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A Deepness in the Sky by: Vernor Vinge

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Rating: - Just when you thought....

I approached this formidable tome with some trepidation.....would it be worth the commitment.... It was. Just when you may have thought that everything has been tried in some form or other in Science Fiction, along comes a truely mind boggling combination of graceful imagination and beautiful characterisation. More please!!

Rating: - A Deepness in my attention span

Ok. Coming from a very much SCI-FI readership background I picked up this book with every intention of enjoying it. The plot starts well, setting up the sides in a potential conflict and creating characters with very interesting potential. Then what- Well it promptly tears them apart and throws a long winded and irritating plot at you that frankly, by the time its all over you are glad. The novel starts well, tails off in the middle and the less said about the end the better. I like SCI-FI, and Vernor has done a good book in the form of Across Realtime; which is a really good read. This book is to consumed with its science, hoping to make us in awe of it. A sheep in wolfs clothing if you will.

Rating: - A sci-fi classic

This is one of those books that only comes along occasionally. It is monumental, fascinating in terms of the faceted-perspective narrative, and deeply challenging in its assessment of moral imperatives. Moreover, it's also great fun.

I read it, start to finish, on holiday in two days, and was so absorbed and intrigued that I immediately re-read it. If you, like me, are a fan of intelligent sci-fi such as Iain M. Banks' work or Neal Stephenson's, then I suspect strongly that you will enjoy this book (and the others in this writer's Canon).

Rating: - A Satisfying Read

Along with 'A fire upon the deep' and 'Across Realtime' this is yet another good SF book by Vernor. The way Vernor introduces aliens in his book is novel - you read about someone doing something that sounds as though they are humanlike until they do something that is totally alien and you think 'er, this person I have just been reading about is definitely NOT human'. The aliens in 'A deepness in the sky' are presented throughout the book as creatures that you feel you can relate to. However, towards the end of the story you are given a peek at what they are really like without the assistance of 'translators' and this brings home how alien they are in a very powerful (to me) way.

This book is full of the inventiveness that is Vernors trademark: human 'computers', a sun that turns on/off at regular intervals, diverse human cultures and of course, aliens. I would recommend this book to SF readers without hesitation.

P.S. I have only one complaint to make: There are not enough Vernor Vinge stories - Vernor get your finger out and write MORE, PLEASE!

Rating: - Not a classic, but very, very close!

"A fire upon the deep" is one of the best science fiction books EVER written, and although this prequel does not match it for subject matter, it is still in a class of its own. If you own 'fire' then you will feel compelled to buy this, and you won't be disappointed!

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