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brainstrain91 's review for:
A Fire Upon the Deep
by Vernor Vinge
Stunning in ways both large and small. Vinge plunges the reader expertly into a vast, fascinating vision of the future Galaxy, where space is separated into Zones that protect lower-tech civilizations from higher-tech ones, and allow high-tech civilizations to make risky ventures into even higher zones, where transcendent powers roam.
The prologue is marvelous. The reader can't figure out exactly what's happening - and clearly isn't intended to - but the writing is strong enough to convey what is important. It's an impressive, novel approach to communicating abstract conflict.
He then alternates between two strong settings. The first, a human woman with a kind-of internship in a massive communications hub and information archive. It's marvelously well-considered: archives so large that even the indexes of their indexes are massive. I wish we could have spent more time there. Here he also introduces another major player, the heroic Pham Nuwen, first with a bit of deception that I found marvelously effective. Vinge preys upon the reader's expectations as well as the character's, and turns a cliche into something unexpected.
In the second setting, he presents the very grounded story of two stranded human children adapting to life on an alien planet, populated by one of the most thoroughly alien races I've encountered in fiction: the pack-minded Tines.
The first 100 pages go slowly, simply because the new terminology in the space setting and sprawling names and new concepts in the grounded setting force a slow, thorough reading. Events pick up steam slowly but inexorably, culminating in a final 1/3 that rushes past at break-neck speed.
I can't point to any one moment where it shone, but as a whole the novel is consistently excellent. The ending strikes an excellent balance between resolution and uncertainty - it's my favorite of any book in a long while.
From where I stand now, A Fire Upon the Deep edges out Hyperion to be my favorite book I've read this year.
The prologue is marvelous. The reader can't figure out exactly what's happening - and clearly isn't intended to - but the writing is strong enough to convey what is important. It's an impressive, novel approach to communicating abstract conflict.
He then alternates between two strong settings. The first, a human woman with a kind-of internship in a massive communications hub and information archive. It's marvelously well-considered: archives so large that even the indexes of their indexes are massive. I wish we could have spent more time there. Here he also introduces another major player, the heroic Pham Nuwen, first with a bit of deception that I found marvelously effective. Vinge preys upon the reader's expectations as well as the character's, and turns a cliche into something unexpected.
In the second setting, he presents the very grounded story of two stranded human children adapting to life on an alien planet, populated by one of the most thoroughly alien races I've encountered in fiction: the pack-minded Tines.
The first 100 pages go slowly, simply because the new terminology in the space setting and sprawling names and new concepts in the grounded setting force a slow, thorough reading. Events pick up steam slowly but inexorably, culminating in a final 1/3 that rushes past at break-neck speed.
I can't point to any one moment where it shone, but as a whole the novel is consistently excellent. The ending strikes an excellent balance between resolution and uncertainty - it's my favorite of any book in a long while.
From where I stand now, A Fire Upon the Deep edges out Hyperion to be my favorite book I've read this year.