Rating: 
Summary: A very good read, but wait for the paperback, if you can.
Review: A good long read. A little jumpy, expecially if you read a little each day. One of those stories told from a multiple of persectives where you always want to get back to the other and then when you do you want to get back to the other. Very hard to put down, many a long night and longer days waiting to continue. Sherkaner (spider) and his family were well characterized. I had no problem imagining Anachna (the spider world) and its on/off star (200 years of darkness and cold/50 years of light and warmth). You have the two human sides The Qeng Ho (good) and the Emergents (evil). All in all a great cast of characters vividly portrayed in a suspensful page turning story.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best of the last few years
Review: Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky is a wonderful book, one of the best SF novels of the last few years. It's got an interesting plot, well drawn characters, and thoughtful ideas. I mostly want to respond to one reviewer who said, "The spiders are so anthropomorphic as to be embarrassing." This reader seemed to have not read carefully. The presentation of the spiders is set up as a translation. Vinge is presenting a new approach to the classic translators problem -- do you translate literally or do you translate in a way that makes your audience get the feel but in the they can relate to? Vinge uses the latter approach with the alien species. For example, the spiders are presented as going down a spiral staircase, because what they are walking down is their equivalent of what for humans would be a spiral staircase, so for humans to "feel" what the spiders felt toward it, it is presented that way. Vinge gives us a couple of glimpses of the spiders that aren't through the translators glasses. There it's clear that the spiders are not the least anthromorphic.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit of a disappointment, but still a good read.
Review: Having read and loved A Fire Upon The Deep and Across Realtime, I had high expectations for this novel. Unfortunately, I feel that this book did not live up to the scope and vastness of Vinge's previous works. As a science fiction book it wasn't bad; the plot kept my interest, and the characters weren't all bad. What lacked were the awe-inspiring vistas of his other books... the universe seemed so much smaller in "Deepness". Science Fiction attracts us with those little glimpses of a larger world to which humanity shrinks in insignificance, and this was the one quality I found lacking, both in the plot and in the concepts presented. As for his aliens-- any of the briefly mentioned alien species in "Fire" were vastly more interesting than the "spiders". The best thing about this book was the disturbing use of mind control and the violation associated with it... gave it another star for that alone. All in all, a good read, but not as good as some of Vinge's other works.
Rating: 
Summary: Big dissappointment
Review: I was very much looking forward to this book as I had just reread Fire Upon the Deep for the third time. Unfortunately, this book doesn't live up the galaxy-wide richness and imagination of FUTD -- not even close. The characters are hackneyed and the plot is drawn out beyond my tolerance. The spiders are so anthropomorphic as to be embarrassing. Ho Hum. Wait for the paperback if you have to read this.
Rating:
Summary: Read it in a week, was difficult to put down.
Review: I really enjoyed the book, probably the best SF I've read since "A Fire Upon the Sky". Although Vinge's recent books have a similar pace, his writing formula works for me. His treatment of the aliens in "Fire" was superior, but the action and the intelligence was just as good.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent story. Almost as good as A Fire Upon the Deep
Review: A very good sci-fi story. Not quite as good as his last novel, but a very good tale all the same.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing return to the universe of A Fire Upon the Deep
Review: Vinge's previous "A Fire Upon the Deep" -- unquestionably one of the best science fiction novels of the last two decades -- would be a hard act to follow. As of to prove the point, "A Deepness in the Sky" doesn't reach the soaring heights of its predecessor, and it has only the loosest plot connection to "Fire." What it has in common with "Fire," however, is scale. Where "A Fire Upon the Deep" strides across a galaxy and countless civilizations, "Deepness" strides across decades of time in which problems posed at the beginning of the book take a generation to resolve themselves. Vinge creates this scale by using science fiction conventions to their best advantage -- to explore themes in ways no other genre can do. How, for example, would it feel for a hostage to plot an escape for fifty years? With suspended animation as a plot device, Vinge can examine captivity and collaboration on an immediate, moment by moment basis, and at the same time drag the tension out for decades. A neat trick, and only a science fiction writer could pull it off. Interweaving this plot is another generation- spanning tale of a civilization of spiders who pass through the equivalent of our twentieth century. In a reversal of the classic X-Files plot, the humans are the visitors from outer space who visit, monitor, and occasionally interfere in the a civilization on the cusp of the Information Age. Religion, prejudice and politics are examined through the eyes of a race which as at once utterly alien and at the same time chillingly familiar. Vinge paints his heroes with complex colors, giving them doubts, weaknesses, and blind spots. If he can be failed, it is in making his villains one dimensional. The bad guys in this book are without any redeeming virtues; they are liars, killers, and sexual sadists. There is nothing good to be said for them except, perhaps, they are pretty good at being bad. Vinge does show that he has the most inventive science fiction mind of his time. The aliens in "A Fire Upon the Deep," who increased in intelligence as they combined into groups of five, was so original that it could serve to define the "sense of wonder." His brilliantly conceived notions abound in "Deepness." There is a kind of mind control which is as monstrous for its plausibility as it is in its execution. Vinge also gives us a planet whose star "turns off" periodically, forcing its ecology (including its intelligent life) to survive centuries of cold so severe that the atmosphere freezes solid. There is an exciting plot which makes the book hard to put down, some interesting and troubled people to worry about, and enough ideas to remind you why you like science fiction in the first place.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, definitely not a reprise of Fire Upon the Deep
Review: Pay close attention to the other reviews on Amazon for this book. If you come to this book expecting to read A Fire Upon the Deep a second time, you will be disappointed. If you put aside that expectation, you will be thrilled to death by this amazingly good book. Vinge's characterization has improved since his earlier novels and so has his writing style. His ideas are as exciting and mind-blowing as ever. Enjoy this novel for what it is, and not for what it isn't, and you will undoubtedly agree that this is one of the best SF novels of the decade.
Rating:
Summary: A good story, but a bad prequel
Review: I've only gotten 200 pages into this 600 page monster, but I feel it falls flat as a "prequel". For me, one of the defining characteristics of "A Fire Upon the Deep" was the concept of the "zones of thought". That still stands out in my mind years after having read the novel. However, the "zones of thought" are completely abscent from the first 200 pages of "A Deepness in the Sky". While they may appear later, I feel that is too late to make it an effective prequel. It has none of the feel of the universe that I loved so much in "A Fire...". Imagine if no one mentioned The Force or Jedi Knights for the first 40 minutes of "The Phantom Menace". Sure, "Deepness" is supposed to be set 30,000 years earlier, but if William Gibson wrote a prequel to "Neuromancer" and set it 500 years earlier without any computers or cyberspace, would it be effective? On a positive note, the story does seem to stand up well on its own merits. The characters are everything I had hoped for from Vernor Vinge. This is especially true of his "spiders". All too often authors write aliens as though they are humans in alien suits. Vinge doesn't. He explores what it would actually be like to be a spider living is a harsh environment.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and richly charactered
Review: Isn't it obvious that Mr. Vinge's biggest limitation while writing this novel was length? The story delves into the satisfying realm of character development and manages to still provide sensawunda. Thus, the most frustrating result is that the reader doesn't get all of his questions answered. There simply is not enough room to follow every corridor of plot possibility, I suppose. I'm giving it 5 stars because I looked forward to opening the covers and reading, every time. It takes a lot for a book to appeal to me that much. The spider characters were endearing, and Vinge's ideas surrounding Focus were intriguing. Bravo!
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