Rating: 
Summary: Superb Science Fiction
Review: I read 'A fire upon the deep' a few years ago -(after Archie and Veronica became more than comic characters but before Yahoo symbolized anything other than a local yokel) it was wonderful reading and for me entirely original SciFi. It was with some trepidation then that I acquired 'A deepness in the sky' - SciFi prequels/sequels so often disappoint (Ender Series, Dune Series are prime examples). I'm pleased to say that A deepness in the sky stands quite well on its own, and reads just as well (although not the same!) as A fire upon the deep. My sole sophist quarrel with the book is the D&G (doom and gloom) vision of civilizations invariably falling into the stone age (or wiping itself out) and having to be rebuilt - since the premise was such a key part of the background plot of the book, it was slightly annoying to not get a sufficient 'explanation' as to why this should happen. The book however gets high marks for a tight storyline as well as creating nicely fleshed characters. I did get the feeling however that the book does such a job of expressing scale and size in terms of distance and time - the people and their problems almost seem irrelevant;In summary an excellent novel which raises quite a few thought provoking ideas inclunding an original spin on human slavery.
Rating:
Summary: The Best SF Novel of 1999
Review: This is a wonderful SF novel. It's the first novel in a while to really engage me on the sense of wonder level, and to again awaken the feelings of awe and of "I want to be there" that were so central to my early reading of SF. The story is deeply involving and never boring despite the length of the book. Briefly, it involves the encounter between two groups of starfaring humans: the trading Qeng Ho, and the authoritarian Emergents, at a strange star called On/Off, because it shines for only some 40 years before turning "off" for over 200 years. The Emergents overwhelm the Qeng Ho, but destroy both groups star travelling capability in the process. Thus, both groups must struggle through an "Off" period of the star, waiting for the spiderlike aliens on the star's planet to awake from hibernation when the star comes on, and hopefully help the humans repair their ships. The two threads of the story follow, in space, the Qeng Ho resistance to the evil (but cleverly so!) Emergents, and on the planet, the appearance of a genius among the aliens, who helps bring achieve a technological civilization with great rapidity. What's so good about this book: with Vinge, I suppose I always think ideas first. He has come up with several really nice ideas. First, his concept of an extended human future in space with strict light-speed limits (as far as anyone in _Deepness_ knows), is very well-worked out and believable and impressive and fun. It depends on basically three pieces of extrapolation: ramships that can get to about .3c, lifespans extended to about 500 years, and near-perfect suspended animation or coldsleep. Second is the On/Off star. The idea of a star that shines for 40 or so years and turns off for 210 years is neat, and then giving it a planet and a believable set of aliens is great fun. The aliens are really neat: they are too human in how they are presented, but Vinge neatly finesses this issue, in at least a half-convincing way, and he shows us glimpses that suggest real alienness, too. The third especially neat idea I won't mention because it might be too much of a spoiler, but the key "tech" of the bad guys is really scary, and a neat SFnal idea. And handled very well, and subtly. Furthermore, the prose is very impressive, sometimes beautiful, and also subtle and clever, with things like the authoritative bad guy wondering how the trading Qeng Ho gave their ship Invisible Hand such a perfect name. He doesn't know what it means: he thinks its a metaphor for perfect security tech. And, above all, the characters are involving, including the alien characters; and the story is full of adventures and is resolved in a deeply satisfying way. A wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Science Fiction Book Ever Written
Review: I read this book for the first time shortly after it came outlast year, and over a year later I'm still reading it. Since I readit for the first time, I've read Star Tide Rising, Stranger in a Strange Land, Farenheit 451, The Uplift War, and Ender's Shadow, and somehow this gem always keeps me coming back for more. The plot seamlessly combines three seemingly unrelated stories (Pham Nuwen's quest for power, the Emergent attack on the Qeng Ho, and the struggle on Arachna), although each on its own would still make Deepness more than worth reading. This book is better than A Fire Upon the Deep - in fact, it's better than any science fiction book written in the past ten years -- or ever. A must-read for anyone even remotely interested in the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Good stuff, thought-provoking as always
Review: Not as grand and universe-spanning as "A Fire Upon the Deep": "Deepness" takes place entirely in the Slow Zone, the part of the galaxy where you can't travel faster than light or make really high-tech gadgets, and the time when AI and nanotech seemed possible is known as The Age of Failed Dreams. Many reviewers have noted the dramatic irony: a reader who has read "Fire Upon the Deep" knows why the dreams failed and progress always seems to stagnate, but the characters in the book (and readers who haven't read "Fire") can only wonder. Most of the characters in the book are human. Even the non-human aliens, the Spiders, are awfully human in culture and psychology if not in body-shape; this makes it easier to have them sympathetic characters, but misses the chance to illuminate human nature by showing something else (in this respect "Deepness" reminds me of Robert Forward's annoying "Camelot 30K", in which the alien society is essentially medieval England). I have one structural gripe with "Deepness": something Very Important happens at around page 350, and continues happening through most of the rest of the book, but we don't find out about it until page 700 or so, where it provides a rather jarring deus ex machina for Our Heros. I'll admit it was a fun surprise, but I'm not sure Vinge was quite justified in keeping it from us all that time. But anyway, the aliens, the human trader culture (the Queng Ho, happy capitalists who travel from star to star doing whatever business there is to do) and the Bad Guy culture (the Emergents, smiling fascists with one Big Secret) are interesting in themselves, and they clash in insightul and convincing ways, and there is enough cool scientific and cultural tech to keep any geek happy. It's a very good book (including various fun things I haven't mentioned), and it's part of the development of a fascinating future history. (A direct sequel seems likely, as Queng Ho founder Pham Nuwen has to get himself frozen so he can show up millennia later in "Fire Upon the Deep", and the smartest Spider vanishes mysteriously and is (har har) presumed dead.)
Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi at it's best!
Review: This book is one of few which portrays a future for human life which seems all too real. Despite the high technology of the civilization, many of us sci-fi readers dream of a universe where FTL, antigravity, and abundant aliens are regarded as everyday activies. A Deepness in the Sky though, shows us how we may end up, a high tech civ, restricted to a planetary system by a lack of FTL and light years and civs which lapse into destruction on an ordinary basis. I think this book is an accurate portrayl of what will happen to mankind in the next ten thousand years. Another thing I liked was the incorporation of plot and characters into the story, a feature many sci-fi novels lack, while they pack in action galore. The science in this book was also beliveable (i.e - nukes, ramscoops, extended life spans, etc.), although more higher tech would, I think, have arisen after 10,000 years of development by mankind's best and brightest. I consider myself a fairly fast reader, and I finished this 600+ page book in a little under 3 days of reading (maybe a couple hours before bed each day). I hope this review helps you and I highly recommend this spellbinding book.
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning and Engrossing Tale
Review: There are many delightful aspects to this well-written work. Its most stunning quality is its clever, complex, and detailed look at first contact and the intricacies of a truly alien civilization. In addition, the carefully crafted characterization drew me in immediately. I found that I came to care very deeply for the characters, and I took their pains and tribulations quite personally. This is well-thought-out, well-written science fiction at its best.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good book, which some flaws.
Review: This is a good book that shows a good deal of creativity, and builds sympathy for the characters. Two flaws keep this from being a "masterpiece". 1) It's not polished. There are a number of logic problems that rear up at the end of the book. It seems that a thorough review of the book would have prevented this from happening. 2) The similarities between "A Deepness in the Sky " and "A Fire Upon the Deep" are far too obvious. Without blowing the plots of either book, I find it hard to believe the arguments others have made that the books are dissimilar. You be the judge; I thought the similarities to be glaring on a grand scale.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Vinge Effort
Review: Ever since I read Vinge's "Across Realtime", he hasbeen on my (all too) short list of SciFi authors worth reading. FireUpon the Deep and this newest book have reinforced my initial enthusiasm. Some of the requirements for great hard SciFi are i) Interesting technical ideas, ii) Thought-provoking interaction between technology and plot, and iii) Intriguing characters (not necessarily deep and complex). I think Vinge hits it big on all counts. The concepts of focus slavery, nets of mote-like locators (a cyberpunk type of device), the perils of superlegacy software carried out to the nth degree, and the real constraints of time delays (the use of suspended animation is reminiscent of Across Realtime's stasis bubbles) keep you thinking. The "bad guys" are very spooky in their methods of manipulating the non-emergent races like so much walking meat. I'm trying to think of something I felt lacking in this book--- nope, can't think of anything worth pointing out! I really don't understand people's complaints that there isn't a stronger link between this "prequel" and Fire Upon the Deep. Why must everything follow the now standard trilogy approach? I respect folks who avoid the lure of $$$ income from turning the crank on serial trilogy (tetrology, pentology, polyology...) marketing, and I GREATLY enjoyed this book on its own merit. Fantastic job once again, Vernor!
Rating:
Summary: Better then A Fire Upon the Deep!
Review: Vernor Vinge has done it again. He has created sympathetic alien characters, great technology, and incredible human characters. This book is not recommended for SF newbies. The science is intense and very real. The only annoying parts of the book are it's long length and it's telling time in Ksecs. The plot is excellant and suspenseful, with many twists and turns. No cliches here. An excellant read. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Book a few days off for this one
Review: I didn't realize what I was getting into when I ordered this book from amazon.co.uk. I found it by following links from the editors picks, and knew it would be a good read. The day it came in I started reading at dinner and didn't stop until 3:00 in the morning. I continued to do the same thing every night for the rest of the week and on into the weekend. My home life and work-life suffered because of this book. Once you start reading you don't want to stop. Many books have a point where you really have to force your way through, but not this one. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to take a vacation without leaving the comfort of the couch. It has so much of everything: strange creatures who seem to live forever (although sleeping for a couple of hundred years at a time), power and wealth and class struggles, dormant human civilizations, bio-tech warfare and good old fashioned space battles, and everything else you want to find in a good sci-fi book. Read it, give it to your kids to read, buy it as a gift for others to read, it is a fantastic story.
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