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A Fire Upon The Deep (Gollancz S.F.)
 
 
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A Fire Upon The Deep (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)

by Vernor Vinge (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (2 Oct 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857981278
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857981278
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11.2 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 135,686 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #5 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > V > Vinge, Vernor

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
In this Hugo-winning 1991 SF novel, Vernor Vinge gives us a wild new cosmology, a galaxy-spanning "Net of a Million Lies", some finely imagined aliens, and much nail-biting suspense.

Faster-than-light travel remains impossible near Earth, deep in the galaxy's Slow Zone--but physical laws relax in the surrounding Beyond. Outside that again is the Transcend, full of unpredictable, godlike "Powers". When human meddling wakes an old Power, the Blight, this spreads like a wildfire mind virus that turns whole civilisations into its unthinking tools. And the half-mythical Countermeasure, if it exists, is lost with two human children on primitive Tines World.

Serious complications follow. One paranoid alien alliance blames humanity for the Blight and launches a genocidal strike. Pham Nuwen, the man who knows about Countermeasure, escapes this ruin in the spacecraft Out of Band--heading for more violence and treachery, with 500 warships soon in hot pursuit. On his destination world, the fascinating Tines are intelligent only in combination: named "individuals" are small packs of the dog-like aliens. Primitive doesn't mean stupid, and opposed Tine leaders wheedle the young castaways for information about guns and radios. Low-tech war looms, with elaborately nested betrayals and schemes to seize Out of Band if it ever arrives. The tension becomes extreme... while half the Beyond debates the issues on galactic Usenet.

Vinge's climax is suitably mind-boggling. This epic combines the flash and dazzle of old-style space opera with modern, polished thoughtfulness. Pham Nuwen also appears in the nifty prequel set 30,000 years earlier, A Deepness in the Sky. Both recommended. --David Langford

Product Description
Across Realtime brings together two classic linked novels that present a vivid vision of time travel and future war. They show one of the masters of modern SF at the top of his game and provide a fascinating companion to his epic recent novels.

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
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3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book - great for 'the bigger picture' Sci-Fi fans, 10 Feb 2002
By CjW "chris" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
I've read a lot of over-rated books recently - but this grabbed my imagination and attention. Can't put it down! A story across galaxies with brilliant extrapolation regarding the alieness of other living beings and inter-action between them.
Not a science fantasy book; but a science fiction masterpiece with the imagaination of the great Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Someone reccomend me more like these!

Marvellous- worth waiting for the re-print to come out. Thats a good hint in itself is it not!
CjW BSc.

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book I Have Ever Read, 9 Jan 2002
By A Customer
Vinge takes all the best ideas from both Fantasy and Sci-fi and masterly crafts them into this book. Everything from epic galactic space battles, Inspired new technologies and mind bogglingly constucted aliens, to Medieval feuds, Makavelian plotting and amazingly in depth characters.

The plot doesnt just keep you guessing all the way to the end, but makes you re-evaluate that guess every chapter. Just as you think the good guys are finally gaining the upper hand, the bad guys pull out another trump card.

Not only does Vinge bring all this alive by going into extreme detail with character development but also the science behind it. Among other concepts like the "Ramscoop" and "Slow Zone", the Tines race is an inspired concoction by Vinge and he introduces and portrays them beyond reproach to provide a deeply rich and Wonderous backdrop for one half of the struggle against the Blight.

In summary A Fire Upon The Deep is a space opera of unsurpassed proportions and delving just as deep into the subtletes of human and alien psyche to produce, in short, the best book i have ever read.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A *must read* sci-fi book, 24 Mar 2001
By Dave (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This book was full of fascinating ideas from start to finish. The author brings in new ideas about the different cultures and tech's in true sci-fi style (imho) by letting you realise just before the full (and interesting) explanation is given what the core content is going to be. The ideas contained are both small and global and are still very strong in my mind at least 5 books and a couple of months later.
I could not recommend this book highly enough. Go and read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars turgid, terrible, total claptrap
Vinge may well have some wonderful ideas up his sleeve and I suppose one can see how ahead of its time this book was when it was first written. Read more
Published 7 months ago by legslikeaspider

5.0 out of 5 stars In the best tradition of SF
A very satisfying book, combining grand themes, a strong narrative, and excellent and thoroughly well thought-out ideas for alien races, societies and technologies. Read more
Published 13 months ago by C. McDonnell

5.0 out of 5 stars Vinge Fan
Dr Vinge is, in my opinion, one of the best sci fi authors alive. This is the first book I read of his, and I was hooked. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2007 by Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Real SF
A genuinely new idea - so rare now, together with a gripping and unpredictable story line. One of the most entertaining books I have ever read.
Published on 8 May 2004 by P. Callaghan

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, slow start, good end
Takes a while to get into the book, good read though.

Decent theme with some new technology ideas bandied about (my favorites)and some imaginative syory telling to boot. Read more

Published on 28 Oct 2003 by CjW

5.0 out of 5 stars Staggering tales of superscience
Vinge has often stated his problems with science fiction- the prospect of an impending Singularity, when human society becomes incomprehensible and unimaginable to us, and... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. Cannot recommend it enough.
Great storyline for an SF novel. One one the best books I have ever read.
Published on 18 Jan 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best real SF stories in years
Genuinely new ideas, vast scale, fast moving storyline. This is what I started reading SF for!
Published on 10 Dec 2000 by P. Callaghan

3.0 out of 5 stars Some ideas are just too big . . .
I read 'A deepness in the Sky' first, a much better book with a large cast of well drawn characters and a tense, hermetic quality that makes for breathless reading. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as it could have been...
I hate to be a party-pooper but I felt that somewhere inside this novel there was an engrossing story screaming to get out. Unfortunately, it didn't make it. Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2000

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