A Fire Upon The Deep

Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST books from one of the FINEST authors
Review: Vinge has done it again. Each time I read one of his books, I am challenged by Vinge's unusual concepts. While modern scientific paradigm says that matter warps space, Vinge's goes further to suggest that other physical laws are also moderated by matter. (ie: the further you climb out of the gravity well of a galaxy, the faster you can travel, think, network ... machines can become sentient, etc.) He describes wolf-like beings that share a pack-consciousness. They exist as one being who can live for centuries as individual pack members are born and die. He gives you an inside perspective of how a pack will adopt or breed new members to develop its personality - fascinating. This is the first book I've read in a long time that made me think every time I put the book down

Rating:
Summary: plot good; characterization oustanding
Review: Vinge's novel overlaps a "macroplot" about galactic races and chases and a "microplot" about two children stranded on a world of lupine aliens. Both are full of twists and revelations, but the wolfpack storyline is what blew me away. If you are tired of e.t.s who act just like humans only with fur or antennae, then read this book! Its development of truly alien cultures is outstanding. Vinge works in an expansive, original, odd yet real universe, unlike anything I've seen before. For me that fresh approach overwhelmed any dragging bits in the plot, which I would rate at about a 7.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, with a well laid trap for the impatient.
Review: The book is not only creative but follows Frank Herbert's saying of plots within plots. Vinge carries off the book well with only a few holes. My favorite part is that if someone reads the "last page first," they will be traped by the ending. I thgought that this was a interesting trick, and he worked it in flawlessly. The whole "net" bit was a little old, but the rest of the book made up for it. A good read, and a good time.

Rating:
Summary: Tied for the best "space opera" ever written
Review: At the risk of appearing overly effusive (but someone has to balance out the curiously negative reviews below), this book is, in my not-so-humble-opinion, tied with Brin's STARTIDE RISING as the best "space opera" ever written. For the uninitiated, a space opera is a work of science fiction based on vast concepts and large movements through space. The analogy in the old westerns would be the wagon train story. In a human condition where there seems to be nothing new under the sun, this book includes two unique ideas, each forming the core of the macro and micro story lines. On the macro side is the "zones of space" concept where physical laws that affect intelligence and machine capabilities change depending on discrete zones measured by distance from the galactic core. I know, it sounds a bit hokey, but it works better than I have described it, and provides the basis for a wonderfully vast and different kind of story. On the micro side is the portrayal of a truly alien "pack intelligence" being(s) on the planet where much of the book's later action takes place -- and the action throughout this book is breathtakingly non-stop. But this is more than a book of great concepts. It is also a well crafted work with well drawn characters. Never a prolific writer, Vinge has written a book that not only stands head and shoulders above all the rest of his work (and he has written three other highly-regarded works: the linked books of THE PEACE WAR and MAROONED IN REALTIME and the novella -- soon to be re-released -- TRUE NAMES). It also, if I may be so bold, stands astride the entire science fiction field as an instant modern "classic" of the genre. No book is for everyone, and obviously a few of the other reviewers below felt disappointed. But this is clearly a small minority view, and I hope they will not deter interested readers from experiencing for themselves one of the great science fiction works of this, or any other, decade

Rating:
Summary: Potential...
Review: It started out so great, but it was the worst ending of any science fiction book I have ever read. Can't really recommend it; there were good parts though...

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book!
Review: The concepts in this book are fresh and exciting. A completely novel way of dealing with the problem of FTL travel. The aliens are just alien enough to be interesting, but human enough to be understandable. Particularly amusing are the newsgroups transcripts. Anyone who has read a post from someone in Germany or France with an uncertain grasp of English will really get quite a few chuckles! I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: OK for a long plane trip
Review: Has a few neat ideas: galactic zones, wolf-pack aliens, evil computers; Starts strong, builds up, but then lets down. Had much potential, but couldn't pull it off to be a great work.

Rating:
Summary: Fun to read, but not Vinge's best work
Review: Compared to some other books of his, "A Fire Upon The Deep" is unfocussed and rambling. The postulated variance of physical law in different zones of the galaxy seemed too artificial to buy into, and though the various alien species are carefully constructed, I generally didn't find them terribly compelling, in comparison, say, to Niven's Puppeteers. One of the more ambitious extrapolations of the Net that I've read, though.

Rating:
Summary: Plenty of Imagination
Review: This novel is full of striking and original ideas. The pack minds, the transcend, the galaxy wide news net, etc. provide a very entertaining background for a story that remains exciting throughout the entire book. "A Fire Upon The Deep" is a fine example of "light" science fiction that is well worth a read. However, bear in mind that the book is certainly not a masterpiece. Do not expect much depth in the characters, or a carefully crafted story that fully exploits the setup. If you do, this book will be a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: This is goooood....
Review: I have to say I liked this, the premise had me worried at the beginning, combos of high-tech and medeval do not tend to work out well but this was done fantastically. Probably because they don't exist together as such, but I digress. I truely liked the use of aliens in this book, they weren't over exaggerated or super powerful, they just existed and were part of the whole, not a great mystery or fearsome monsters. I also liked the story, I started it with a wow, got another wow, laughed as my first wow wasn't such a big deal, then wowwed again as it turned out that it was! (not giving any plot here, but the scope of the story seemed to get bigger and bigger as it went, it worked for me) I thought the ideas were fantastic, so was the writing, though maybe a little dry. The only part was the love story, which... I didn't care about, but the rest rocked! I have to give it 5/5, it's one of the best sci-fi I've read.