Rating: 
Summary: Ready for the Next Sequel
Review: This was an outstanding book by an outstanding writer. Coupled with A Fire Upon The Deep, another wonderful book, we can see that Mr. Vinge is leading towards a fantastic climax. In Fire, he had the Galaxy taken over by a virus that makes AIDS look pitiful. In Deepness he has another virus that takes over the minds of people. Pham and Anne triumph and at the end of the book set out to free other mind slaves of the virus. Pham also states his goal is to go to the center of the Galaxy at some future time. Imagine what he will find there. He and Anne will definitely have an interesting time killing that virus.Altogether an outstanding novel and I certainly hope that the next book will not be too long in coming.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent prequel to AFUtD
Review: First, I agree with a previous poster that the spiders were too humanlike. Also, the ending reminded me a little of a Hollywood action thriller. But those really are minor points. It had excellent presentations of technology. The storytelling -- flashbacks to the past and hopping from place to place -- is brilliant, entertaining, and created levels of suspense that exceeded even AFUtD: it really had my heart pumping. What an enchanting depiction of the spider culture! The book was a quick read despite its length. I think Vinge's imagination and vision makes him the top scifi writer. It would be so cool to find out what happens next. :^)
Rating: 
Summary: A good read but it could have been a lot better
Review: Although i like the book it is realy not as good as "a fire upon the deep" The characters are not as colourfull and the spiders are far to human. The story is well worked out but the characters have more information than the reader. The effect is a rather sudden end with a lot of action in a few pages. The ending also has a Stephen King like "i want to get rid of this book" style.
Rating:
Summary: A meticulously crafted epic
Review: Vernor Vinge entranced me with A Fire Upon the Deep and now after reading A Deepness in the Sky I can safely say he is one of my favorite authors. The epic scope of this novel along with its patience in detailing the past and motivations of its characters is what truly gives it its charm. From the way Vinge sets the stage at the beginning by marooning two opposing groups of people, the Emegrants and the Qeng Ho, together he creates a very real human tension and thus providing thrills while not sacrificing the solidity of the characters. Anybody into hard science fiction and likes a good epic should pick up this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sci-Fi!
Review: This is my idea of great science fiction- new ideas and thoughts, an epic scale and setting, characters that actually develop and change, and are complex (although the bad guys do have a bit of a Dirk Dastardly tint), and situations that are not always black-and-white. My only complaint is the ending, which is an orgy of good happily triumphing over evil in such an overwhelmingly sappy way it was almost Scooby-Dooian in nature.
Rating:
Summary: Deepness
Review: I have never read any other books by Vernor Vinge, so I don't really know how it compares. And though I've read a lot of sci-fi, I probably haven't read as much as many of you. But I've never read any book as good or compelling. This novel *is* long, but it reaches far and touches deep. It's true that there is no new funky science we haven't seen elsewhere. The characters are, in fact, similar to heroes and villians which we've all come to love and hate. But Vinge seems to understand much better than any of our new, young writers the elements of suspense and plot, the magic of enigma and epiphany. But most of all, Vinge understands the most noble, powerful, and difficult of all virtues: patience.
Rating:
Summary: Tops A Fire Upon the Deep
Review: In his best work since Marooned in Realtime, Vinge gives us a giant space epic with fascinating aliens much in the spirit of his last novel, the Hugo-winning A Fire Upon the Deep, only with harder science and a correspondingly reduced temptation to solve story problems with technological surprises. Vinge's best known as SF's great idea man -- the inventor of cyberspace, the man whose full conceptualization of Niven's "Slaver stasis field" gave us The Peace War and its amazing sequel Marooned in Realtime. Here, no one great idea takes over to the point where we consider it the heart of the book, and that leaves us freer to notice that Vinge is also a master of characterization and intricate plotting. This is a long book, but it builds well. All the threads come together in an extended climax that's nearly a hundred pages long, and that you'll want to read all in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD BOOK BUT TOO DAMN LONG!!!!!
Review: THE BOOK STARTED OUT WITH A BANG AND ENDED WITH ONE, BUT WHAT TRANSPIRED IN THE MIDDLE "WEIGHED DOWN" THE BOOK CONSIDERABLY. I'M A FIRM BELIEVER THAT MOST GOOD SF STORIES CAN BE TOLD IN 400 TO 450 PAGES, AND THIS STORY IS NO EXCEPTION. AS USUAL MR. VINGE DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. ONE CAN REALLY RELATE TO PHAM, ERZ, SHERKANER, AND HIS FAMILY. VINGE IS ALSO A MASTER OF "TECH LANGUAGE" AND NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE READERS ON HIS ABILITY TO CREATE WONDEROUS THINGS...I.E. A MAN MADE LAKE INSIDE A FLOATING ROCK IN SPACE....AGAIN THOUGH THE STORY DRAGGED SOMEWHAT IN THE MIDDLE AS VERNOR TRIED TO GET TOO INVOLVED IN "QUENG HO" VS. "EMERGENT" POLITICS AND IDEALS. A GOOD READ, BUT COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT WITH A BETTER JOB OF EDITING. RFM
Rating:
Summary: So Many Hours to Read...
Review: "So high, so low, so many things to know." For some reason, of all the poetry in Vernor Vinge's masterpiece, that is my favorite phrase. And indeed, A Deepness in the Sky is an instant classic. The book was both exciting, and had many subtleties that demanded repeated reading. The characters were believeable and the book's setting was fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: I liked "A Fire Upon The Deep." This is better!
Review: "A Fire Upon The Deep" was terrific, but suffered from an almost cyberpunk-like "deus ex machina" ending (you know; where some unseen, barely-hinted-at, outside force intervenes and "changes everything" in the last two pages of the book). On the other hand,"A Deepness in the Sky" strands all its characters (human and otherwise) in a world turned upside down and leaves it completely up to them to work it out. The readers are in on the story before most of the characters in the book are. Pham Nuen is a great character; you really feel bad for the guy who is all alone in his ability to help his crewmates. Two points to be aware of: 1) If you're expecting a genuine prequel to "Fire," forget it. This story takes place so long before "Fire" that the relationship between the stories is slim, at best. 2) When Vinge finally offs the bad guy, it's not nearly as grisly a death as he deserves. This is one utterly hatable creep.
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