A Deepness in the Sky (Zones of Thought, 2)

Vinge's body of work stands as a rebuke to that majority of SF writers who crank out a book or two of mediocrity every year. Although Vinge's books appear at three to four year intervals, each of them is a gem. His skills are getting even better, and this book and its predecessor, "A Fire Upon the Deep," will surely be considered classics.Vinge has all of the tools of a good SF writer: a mastery of science, creativity in projecting future developments, and the grasp of history necessary to make future societies believable. He's also a good writer. He creates credible characters. The good guys have weaknesses and the bad guys a few admirable traits. His scenic descriptions aren't great, but he does succeed occasionally in creating a sense of place for his exotic locales.But what marks Vinge as great is his logic. Many writers give have their protagonists win either because their opponents are stupid or are implausibly blind to key weaknesses in their position. The baddies in "Deepness" are smart and are constantly a half step ahead of the good guys, which makes for an exciting read. And, in a particularly brilliant touch, Vinge sets up the climax to look like a cheap deus ex machina, and then returns to explain how it all makes complete sense.Finally, Vinge also plays a neat little game with part of the narrative, making it seem to be from one point of view and then slowly revealing that it is, in fact, from another.In sum, "Deepness" is not just a good story, but a good book by a talented author who has thought through everything. If you buy it, maybe Vinge can quit his day job and give us more like it.

Any new book by Vinge is a must-read for me, especially in the wasteland of GOOD science-fiction, where great reads are few and far between. A Fire Upon The Deep is still one of my favorites of all time, so when I saw this puppy on the shelf, I grabbed it right away. And despite only a loose link to that book, this is probably some of the best science-fiction I've read in years. At first I was worried that there would be too many recycled ideas, like any first-contact novel. But really this is a book about the limitations of civilizations, whether limited by environment, like the Spiders, or limited by history, like the Qeng Ho and every other human civilization mentioned in the book. And at a broader level, for those who've read A Fire Upon The Deep, it's indirectly about the limits of technology, and the Failed Dreams which the characters could never realize are caused by their location in the galaxy. The book also has a lot to say about cultural blinders and how we perceive others-I also thought the Spiders were too human at first but by the end Vinge patiently and cleverly explained it all. And while a lot of what the book has to say about human nature is very pessimistic (slavery and the inevitable fall of civilizations), it ultimately ends on a positive note. Although lacking the scope and grandeur of the galaxy as protrayed in Fire, this book complements Fire by being more inward-looking, and manages to deliver what most science fiction can't deliver-real, believable people. Buy it! Now! Why are you still here? Go!

Vernor Vinge is one of the least prolific writers of the SF genre, yet his small canon contains some of the modern SF masterpieces. His True Names, along with Gibson's Neuromancer, is quite clearly an inspiration for works like The Matrix. Marooned in Real Time is one of the most unique murder mysteries, set during time travel after the disappearance of the entire human race. A Fire Upon the Deep is a masterful space opera and clear successor to the novels of Doc Smith. A Deepness in the Sky is a prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep and is every bit as good as the earlier novels, perhaps even better. A Deepness in the Sky features one of A Fire Upon the Deep's protagonists, Pham Nuwen. In the first novel, Nuwen briefly mentions his life with the space faring Qeng Ho traders. Deepness features his last and perhaps greatest adventure among the Qeng Ho. Nuwen is just one of many fascinating characters who Vinge has created. Unlike his earlier works, in which only a few characters had depth, Deepness has a large cast of characters and Vinge develops them skillfully. Vinge draws from a pool that he has created by merging the Qeng Ho with the tyrannical Emergents and alien Spiders. In doing so, he has created a massive tour de force and one of the great novels of alien first contact.A Deepness in the Sky is a long novel (over 600 pages) with several different threads going simultaneously. We are treated to Pham Nuwen and Ezr Vinh of the Qeng Ho and Tomas Nau of the Emergents engaging in plots that are only explained in bits and pieces as the novel progresses. On the Spider side, Vinge features Sherkaner Underhill, his family and his friends. All the plot lines that feature these characters weave back and forth until converging in a near 100 page climax with twists and turns along the way. I did have some difficulty in keeping with the novel in the earlier passages. It seemed that as soon as I got interested in the Nuwen activities, Vinge would switch to the Spiders. Then as I got interested in the Spiders, he would switch to Ezr Vinh. Perhaps Vinge needs to write a novel like this because of decreasing attention spans but I found that it took more work to get back into it once I had left it.One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is the development of the Spiders. They are, well, spiders. It is hard for most people to find spiders particularly attractive or endearing. Many people, myself included, find them repulsive or at least ugly. However, the reader gets attached to these spider characters as much as the human ones, perhaps more so. For much of the novel, the spiders appear to be anthropomorphized. Just when one is lulled into thinking of them as people, Vinge uses terms like "cold sucks" to describe food and "eating hands" or "baby eyes" to describe body parts. The reason for the humanization of the spiders is explained in the novel's denouement but as a plot device it is very effe