A Fire Upon the Deep

On 12/16/2016 at 11:15 PM by daftman

Earlier this year I discovered a sci-fi author who has been around for a long time and is kind of a big deal, so I'm not sure how I never stumbled upon him before. His name is Vernor Vinge (VIN-gee) and I recently finished his book A Fire Upon the Deep. This 1993 Hugo-winning book did not disappoint, though the premise is a little hard to grasp. The galaxy is divided up into Zones of Thought. Basically, the farther out you get from the galactic core, the higher the level of technology and intelligence is possible. The center of the galaxy is called the Unthinking Depths, where conscious thought is not even possible. Next comes the Slow Zone. Space travel is possible here but not faster-than-light travel. Passed that is the Beyond, where marvelous technology flourishes, and finally, the Transcend, a place beyond the comprehension of normal humans. It sounds weird at first, I know, but Vinge really commits to the Zones and makes them so integral to the story that it simply would not be the same tale at all without them.

The story deals with a superhuman entity that is accidentally awakened in the bottom of the Transcend, the havoc it wreaks on the Beyond, and a small group that struggles to procur the one thing that can stop it (they hope). But that's just the big picture. It is often a much more personal story of the characters and their struggles. Plus I've never read a story that makes the galaxy feel so old and vast and inhabited yet still unknown. There are some really interesting alien races as well, especially the ones with a pack consciousness. And the Riders!

Basically, I can't recommend this book enough. I really enjoyed reading it and if you've made it this far in the blog (I'm sure I still have Snee with me at least lol), you'd probably like it too. After Christmas I'm going to try to get some more of Vinge's books. He's got some more that sound really interesting.

Halochief90

12/17/2016 at 12:22 AM

I actually read a book but by Vernor Vinge back when I was really into sci-fi novels. It was called Rainbows End. It was okay, though it had a ton of interesting ideas. I will remember to keep A Fire Upon the Deep in the back of my mind.

daftman

12/18/2016 at 09:14 PM

I did some reading about him online when I first came across one of his books and it seems like A Fire Upon the Deep is probably his most well known and highly regarded. But yeah, I can't imagine he's written anything that isn't chock full of interesting ideas.

KnightDriver

12/17/2016 at 04:06 AM

I made a list of all the Hugo award winning books and was going to read them all. I read the first few most recent ones and then I stopped. I might have read something by Vinge in my teens, though, maybe The Peace War. The name rings a bell with me. I'm at a reading impasse right now. I just dumped Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth because I didn't like it half way through. I don't know what I should read next. It should be of practical value though. Not sure I should read fiction right now. Sometime though for sure.

12/18/2016 at 09:19 PM

Earlier this year I actually looked through a list of all the Hugo winners and the thought about reading them all did cross my mind—it would make a really cool reading list!—but thankfully I dumped the idea pretty quickly. I have enough cool books to read without trying to track down a bunch more.

I've seen that Pillars of the Earth book. It's HUGE!

This year is probably the first of the last five that I've really gotten back into reading novels. Sometimes you just need to do other things.

12/19/2016 at 01:09 AM

I had to quit Pillars of the Earth half way through. Not 'cause it's long, but because the characters are constantly being abused or having to face someone who's out to ruin their plans. It just got too much for me. I usually push through books I don't like so much just to finish them, but I reached my limit with this one.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

12/17/2016 at 08:52 AM

I read this Great, great stuff. I havent read any of his other books though.

12/18/2016 at 09:46 PM

I knew I could count on you, Snee!

...or, at least, I figured if anybody would have read it or would find it interesting, it would be you.

12/19/2016 at 03:40 AM

ha ha

12/17/2016 at 08:53 AM

this is the sequel which I haven't read. Apparenty there are four "zones" books.

https://www.amazon.com/Deepness-Sky-Zones-Thought/dp/0812536355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481982769&sr=8-1&keywords=a+deepness+in+the+sky

12/18/2016 at 10:44 PM

I think there's just three book: the original, a prequel, and a sequel. I'd certainly like to read them all. I also want to get the Realtime stories (Marooned in Realtime sounds especially interesting, I think). I still just can't believe I went all these years and never heard his name one time. It's a vast world of books out there, I guess.

Super Step Contributing Writer

12/22/2016 at 12:09 AM

The premise sounds interesting. Knowing me, I'll probably try to guess what places he visited or thought about in real life that he considers "The Transcendence" or the Slow Zone.

PixlBit

A Fire Upon the Deep

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