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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
An interesting book with a very strange and unique sense of physics that is easily 100 pages too long. If you can withstand the clumsy, almost indecipherable beginning, you’ll eventually break through and understand what’s going on.
Here’s a fun made up example of what to expect when starting the story:
“He reached for the zyglophon. It was humming amid the convergence. Somewhere in the other ship the ablonter extended into the dooplefonger, which could only mean one thing.”
You just have to push through the introduction of what seems like complete nonsense until it finally makes some sense. Even then there’s some vagueness in the book surrounding a lot of the concepts introduced and some conveniently tidy plot devices that felt a little lazy.
Nonetheless, the best part of the story takes place with the interpersonal relationships of the characters. Most notably between the alien races. While their seeming commonality of thought and willingness to accept one another at face value comes across as another plot convenience it does make it easier to witness those relationships.
Here’s a fun made up example of what to expect when starting the story:
“He reached for the zyglophon. It was humming amid the convergence. Somewhere in the other ship the ablonter extended into the dooplefonger, which could only mean one thing.”
You just have to push through the introduction of what seems like complete nonsense until it finally makes some sense. Even then there’s some vagueness in the book surrounding a lot of the concepts introduced and some conveniently tidy plot devices that felt a little lazy.
Nonetheless, the best part of the story takes place with the interpersonal relationships of the characters. Most notably between the alien races. While their seeming commonality of thought and willingness to accept one another at face value comes across as another plot convenience it does make it easier to witness those relationships.
adventurous
Feels like this had the potential to be interesting, with a few major original ideas for world building. It felt like the author was making contrived plot choices just to extend the page count, and the whole mid section of the book involving long stretches of space travel was really dull. Unfortunately as well the characters involved in the second plot stream (ravna, pham, blueshell etc) just could not hold my interest. The choice to make the second major alien species a talking plant on wheels with major short term memory loss was an interesting one. Bonus points for the hive mind alien dog packs though. The universe being split into different "zones" wich dictate how complex technology can progress to was really neat but not explored in a way I found satisfying.
Anyway will not read the other books in the series
Anyway will not read the other books in the series
If this was about 85: pages shorter it'd be a four or better. Some super interesting ideas and characters I've never encountered in sci-fi.
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
So, the galaxy is divided in four layers more or less based on the distance from the galactic core. The further you get from the core, the more advanced your species is and can be. For reference Terra is in the Slow Zone, between the Unthinking Depths and the Beyond, far from the unimaginable Trancendence. Some human civilizations have made it to the different levels of the Beyond, which is also divided into low, middle and top levels with variance in the technology levels. One of them has managed to travel to the highest zone and pokes with things they don't understand, releasing some Ancient Evil.
The fun trick is that the higher-level tech doesn't work in the lower level zones, so the superfancy FTL and natural AI breaks down or just simply stops working in the lower zone, leaving the advanced folks stranded. The species living in the higher levels also don't really care about the lower zones that much, as they've got their appendages full of everyday work in their own level, maybe slowly working towards leveling up.
One of the things I greatly appreciate in Vinge's writing is the lack of exposition. Yes, that makes getting the universe a bit slower, but I enjoy that much more than infodumps. I also have read Vigne's A Deepness in the Sky before this, so a couple of mysteries were spoiled already. This didn't negatively affect my reading, anyway, so I imagine the reading order is unimportant.
The fun trick is that the higher-level tech doesn't work in the lower level zones, so the superfancy FTL and natural AI breaks down or just simply stops working in the lower zone, leaving the advanced folks stranded. The species living in the higher levels also don't really care about the lower zones that much, as they've got their appendages full of everyday work in their own level, maybe slowly working towards leveling up.
One of the things I greatly appreciate in Vinge's writing is the lack of exposition. Yes, that makes getting the universe a bit slower, but I enjoy that much more than infodumps. I also have read Vigne's A Deepness in the Sky before this, so a couple of mysteries were spoiled already. This didn't negatively affect my reading, anyway, so I imagine the reading order is unimportant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent
Moderate: Genocide, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Incest, Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I only stuck with this book because the aliens were truly alien. Pack sentience! But the zones were just so annoying and ultimately I didn't care much about the protagonists.
5.0 A real surprise of an amazing read. Has aged quite well for an over thirty-year-old book. Vinge has some nice world-building, some deep thinking and some real humanism. The twists are surprising, but feel logical in the end, the pacing is excellent to the point of making you forget how long the book is and the ideas are extremely novel even today. I am looking forward to the next volume.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What an interesting take on science fiction. Just flat out adding one layer to the world and saying "This is how the world works in this book". The Zones of Thought are layers of the galaxy that have different speeds of light, or something to that extent. You can't make super natural AI systems when your computers can never be stronger than the basics. The story takes place in this universe and revolves around two plots. One where humans have crashed on a alien world, and secondly where people in space are trying to stop an evil AI from taking over the known universe. I think these stories could have been separate books, or divided a bit cleaner. The ideas were good and the story was interesting, but it had its quirks. It felt old school science fiction at times.
The Zones of Thoughts are different realms that exist on top of the world we live it. It's a really different take on space. The higher up and further away from the galactic core you get, the higher functioning people and technology are. I've always wondered why more people don't take more advantage of using, um, space above the galactic plane. Mr. Vinge does that.
In the highest realm, distant descendants of humans (history spans millions of years at this point) create a runaway AI. And we're off.
The second subplot centers around the Tines world, where evolution has created beings with pack intelligence of sorts. The beings are dog-like and the packs they form, share a mind. While they each have their own complete being, when a group of them get together, they form a "person". It was another really interesting idea.
This was the most creative Sci-Fi book, I've read in a long time. It was a very good read.
In the highest realm, distant descendants of humans (history spans millions of years at this point) create a runaway AI. And we're off.
The second subplot centers around the Tines world, where evolution has created beings with pack intelligence of sorts. The beings are dog-like and the packs they form, share a mind. While they each have their own complete being, when a group of them get together, they form a "person". It was another really interesting idea.
This was the most creative Sci-Fi book, I've read in a long time. It was a very good read.