A Fire Upon The Deep

A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale.Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these regions of thought, but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization. Vernor Vinge, author of several SF novels and stories, has twice won the Hugo Award. His novella True Names is widely acknowledged as a seminal cybernovel by general readers and scientists alike. Vinge is also a professor of computer science at San Diego State University. A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Hugo AwardIn this popular and widely praised novel, a rescue mission races against time to save a pair of human children being held captive by a medieval lupine race, and to recover the weapon that will keep the universe from being changed forever. As SF author Poul Anderson has written, A Fire Upon the Deep evokes marvelously the strangeness of the universe, and of the human future as we venture forth into it, in a story that is both exciting and thought-provoking. Against a background depicting a space-time continuum stratified into 'zones of thought,' the author has created a rarity, a unique blend of hard science, high drama, and superb storytelling., Library JournalA tale that burns with the brazen energy of the best space operas of the golden age. Vinge has created a galaxy for [today's readers] to believe in, immense, ancient, athrum with data webs, dotted with wonders., John Clute, InterzoneVernor Vinge's best novel yet., Greg BearA vast, riveting, far-future saga . . . The overall concept astonishes; the aliens are developed with memorable skill and insight; the plot twists and turns with unputdownable tension. A masterpiece of universe-building., Kirkus ReviewsThe first grand SF I've read in ages . . . Vinge is one of the best visionary writers of SF today., David Brin, author of EarthFiercely original . . . Compelling ideas in [this] book include problems and advantages of group mind, galactic communications turbidity, and the prospect of civilizations aspiring to godhood., Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog