Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe no one else has said it!
Review: Did I enjoy this book? Well, I didn't get online for 5 days while reading it! I was certainly "Focused" on the book... If you don't get the pun, READ THE BOOK!Vinge has done a superb job of combining well drawn characters, a complex plot, and an incredible setting into an all consuming read. My only complaint (and I hesitate to make it) is that occasionally the story rambles. The book may have been about 100 pages too long.
Rating:
Summary: A sure award-winner
Review: I've been reading SF for 40 years; this is one of the best. I found myself "ensorcelled" and surprisingly moved. A sure nominee for Nebula/Hugo honors--if there's anything better this year, I can't wait to read it!
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece that can stand on it's own.
Review: Any new book by Vinge is a must-read for me, especially in the wasteland of GOOD science-fiction, where great reads are few and far between. A Fire Upon The Deep is still one of my favorites of all time, so when I saw this puppy on the shelf, I grabbed it right away. And despite only a loose link to that book, this is probably some of the best science-fiction I've read in years. At first I was worried that there would be too many recycled ideas, like any first-contact novel. But really this is a book about the limitations of civilizations, whether limited by environment, like the Spiders, or limited by history, like the Qeng Ho and every other human civilization mentioned in the book. And at a broader level, for those who've read A Fire Upon The Deep, it's indirectly about the limits of technology, and the Failed Dreams which the characters could never realize are caused by their location in the galaxy. The book also has a lot to say about cultural blinders and how we perceive others-I also thought the Spiders were too human at first but by the end Vinge patiently and cleverly explained it all. And while a lot of what the book has to say about human nature is very pessimistic (slavery and the inevitable fall of civilizations), it ultimately ends on a positive note. Although lacking the scope and grandeur of the galaxy as protrayed in Fire, this book complements Fire by being more inward-looking, and manages to deliver what most science fiction can't deliver-real, believable people. Buy it! Now! Why are you still here? Go!
Rating:
Summary: 5 first contacts for stellar clash of cultures
Review: Vernor Vinge is one of the least prolific writers of the SF genre, yet his small canon contains some of the modern SF masterpieces. His True Names, along with Gibson's Neuromancer, is quite clearly an inspiration for works like The Matrix. Marooned in Real Time is one of the most unique murder mysteries, set during time travel after the disappearance of the entire human race. A Fire Upon the Deep is a masterful space opera and clear successor to the novels of Doc Smith. A Deepness in the Sky is a prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep and is every bit as good as the earlier novels, perhaps even better. A Deepness in the Sky features one of A Fire Upon the Deep's protagonists, Pham Nuwen. In the first novel, Nuwen briefly mentions his life with the space faring Qeng Ho traders. Deepness features his last and perhaps greatest adventure among the Qeng Ho. Nuwen is just one of many fascinating characters who Vinge has created. Unlike his earlier works, in which only a few characters had depth, Deepness has a large cast of characters and Vinge develops them skillfully. Vinge draws from a pool that he has created by merging the Qeng Ho with the tyrannical Emergents and alien Spiders. In doing so, he has created a massive tour de force and one of the great novels of alien first contact. A Deepness in the Sky is a long novel (over 600 pages) with several different threads going simultaneously. We are treated to Pham Nuwen and Ezr Vinh of the Qeng Ho and Tomas Nau of the Emergents engaging in plots that are only explained in bits and pieces as the novel progresses. On the Spider side, Vinge features Sherkaner Underhill, his family and his friends. All the plot lines that feature these characters weave back and forth until converging in a near 100 page climax with twists and turns along the way. I did have some difficulty in keeping with the novel in the earlier passages. It seemed that as soon as I got interested in the Nuwen activities, Vinge would switch to the Spiders. Then as I got interested in the Spiders, he would switch to Ezr Vinh. Perhaps Vinge needs to write a novel like this because of decreasing attention spans but I found that it took more work to get back into it once I had left it. One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is the development of the Spiders. They are, well, spiders. It is hard for most people to find spiders particularly attractive or endearing. Many people, myself included, find them repulsive or at least ugly. However, the reader gets attached to these spider characters as much as the human ones, perhaps more so. For much of the novel, the spiders appear to be anthropomorphized. Just when one is lulled into thinking of them as people, Vinge uses terms like "cold sucks" to describe food and "eating hands" or "baby eyes" to describe body parts. The reason for the humanization of the spiders is explained in the novel's denouement but as a plot device it is very effective. There are some major themes that punctuate this novel. One could easily surmise, for instance, that Vinge is against the widespread use of Ritalin to sedate otherwise healthy children. I find the choice of names for the Qeng Ho and its people fascinating. The names all appear to be Vietnamese or at least south east Asian. On the other hand, these people seem more like the Yankee traders of old. They seem more like Americans than Americans. Is Vinge making a statement about the globalization of American culture and values? Perhaps the greatest message is that free trade and individual freedoms are far more productive and enriching than tyrannies and tightly controlled lives. Perhaps the WTO should consider buying several hundred copies of A Deepness in the Sky and mailing them to the Seattle protesters. Vinge has delivered a powerful statement on the value of capitalism and the importance of individual initiative. Ultimately, A Deepness in the Sky is a hard science fiction novel in which Vinge describes humanity's first contact with an alien species. It features an insider's knowledge of computer programming without providing details that could be either dated or excessively technical. It has enough action to keep one on the edge of one's seat. In spite of the conclusion of A Fire Upon the Deep, I doubt that we have heard the last of Pham Nuwen and I certainly hope that we hear more from Vernor Vinge.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, not quite as good as "Fire Upon the Deep"
Review: This book is in many ways, identical to "A Fire Upon the Deep". Is it a good book? Yes. It is worth reading? Yes. Is it a remarkable act of imaginative fiction, well... no. Just about everything in this book was done in the previous book EXCEPT this time, the forces of evil are not hidden off stage, they are right on stage, in full view. How is it like the first book? 1) Advanced humans make contact with aliens who are about at 1900's technology. Large chunks of the book deal with the alien society. 2) These humans lose access to most of their technology and they have to fight a very powerful evil force. In the end they have to get the aliens to cooporate to achieve victory. The main difference is: in this book, the forces of evil are not off-stage. Instead they dominate the stage for 95% of the book and we (the readers and the main characters) have to deal with the evil in a very personal way. It does not make for a very pleasant read in places. By contrast, the nature of the evil in "Fire Upon the Deep" was never clearly spelled out. Was the "5th Order Malignancy" really bad? We never found out. In this book, the evil "Emergents" are just as evil as one can be while still being "effective". I personally found the alien society in this book inferior to the aliens of "Fire Upon the Deep". Basically, it wasn't really very alien at all. I also missed the "net communications" which added so much fun to the first book. This book is worth reading, but it is more focused on the problem of evil than I would have liked.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: This was a mesmerizing saga remarkable for its dearth of time-worn sci-fi paradigms and Vinge's unique vision of our own far future. Individual characters, spatial context, and compelling plot are all exceptional individual achievements that blend seamlessly to create a truly dynamic whole. Needless to say, I intend to undertake A Fire Upon Deep as soon as shipping allows.
Rating:
Summary: You won't be disappointed
Review: If you haven't read Vinge's related work, A Fire Upon The Deep, go read that first, because it's even more brilliant and gives you useful background. But if you're like me and check the "V" section every time you hit the bookstore thinking "Please God let Vernor Vinge still be alive and writing science fiction", you won't be disappointed--it's great!
Rating:
Summary: Awsome
Review: I bought the book only because I had Vernor Vinge as a professor at San Diego State University. I knew nothing about his books other than they were sf. After 5 short days I was finished with it. From beginning to end, I was unable to put it down. The characters were extreamly well developed and believable. I'm hoping I can track down the rest of his works. (Which I am learning may be difficult since most are out of print!) FYI: I took three seperate courses given by Vinge and he is as gifted in the class room as he is on paper. For those who are able to, I recommend any course he is teaching. It makes the books a little more interesting when you know the author.
Rating:
Summary: Great story but a bit slow-moving
Review: The character development is very good, and the way he characterizes his alien species (the spiders) is great - you see them from two perspectives, one in which it's clear they are very much like us, in terms of society and personal interactions, and another in which it's clear they are huge alien spiders and very strange for humans to interact with. The many years when the humans and spiders go through their parallel development processes and have only slight contact with each other, but all leading up to the climax, is very well done. On the other hand, there isn't much action, compared to Fire in the Deep. That was a much more fun book to read, but the current one goes much further into the details of a smaller set of characters.
Rating:
Summary: Re: anthropomorphic spiders? Not really!
Review: A number of readers here have complained that Vinge made the spiders too human, but what Vinge was doing was actually pretty clever and original, I thought. As is made clear about half way through the book, and again at the end, the spider episodes have been deliberately filtered by the focussed translator for human consumption - and what we are reading is literally those filtered accounts. We see the true alien nature of the spiders only at the end of the book when they are seen through the eyes of the other characters - and we learn that even physical details of their environment - such as the nature of the stairs - have been altered by the translator. We are also told that the translator peppered her narrative with references to Dawn Age fantasy stories. So, basically, I think Vinge was being quite canny! Al
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