Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Finally, a science fiction novel that does actually live up to the hype. "A Fire Upon the Deep" is a fast-paced, exciting, and incredibly inventive book. As many others have mentioned, Vinge's unique vision of the future is one of the novel's biggest strengths. He has created a galaxy where different species are moving upwards through a series of "zones of thought" as their technology becomes more sophisticated. The catch is that once humanity has ventured into "the beyond", it's difficult to go back to "the slow zone" because the new spaceships and computers won't work there. Vinge's ingenious plot device is to have a spaceship carrying two children and some vital information crash-land on a planet that's right on the border of "the slow zone", forcing a ragtag group of spacefarers to attempt a desperate rescue mission. While almost all science fiction writers include intelligent aliens, the species that Vinge dreams up are quite different from anything I've ever seen in any other book. There are the Tines, a race where a single consciousness controls a group of several individuals, the Skroderiders, a species that was sessile until they were provided with mechanical carts, and numerous others that help add color to the book.But in addition to its remarkable futuristic world, "A Fire Upon the Deep" also contains an action-packed plot. The author springs a major surprise on you in almost every chapter: characters that you though were good turn out to be traitors and vice versa, certain groups turn out to be more powerful than you thought, etc... The bottom line is that you never know what's going to happen next, and Vinge manages to keep the suspense up throughout the entire book, despite its 613 page length. "A Fire Upon the Deep" is very well paced, and Vinge never keeps you confused about a concept for very long before providing an explanation. I personally felt that the ending did a good job of wrapping up the plot while at the same time giving readers a few facets to wonder about. Overall, this book deserved its Hugo Award, and a place on the shelf along with the best science fiction works of all times.
Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: I read this shortly after "A Deepness In The Sky", its 'prequel'. (A note: except for the character of Pham Nuwen there is no connection between the two books; this is neither a praise, nor a critique; simply an information which might be useful if you are looking for any connection between the two.) The style is very similar: two different and initially completely distinct threads of action, one involving humans and one aliens, come together slowly to a common conclusion. One thread involves two humans (well, one not-so-human: an 'evolved' Pham Nuwen from Deepness) and a pair of aliens on a desperate quest: an all-powerful evil force is rapidly taking over parts of the galaxy and the only possible solution is aboard a ship crashed on a medieval world at the other end of the known space. The other thread takes place on the medieval world and involves two children survivors of the crashed ship and the local intelligent race, dog-like creatures who are only able to achieve consciousness in packs. I found the ideas in this book to be wonderful. The description of the pack intelligence of the dog race was completely new to me; perhaps it has been used before, but not to my knowledge (there is a short note somewhere on the first pages about a short story by somebody else who used the same idea). The possibilities deriving from this kind of civilizations are many, and the author explores them to the reader's complete satisfaction: partial awareness of one's self, what happens when only part of an individual survives, the nature of the soul, how the memories and personality of each individual play a distinct role. Also, the author explores the frigthful liberty this unique situation gives for the ones who want to create super beings, or packs with special characteristics. Another idea I enjoyed was the 'Zones of Thought': the galaxy is divided into several concentric regions in which different rules of physics apply. Coming from the center of the galaxy ('The Unthinking Depths') and going outwards to the 'Transcend', FTL travel becomes possible. What functions in one zone doesn't in another. This separation ensures the protection of the under-evolved races, making it possible for them to build their own civilizations and expand outward at their own pace. The minus of this book comes from the fact that this division is never explained in scientific terms; you just have to accept it as it is. Perhaps the author himself could not think of an explanation :). Many reviewers have complained about the description of the Net, the communication network which unites all the worlds in the more evolved regions of the galaxy, saying that it was simplistic (being only text-based). Don't forget that this book was written in 1992, when the Internet wasn't what it is now. And the issue is not so important at all to the plot, it is just collateral. The characters were nicely built; I have to admit that I cared more for the Tines (packs) than for the humans, though (the same as I cared more for the Spiders in A Deepness In The Sky). The ending was very good and not rushed, even if a little 'forky'. True, no grand epic descriptions there, but in my opinion they were not necessary at that point. What I would like now is a book that takes place before this one but after Deepness, finishing the quest suggested at the end of Deepnees and perhaps dwelling on the evolution of the human race towards the setting in Fire: how they reacted in discovering the Zone Thoughts and so on.
Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi with a touch of genious
Review: Vinge's book has a simple yet unusual plot: two human kids trapped in a medieval world peopled by a wolf-like communal race hold the answer to stop the Blight, a galactic plague that threatens to destroy billions of systems with an almost uncomprehensilbe power. To their rescue come two other human beings, Ravna, an ex-bureaucratic low-profile agent, and Pham, who has been dead for the past 25,000 years. This is just a ridiculous, tiny description of what this book is about. Vernor Vinge's descriptions and discussions about his own ideas, thrown in in the middle of the story, are the core of a different and very enjoyable work in science-fiction. "A fire upon the deep" represented something new for me. Written almost 13 years ago, Vernor Vinge's book was able to show me, during the chapters, some of the most thought-provoking ideas I've ever read in the genre. I would consider "A fire upon the deep" a great blend of the hardest sci-fi with the necessary "human" elements that fill a space opera. Vinge's immagination concerning the division of the Galaxy in Zones of Thought is simply amazing. The last time I came upon something so different and intriguing was with Asimov's "End of eternity". Also, Vinge's description of alien races rival those of (once again) Asimov's "The gods themselves". But I have to admit that "A fire upon the deep" reaches a larger scale than the one in Asimov's mentioned books. This is the kind of work that makes people get interested in science-fiction, and also the kind of work that makes science-fiction a respected literature genre. But a warning: this is not a book to be read lightly or with lack of attention. Grade 9.2/10
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Finally, a science fiction novel that does actually live up to the hype. "A Fire Upon the Deep" is a fast-paced, exciting, and incredibly inventive book. As many others have mentioned, Vinge's unique vision of the future is one of the novel's biggest strengths. He has created a galaxy where different species are moving upwards through a series of "zones of thought" as their technology becomes more sophisticated. The catch is that once humanity has ventured into "the beyond", it's difficult to go back to "the slow zone" because the new spaceships and computers won't work there. Vinge's ingenious plot device is to have a spaceship carrying two children and some vital information crash-land on a planet that's right on the border of "the slow zone", forcing a ragtag group of spacefarers to attempt a desperate rescue mission. While almost all science fiction writers include intelligent aliens, the species that Vinge dreams up are quite different from anything I've ever seen in any other book. There are the Tines, a race where a single consciousness controls a group of several individuals, the Skroderiders, a species that was sessile until they were provided with mechanical carts, and numerous others that help add color to the book. But in addition to its remarkable futuristic world, "A Fire Upon the Deep" also contains an action-packed plot. The author springs a major surprise on you in almost every chapter: characters that you though were good turn out to be traitors and vice versa, certain groups turn out to be more powerful than you thought, etc... The bottom line is that you never know what's going to happen next, and Vinge manages to keep the suspense up throughout the entire book, despite its 613 page length. "A Fire Upon the Deep" is very well paced, and Vinge never keeps you confused about a concept for very long before providing an explanation. I personally felt that the ending did a good job of wrapping up the plot while at the same time giving readers a few facets to wonder about. Overall, this book deserved its Hugo Award, and a place on the shelf along with the best science fiction works of all times.
Rating: 
Summary: A novel of deep ideas and epic scope
Review: This is science fiction as it was meant to be: a compelling vision of the future, teeming with alienness, intriguing ideas, and a sense of wonder. The narrative alternates between two settings, and Vinge infuses each with creativity. On the one hand, Ravna Bergsndot and Pham Nuwen live in a galaxy teeming with innumerable civilizations connected by the Net of a Million Lies, a galaxy-spanning version of the internet. Among his most pervasive ideas is the Zones of Thought: the farther from the galactic core you are, the more sophisticated is the technology allowed by the laws of physics. The descendants of the human race are only one of countless species existing in the buffer between the Slow Zone, where FTL travel no longer functions, and the rim, past which transcendant species and awesome machine intelligences dwell. However, Vinge sets the other half of his story on a single planet, Tines' World, which is no less compelling. The dominant (medieval) species of this planet is race of packs of dog-like creatures: each individual consciousness comprises multiple bodies. The author's background in computer science, prevalent in the other half of the novel, can be seen here as well with the discussion of different network topologies for these "distributed" minds. Vinge does a better job of conveying the alienness of these "Tines" than he does with the Spiders in A Deepness in the Sky, while still making their motivations and personalities comprehensible. My only real complaint with this novel is the ending. While grand in scope and thought-provoking, it still comes off a little flat; the first 550 or so pages do not really build up to it. Somehow, the resolution of the plot specific to Tines' World was much more satisfying than the end of Ravna and Pham's quest of galactic importance. Also, although I liked the characters, the plotting and characterization in A Deepness in the Sky (which I read first) are better. Despite its imperfections, A Fire Upon the Deep is a great read, if for nothing else than the richness of Vinge's imagination. He infuses his writing with rich ideas and details that I can hardly begin to convey here.
Rating:
Summary: Better than most
Review: This book was well written, with interesting plot lines and characters. It blends computer sci, internet, space wars, feudal society, and aliens together in a fast moving, well tied together work. Some of the ideas in the nove are extrapolations of today's computer systems and networks, including virus problems, networks, and bandwidth issues. An IT professional like myself will enjoy this stretching of the mental envelope. The Tines, a race of individuals made up of groups, is an interesting concept. The author takes this idea and makes it believable, and in fact gives personalities to these alien minds. All in all, this is a better than average hard sci-fi novel. A follow-up to it would be very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Shaking trees in an intriguing universe
Review: Vinge's aliens are out of this world!
His picture of the different zones of technology are awesome. V.V. contributes with so many new and interesting elements, that one understands why he won the prize he did. I highly recommend this book for everybody that wants to read a good piece of Sci-Fi.
Rating: 
Summary: Good ideas, exceedingly poor execution
Review: I tried very hard to like A Fire Upon the Deep. The reviews for it are stellar, and it did won a Hugo. Also, I am a huge fan of SF, so I felt this book would be a sure-fire hit with me. Not so. As other reviewers pointed out, this book has some great ideas. Pack sentience is very nice, and the idea of zones is intriguing. Unfortunately, all these are wrapped in very shoddy writing. To tell the truth, the writing was barely above fan sci-fi in some places. The characterization is also, most unfortunately, pretty bad. The Tine race is filled with potential, but the Tine characters are nothing more than stereotypes : the wanderer, the wise queen, the evil lord, the evil adviser, the betrayer. Human characters are predictable to the point of being boring, and their motivations serve the plot more than any sort of coherence. As a whole, the race is strangely 'Western european', despite their uniqueness. Also, as interesting as they were, I don't think they deserved that much of a treatment. One major source of disappointment for me, also, was the way the Galactic net was portrayed. I'm aware the novel was written in 1993, but Vinge's depiction lacks any kind of vision whatsoever. It's silly to see the whole Galaxy chattering on newsgroups and sending each other emails. Not once did it try to be something else than the 1993's Internet surimposed on a galactic scale, and it was more a gimmick than anything else. On a whole, the story has ambitions of grandeur, but fails at articulating it. The events are always portrayed vaguely and don't have resonance. In one scene, a character learns billions have died when her homeworld was devastated, yet this event only serves as a setup for the personal drama of the characters! Most of the story happens either among 5-6 individuals on the Tine world, or within the closed confines of the ship, and neither progress at a pace that would be satisfying. There are some great ideas in this book, but they're buried under a nonsensical plot that fails to impress. Because of this, it has neither the scope nor the emotional impact of, say, Frank Herbert's Dune or Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy. Finishing the book was a difficult endeavour, and I will NOT pick up the prequel. Phan Newen is far from being interesting enough a character to make me pick it up.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good SciFi
Review: The overly enthusiastic hype for this book almost spoiled my enjoyment of it. It is not great, but great science fiction (i.e.- Hyperion by Dan Simmons) is very hard to come by these days. A Fire Upon the Deep is good, with enough thought provoking, creative aliens, new concepts in astrophysics and stimulating plot twists and dialogue to carry you into a few late night reading sessions. Several glaring inconsistencies in the behavior of the main characters mar, but do not destroy the credibility of the plot. Some fundamental questions remain painfully unanswered. But, overall a fine read. Space opera lives.
Rating:
Summary: Far out!
Review: It's a good read, much better than his "A Deepness in the Sky". It takes a while to get into the characters, especially the "Tines", but the concept of a group-mind species is quite interesting. I wish the Blight was described in more detail. The ending doesn't quite explain the very beginning where the Blight comes into being in the first place. The Countermeasure part in the end was over pretty quick and I wish it was explained better too. It seems kind of unrealistic what happens with the zone shifts in the end (i.e., no real "scientific" explanation), but then I guess that's the point of Sci-Fi. What I really like is the far scope of the book, and the mind bending possibilities of the Transcend and the Beyond. I liked the character development, especially of the 'Riders. Overall, I recommend this book.
| 
