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A Fire Upon The Deep Zones of Thought Vernor Vinge Books

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A Fire Upon The Deep Zones of Thought Vernor Vinge Books

I read this book a couple of years after it came out and have re-read it two or three times. It's one of my all time favorites. It combines one of my favorite themes, the beginning of the Renaissance, with computer science and an interesting what-if wrinkle on the laws of physics.

The Tines, the dog-like collective mind species, work like a peer to peer computer network. They're entering their Renaissance and the contrast between the pre and post divide minds is fascinating.

The parallel plot involving the galactic civilization in the area where the speed of light is much faster is equally interesting. Vinge incorporates Usenet and Unix style email headers to give the galactic net commentary verisimilitude. The race between good and evil plot isn't obtrusive and provides enough juice to hold the reader's attention.

I found the resolution satisfying, not at all confusing.

This is science fiction that combines interesting ideas with decent character development and a well designed plot. The rule in science fiction is that you get two of the three. Every now and then a story breaks the rule.


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A Fire Upon The Deep Zones of Thought Vernor Vinge Books Reviews

Vinge gives us a truly interesting, galactic-level speculation on how the universe may work, tying together physics and theology by positing that the laws of physics vary according to one's observational point. In other words, sentient beings close to the galactic core are governed by a time-space that is different from the time-space of the fringe.

There are innumerable civilizations, which rise, change, and become extinct over millions and billions of years. Moreover, some of these close to the core discover space travel, and gradually "transcend" as they are able to travel farther from the core.

The narrative and realization of this concept is not bad but nothing special. There is a basic good adventure story, but it is wordy and sometimes a bit immature. It's a long book, and I skipped over entire pages.

Also, the book falls down sometimes on the creation of alien species, especially the dog-like race at the center of much of the action.

But the concept still comes through. If Fire Upon the Deep were well-written, and all the alien species well thought-out, this would be one of the great sci-fi novels of all time.
This is the first book I have read by Vernor Vinge. It is full of mind boggling ideas and wonderfully complex aliens.

One mind boggling idea that the galaxy has zones. The closer you get to the galaxy center, the dumber you are, and the slower you go, the longer you live. A fast, smart, malevolent force from the outermost region reaches into the lower zones spreading death and destruction.

Vinge depicts different types of non-human intelligence in a really thought provoking way.
example the Tines who are dog like animals who have human or greater than human intelligence when gathered in packs; they are intelligent, pack animals that live on a close-in feudal world. Many individuals make up a personality. They don’t have hands but use their jaws and paws together in a coordinated way to get things done.
The Skroderiders who are plant-like creatures who become intelligent when paired with carts that some being had created for them billions of years ago
and beings of nearly god-like intelligence created by evolving computer networks, and more.
He also comes up with interesting astronomy by splitting the galaxy up into zones in which physics is differentiated, so that it's possible for certain creatures to travel at beyond light speed and become advanced, and for others to be trapped in zones of slowness (like Earth).

The entertainment to cost ratio of this book is enormous. It is long, it is well written, it gets you thinking when you put it down, and it makes you want to re-read it.
A science fiction story has to hang together–not in every detail or plot point, but enough to create a believable scenario. This book fails that test.

1. The main "alien" world in this book is medieval England–with dogs. It's divided into city-states replete with castles, dungeons, balconies, scrolls, tables, cabinets, bows and arrows. (Uh, don't bows and arrows require...fingers?) There are spies, assassins, artists apprentices–even a Queen, a council, and a Lord Chamberlain. This is Earth 2.0. I was hoping for something more inventive.

2. When I say dogs, I don't mean German Shepherds. These aliens are tiny--some are menacing and villainous. Others are as cute and cuddly as teddy bears. There are vicious wolves that the author compares to gerbils. The cute and ominous work against each other.

3. And the cute little dogs aren't the only silly aliens. We also have villainous butterflies. Then there are the Skroderiders, who seem to be intelligent potted plants on wheels. The author came up with gimmicky names for the hive-mind dogs–so we end up with Peregrine Wickwrackrun, and other polysyllabic monstrosities. I feel sorry for the poor soul who had to read this for the audio version.

4. Speaking of the language...What's a sophont? What's an agrav? My eyes glazed over. Too much excessive jargon, too few orienting details, and often insufficient explanation to help the reader visualize the action. Here are a couple of examples

"Cricketsong is a synthetic race created as a jape/experiment/instrument by the High Willow upon its Transcendence."

Or...

"Saint Rihndell had a small harbor about sixteen million klicks around the RIP system. The move was even plausible, for it happened that there was a Skroderider terrane in the Harmonious Repose system–and currently it was just a few hundred kilometers from Rihndell's second harbor.They would rendezvous with the tusk-legs, exchanging repairs for two hundred seventeen flamed trellises. And if the trellises were perfectly matched, Rihndell promised to throw in an agrav refit."

You can sort of, kinda get what the author means–but trying to wade through page after page of this is worse than reading a manual on tractor hyperdrive repair.

5. And we also have missteps with characterization

"After a long period of normal progress, Jefri had come back with a counterplan. It consisted of a complete reworking of the tables for the accoustic interface."

Who is Jefri?

This kid Jefri is eight years old (though his canine sidekick is a budding Stephen Hawking). But do you know any eight-year-old kid who thinks like that?

6. I'll just add that there are better stories out there. For an example of an outlandish, but somehow believable, sci-fi novel read CHILDREN OF TIME
I read this book a couple of years after it came out and have re-read it two or three times. It's one of my all time favorites. It combines one of my favorite themes, the beginning of the Renaissance, with computer science and an interesting what-if wrinkle on the laws of physics.

The Tines, the dog-like collective mind species, work like a peer to peer computer network. They're entering their Renaissance and the contrast between the pre and post divide minds is fascinating.

The parallel plot involving the galactic civilization in the area where the speed of light is much faster is equally interesting. Vinge incorporates Usenet and Unix style email headers to give the galactic net commentary verisimilitude. The race between good and evil plot isn't obtrusive and provides enough juice to hold the reader's attention.

I found the resolution satisfying, not at all confusing.

This is science fiction that combines interesting ideas with decent character development and a well designed plot. The rule in science fiction is that you get two of the three. Every now and then a story breaks the rule.