A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

January 3, 2014

Book 2 started, Book 2 read 

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
published by Tor Books (Macmillan), 1992

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book - a space opera, perhaps a planetary romance, perhaps a mix of both?  In the end, it was both and so much more.  Half the book took place on a planet with a medieval alien society of dog-like creatures and half took place in space spanning multiple races and multiple solar systems within a galactic conglomeration of advanced societies.

I really like the concept of the galaxy being splint into The Unthinking Depths, The Slow Zone, Beyond and the Transcend. It took me a bit to figure out that each were regions of space and each had different sets of physics that allowed different types of both life and technologies to exist. Very intriguing idea. I'm curious why there are the 4 types of space dividing the galaxy but then I also like that it's just what's so and left without too much detail to try and make it into a scientific reality. When they are discussing the different areas, the time scales boggle my mind a bit - the interstellar empires in the Slow Zone only lasting a couple thousand years each and then disappearing to be recreated later, the timescale in the Beyond covering eons as if they're nothing and then the Powers in the Transcend existing in time scales of a single decade. It was fascinating that sentient life evolves in the Slow zone where FTL flight isn't possible, these races slowly find the Beyond - by accident mostly - to become the galaxy traversing races of the Low and High Beyond until moving into the Transcend to become Powers.  Or, a single race may exist in all three levels at the same time in different groups. 

Planetside, the native Tines are presented as a collective conscious and are amazing.  It took a while to figure out how to think about them as they are so unusual.  Using a pack mentality instead of a hivemind or similar as the foundation is clever and I like what Vinge has done with it. At times, they act like humans in their goals and aspirations but all the details around dominant and submissive parts of the pack and adding in new members are brilliant. The trouble with packs crowding each other is interesting and the differing levels of intelligence based on the pack's physical configuration as well as size is very well done.

In other details, the existence of a galactic newsnet web is fun. Since the book was written in the early '90s, I'm sure it wasn't quaint then, but it is kind of amusing that even in this far future, there are still angerboys, trolls and armchair experts all over the web.

Overall, I enjoyed the book - although I think there are parts of this book that could have been removed without changing the overall book itself.  It was creative and much more original than I thought it was going to be.

4 Stars