From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought, #1)

Vernor Vinge

Start date: July 1, 2017

Finish date: July 24, 2017

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: Group classic novel discussion July 2017
Hugo Award Winner 1993 (tie)
#93 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of a…more
[close] Group classic novel discussion July 2017
Hugo Award Winner 1993 (tie)
#93 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#27 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 250 topics — 8,801 comments total

Book Discussions

"Cyteen" by C.J. Cherryh
By deleted member · 48 posts · 103 views

last updated May 24, 2025 11:25PM

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
By deleted member · 46 posts · 150 views

last updated Mar 28, 2025 02:28PM

showing 10 of 18 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jun 29, 2011 Brandon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi

When I first heard of this book it was on the social website Reddit. It was recommended by a user in a science fiction thread. Then I saw in a Tor announcement that Vernor Vinge was releasing a sequel to this book called "Children of the Sky". I thought I might as well check it out. I looked up Mr. Vinge on wikipedia to see that he had won five Hugo awards, quite an achievement. One of those Hugos was for "A Fire Upon the Deep." I immediately put the book on my Amazon wishlist, and shortly there When I first heard of this book it was on the social website Reddit. It was recommended by a user in a science fiction thread. Then I saw in a Tor announcement that Vernor Vinge was releasing a sequel to this book called "Children of the Sky". I thought I might as well check it out. I looked up Mr. Vinge on wikipedia to see that he had won five Hugo awards, quite an achievement. One of those Hugos was for "A Fire Upon the Deep." I immediately put the book on my Amazon wishlist, and shortly thereafter I found myself ordering it.

The funny thing is, with all my searching of who Vernor Vinge was, I hadn't read any of the descriptions of this book, and the back cover of the paperback just had reviews. So, I started reading this book with no idea what to expect from it, I only though it was some sort of space opera.

"A Fire Upon the Deep" starts out with a confusing prologue, and then propels the reader into a world of wonder. I'm not going to go over a synopsis of the book (there are plenty of places online you can read what this book is about), but I will tell you how I feel about "A Fire Upon the Deep." Vernor Vinge has created a universe of terrific imagination and innovation. He has created a universe with Powers of amazing thought and control, species of superb design and believability, and characters who I am convinced are real.

In his universe the galaxy is separated into zones of space where speeds are different, from the Slow zone to the High Beyond and the Transcend. This separation makes for an interesting story line, and a thought provoking structure of the universe. Everything Vernor does in this story is thought provoking, which is key for a good science fiction novel. The way the characters and the species are integrated together with imaginative details and tools of advanced software makes this book a truly intelligent read.

I always love a story with a hero, and "A Fire Upon the Deep" is packed with heroes of every size and shape. He has created characters who I am convinced are real people in some other universe. I am positive that Scriber exists somewhere out there in the Beyond. And Pham Nuwen, there has to be a Pham Nuwen alive in another place and time. The pack-minds of Woodcarver, Steel, Flenser, and the Pilgrim Peregrine are all characters who everyone should take the opportunity to read about.

"A Fire Upon the Deep" is a well-thought, engaging, and complex story that any science fiction fan should take the time to read.
...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2016 Sean DeLauder rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hugo-winner

A Fire Upon the Deep rocks back and forth between complacency and sudden, shocking obliteration. The Blight is released, prompting a hurried, near-failed escape with the undefined countermeasure that can defeat it. Against all odds, safety is achieved, followed immediately by the near destruction of a family and the ship's payload by telepathic, medieval dog(gish thing)s. Nearer the center of the Blight's activity, its behavior is disregarded as something that will pass, as it has many times bef ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2012 Ryk Spoor rated it it was amazing

Shelves: space-opera, sf

A Fire Upon the Deep is one of the greatest SF novels of the past 30 years. Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought universe is explored and brought to life here for the second time (the first story in this universe was his short "The Blabber") but with greater depth and vastly greater impact. This is modern space opera with the kind of twist only a computer-science expert like Vinge could come up with, where nanotechnology and computation collide with FTL and things that border the mystical.

A great ev
A Fire Upon the Deep is one of the greatest SF novels of the past 30 years. Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought universe is explored and brought to life here for the second time (the first story in this universe was his short "The Blabber") but with greater depth and vastly greater impact. This is modern space opera with the kind of twist only a computer-science expert like Vinge could come up with, where nanotechnology and computation collide with FTL and things that border the mystical.

A great evil -- a remnant of something thought long dead eons ago -- is revived by an archaeological team, who are of course its first victims. But in the same vault that contained the danger were also clues to its defeat, and a ship carrying those clues barely manages to escape.

When the monstrous threat unleashed begins to endanger the whole Galaxy, the ship Out Of Band II is launched, following the cryptic clues of the godlike being called "Old One", in a race against Lovecraftian horror to find a weapon capable of stopping something that may otherwise destroy everything. On board, Ravna Bergsndot, an ordinary employee of the station called Relay; Blueshell and Greenstalk, two bush-like aliens called Skroderiders; and Pham Nuwen, resurrected human from an ancient and distant culture... who was also the living avatar for "Old One" and the only hope for making use of the weapon they hope to find on a distant, obscure world. Pursuing them -- an armada of thousands of ships under the control of a horror older than Earth's sun. And on that distant world, the only survivors aboard the ship are themselves caught in an alien war which could cause the final weapon to be lost forever.

This book took the classic space opera "sensawunda" and brought it fully into the modern age, stuffing it with brand new ideas and excellent turns on old ones, with references to many other things (not to mention a Galactic version of Usenet!). This is one of the few books that I literally finished, then went back to the first page and started again. Excellent work! ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2015 Ted Cross rated it it was amazing

Four and a half stars. Excellent writer with an incredible imagination. I wasn't thrilled with the doggie pack/group mental arc, but it was still well written, and I did really enjoy the space opera parts very much. It suffered a tad from the simple fact that with so many billions of species and with dangers causing entire species to be wiped out, it was impossible for the mind to wrap itself around the incredible amount of death going on, making it too casual. But that is a problem with the she ...more

Like · see review

May 24, 2012 Romain rated it it was amazing

A rereading after 12 years. It was well worth it as many details had faded from memory. This is a high concept space opera up there with the very best (Foundation, The Culture, The Uplift Saga, The Hyperion Cantos, etc...). Transcendent malevolent beings aroused by unsuspecting explorers, check. Pack mind creatures, check. Epic galactic space battles, check. Highly recommended.

Like · see review