This SF novel has a very rich and complicated plot, but I remember very little of it. I read it about 20 years ago, probably in a paperback.
What I do remember is that it takes place on a planet with a very elliptical orbit, which means it spends a very long time completely frozen, and only thaws for a short time at periodic returns near perihelia. The native inhabitants, who look like huge spiders, spend long periods in cryogenic sleep and are only active during a short time per cycle (still several years by human reckoning). They are divided into "countries" who fight vicious wars each time they emerge from their cryogenic sleep.
Sometime before the next "thaw" a human expedition arrives. They have an energy source large enough not to need cryogenics even when the planet itself is deep frozen, at least long enough to wait for the "spiders" to wake up in order to interact with them.
I don't remember at all what happens next.