Rating: 
Summary: Okay... but a Hugo?
Review: By its nature, science fiction requires the audience to suspend their belief. But there is a difference between suspending it and hanging it. This book, unfortunately, requires the latter. Major components of the story (the terrible galactic menace, for example) are never really well explained, and many of the characters - especially the humans - are flat two-dimensional personalities that potentially could have given the reader more, but finally left this reader wondering "whyfore a Hugo?". In fact, the two primary adult human characters (Pham and Ravna) had lost so much credibility that - by the end of the book - I thought it seemed more like an episode of "I Love Lucy in Space".But there are many good ideas in the book. Most of the alien cultures where quite interesting - even unique. And Vinge's physics of the galaxy are wonderful. It's just unfortunate that story doesn't showcase these things better.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally, something worth READING
Review: No review could do justice to this book. The plot is great, the characters grow on you, and you never know whats going to happen next. After I read it I bought a copy for a friends christmas presant. Her whole family has read it now and they cant believe that such a good book actually exists. I can see how some people wouldn't be able to keep up with the story, and may get bored through the slow parts. But... those people are depriving themselves of the best book I ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost worth the chore of reading it all
Review: I truly wanted to like this book, and eventually I did, but not very much. Every week I plowed through another several pages--not in anticipation, savoring the temptation of teasing myself with only reading this little bit more, as I did with Winter's Tale or Soldier of the Great War, but because I thought that surely, surely there would come a crescendo, a climax, an emotional involvement, even. Alas, there was not. A grand vision, not realized.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a must read.
Review: A fantastically enjoyable read. The concept of the future is enjoyable and the characters are interesting. The plot is complex enough that it is never boring or overly predictable, but not confusing. A lot of plot twists that it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: If you enjoyed Vinge's earlier work, especially the Peace War and Marooned in Realtime, you will probably enjoy this book as long as you don't expect more of the same speculative ideas. If you've never read Vinge, or haven't read much sf, this book might not be the best place to start. The reason for that caveat is that the book leaps into a setting that is as far in the future, conceptually, as our society would be to a primitive hunter-gatherer. That means that you start off off-balance and only gradually come to assimilate all the details necessary to really understand the story. This is not criticism (at least in my book) since some of the best sf uses this technique. It requires more effort from the reader but beats hell out of some cutesy expository device or preface. A Fire Upon the Deep is well worth the effort. It is a well-crafted work that blends numerous far-reaching settings, textured characterizations and surprising speculation into a very satisfying whole.
Rating:
Summary: Stunningly Excellent
Review: A Fire upon the Deep came as a recommendation from a friend, and was the first book I read in my first batch of new books. What awaited me has to be one of the finest SF books I've ever read: simply epic, Vinge manages to encompass and make such an unimaginably endless universe real. The concepts are thrilling, the Tines and the Zones of the galaxy are flat out some the most fascinating and creative ideas I've seen in a while. To say the least I enjoyed Fire, and was amazed at the fact that a 600+ page book never became dry or boring. Considering current trends of short stories inflated to novel status by stuffing in tons inane drivel and mindless description, Fire was a welcome change. I recommend Fire upon the Deep for many reason, but the main one being simple: it opened up my mind in ways I didn't think possible.
Rating:
Summary: Good fiction is a construction, and this book is well built.
Review: My favorite thing about this book was the alien race known as the tines. The way they communicate with each other reminds me of the warbling of a modem. They are a refreshingly original creation in contrast to all the tentacled mutant bugs found in lesser Sci-Fi. The story also contains several ideas found in the discipline of Computer Science. This is not surprising since Vinge teaches (among other classes) Networks & Distributed Systems at San Diego State University.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome, drifting, revelry in the sky.. The Tines pack think
Review: Awesome, drifting, thoughtfull, creatiion in the sky.. the Tines captures your imagination, the prose is superb poetry, the imagination revels in a familiar network in a cyberspace galaxy.. I liked it..
Rating: 
Summary: Vision vision vision
Review: There comes a mind with an original idea occasionally. This guy has more than a few. I love his idea that the laws of physics are in themselves somehow tied up with gravity, which sort of folds relativity in on itself. His views of the nature of intelligence as transcending the physical bounds of the individual are manifested in several contrasting "entities": the Tine packs, the "normal" civilisations and the Higher Order beings of the Beyond, which draws religious thinking of Good and Evil into the universe in a natural way. I love this universe. And they use a FTL version of the Internet! How do I subscribe?
Rating:
Summary: Reading So Riveting It's Exhausting
Review: When I first looked at this book, I thought to myself, "Ugh, it has kids as main characters." I put it down. Then, a friend recommended it to me, pointing out a bizarre universe in which relativism (as well as its rules) was, quite literally, relative to your location in the cosmos. I started reading, and immediately engaged the notion of a universe-destroying malevolence, skipping from sentient form to sentient form, and for the next several hours, I sat riveted. The concepts that Vinge throws out are preposterously sci-fi, and that's what's great about them. A Fire Upon the Deep is space opera at its classic best. The quick changes from story-line to story-line keep you glued to your chair, and the inexorable convergence of completely unrelated events makes the fact that the eyes can move only so fast almost painful. I found myself skipping chapters just to see what happened along one plot-line, only to turn back to catch up later. This book is a real treat; it's a page-turner from page one on, and it is replete with novel concepts that will coruscate pleasantly through your SF fancies.
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