, I can only give it a hearty recommendation.

Cross-posted on Goodreads.