- Mass Market Paperback: 792 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press; 1st Mass Market Ed edition (13 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0812536355
- ISBN-13: 978-0812536355
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.7 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 395,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This hefty novel returns to the Universe of Vernor Vinge's 1973 Hugo win ner A Fire Upon the Deep--but 30,000 years earlier. It has the same sense of epic vastness despite happening mostly in one isolated solar system. Here there's a world of intelligent spider- creatures who traditionally hibernate through the "Deepest Darkness" of their strange variable sun's long "off" periods, when even the atmosphere freezes. Now science offers them an alternative. Meanwhile, attracted by spider radio transmissions, two human starfleets come exploring: merchants hoping for customers, and tyrants who want slaves. Their inevitable clash leaves only crippled remnants of both fleets, with power in the wrong hands, leading to a long wait in space until the spiders develop exploitable technology. Over the years Vinge builds compelling tension through multiple story lines and characters. In the sky, hopes of rebellion against tyranny continue despite soothing lies, brutal repression and a mental bondage that can convert people into literal tools. Down below, the engagingly sympathetic spiders have their own problems. In flashback, we see the grandiose ideals and ultimate betrayal of the merchant culture's founder, now among the human contingent and pretending to be a senile buffoon while plotting, plotting. Major revelations, ironies and payoffs follow. A powerful story in the grandest SF tradition. -- David Langford
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Review
"Huge, intricate, and ingenious, with superbly realized aliens: a chilling spellbinding dramatization of the horrors of slavery and mind control."--"Kirkus Reviews "(pointer review)
"A feast of imagination. As always, Vinge satisfies with richly imagined worlds and a full-flavored story."--Greg Bear
"Wonderfully engaging!"--"Cleveland Plain Dealer"
"A feast of imagination. As always, Vinge satisfies with richly imagined worlds and a full-flavored story."--Greg Bear
"Wonderfully engaging!"--"Cleveland Plain Dealer"
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The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found this book almost impossible to put down - I certainly enjoyed it more than Across Realtime, and possibly more than A Fire Upon the Deep.
The storylines about the humans are all the more enthralling because these are characters you come to care about, and they're in a very sticky situation indeed. The way that the bad guys mess with their victims' minds and literally integrate them into their computer systems is chilling and memorable...
The spider-beings are another example of Vinge's greatness at inventing aliens. It's true that their society and actions are couched in human terms, but that made them all the more understandable without glossing over their alienness.
It did take a fair few pages to get me hooked, though. If you're looking for something that will grip you from page one, this might not be for you...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is another example of Vernor Vinge's imaginative exploration of alternative alien psyche, while at the same time investigating the darkness of "human" interactions and exploitation on a grand scale. I found both plots gripping to the end.
Perhaps it was a mistake to market this as related to A Fire Upon the Deep in any way; there are only tenuous cross-references and a reader hoping to "learn more" from this prequel will be disappointed. Rather, the story should be treated as an excellent - and involving - yarn in its own right.
The spider-analog aliens do have particularly human emotions. I thought that was the point. In the course of reading this you will develop genuine empathy for creatures most would find otherwise physically repugnant.
The plot follows a complex path alternating between human and spider-analog themes and the competition of rival factions within each. The crescendo is the final coming-together. Personally I found the development and conclusion highly imaginative and very rewarding.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I haven't yet read 'Fire upon the Deep', so I can't compare this to it, but it is certainly up there with the best full-on space operas I have ever read, e.g. Dune, The Mote In God's Eye, the Gap series. All the criticisms you can read below are true, but in fact 'Deepness' is such a strong story that it isn't brought down by any of them. Vinge drops bombshell revelations and insights to the reader far more regularly than you would think possible for such a long book. Ultimately all the tension he builds over hundreds of pages is released in one of the most wickedly scripted finales ever, with the details of every one of the huge cast of characters coming to bear on the outcome. 'Deepness' is unashamedly romantic in places but Vinge does horror just as well as fairy tale fantasy so it ends up well balanced enough. A few plot holes are just as easily forgiven. Don't miss this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliance drowned by outdated vocab & unsolved mysteries
Typically, I can read a 700+ page book in a week (Asher and Reynolds to name a few). I've been known to devour 1,000+ page tomes in five days (Hamilton for one). Read more
Published 7 months ago by M-I-K-E 2theD
"Let the Bad Guys Win Every Once in a While"
Set twenty thousand years earlier than A Fire Upon The Deep, Vernor Vinge's second book in the Zones of Thought universe shares little and requires nothing of its companion volume. Read more
Published 11 months ago by John M. Ford
Excellent!
I found this book impossible to put down. The development of the characters, the evil podmasters, Pham Nuwen, the Spider society - it was all fascinating. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2007 by Susan W
Space Opera at its Best
If you are a Sci-Fi fan or even new to the genre then I highly recommend this book. Vernor Vinge is an accomplished writer and able to bring the science to life with his background... Read more
Published on 8 May 2006 by A. Gothorp
A classic
This is book is every bit as brillant as A Fire Upon The Deep, don't let the moaners put you off. VV may not have written many books but when the quality is a good as this you can... Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2005 by Hilarity Unit
Brilliant
A superb book that i just couldn't put down. It is certainly the best of Vinges' work. An imaginative storyline, easy to read and with original 'aliens' - like the tines in A... Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2004 by "daiwitherden"
Not as good as A fire upon the Deep - but still worthwhile!
The end is too long, plot seems to be stretched out a bit too much. But I love the Spider-world and everything in it. Readeable
Published on 19 Aug 2001
Crashing disappointment
Humph. After the pyrotechnic brilliance and multiple plot strands of 'A Fire Upon the Deep' I was left panting for this sequel, especially when I heard of its fascinating premise. Read more
Published on 16 May 2001
disappointing
After reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" by the same author I must say that "A Deepness in the Sky" is extraordinarily disappointing. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2001
Just when you thought....
I approached this formidable tome with some trepidation.....would it be worth the commitment.... It was. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2001 by Joseph B. Tay Teck
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