I finished this up yesterday. The story takes place on the planet of Tiamat. Offworlders or Winters use their 'technology' to dominate the land over the native Summers. The cold Snow Queen uses natural resources (the mers) to amass wealth and have eternal youth. The book tells the story of a social, politcal struggle with mild action. Frankly there were parts of the book that were just plain boring. I read the book because the cover of the sequel, The Summer Queen, looked cool. This is not the best of Joan D. Vinge. I recommend Catspaw or Dreamfall.
