A fire upon the deep

Library Liberty Zed reviewed A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge (Zones of Thought, #1)

Viele interessante Ideen in einer spannenden Geschichte

4 stars

Eigentlich ist es eine Mischung aus Fantasy und Science Fiction. Damit Vernor Vinge Superintelligenzen in seine Geschichte einbauen kann, muss er zwar physikalische Naturgesetze ändern, aber ich wüsste auch nicht, wie man Superintelligenz in ein menschliches Buch anders integrieren will. Der Autor stellt den Gegensatz zwischen Intelligenz und technischer Zivilisation dar. Letztlich sind es zwei orthogonale Achsen. Und - nach dem Buch kann ich mir tatsächlich vorstellen, dass es eine überindividuelle mentale Struktur, eine geteilte Seele von einzelnen Wesen gibt. Zeitweise hat es Längen und das Ende empfand ich als abrupt und etwas...unfertig nach der langen Einleitung und dem langen Hauptteil. Deswegen nur 4 von 5 Solos im Rudel.

Rob reviewed A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge (Zones of Thought, #1)

Fantastic sci-fi epic

5 stars

Fantastically deep and original sci-fi epic. Picked this up on a whim and can't recommend it to others enough. The various species are really well developed and the intertwining plots are both incredibly interesting in of themselves. May have taken me some time to get though as it isn't a short book, but enjoyed every moment I was reading.

Kevin B. O'Brien reviewed A fire upon the deep by Vernor Vinge (Zones of thought series)

A Masterpiece of Science Fiction

5 stars

This is a masterpiece of a book, deservedly considered a classic. It starts with a group of human scientists re-awakening an AI, but everything goes pear-shaped very quickly. From there two plot lines proceed in parallel, one concerning a family from the group that worked on the AI, the other concerning a group of mixed human and alien beings that are trying to deal with the menace unleashed on the galaxy by this AI. The greatest fascination of this novel is the alien races. They are very disctinctly different, but Vinge makes them believable at the same time. The plot line of the escaped family takes them to a world inhabited by beings with group consciousness. They are like small mammals, but an individual of this species is not even conscious or intelligent. It is only when they they join together in groups of 5-8 that they become intelligent entities. …

This is a masterpiece of a book, deservedly considered a classic. It starts with a group of human scientists re-awakening an AI, but everything goes pear-shaped very quickly. From there two plot lines proceed in parallel, one concerning a family from the group that worked on the AI, the other concerning a group of mixed human and alien beings that are trying to deal with the menace unleashed on the galaxy by this AI. The greatest fascination of this novel is the alien races. They are very disctinctly different, but Vinge makes them believable at the same time. The plot line of the escaped family takes them to a world inhabited by beings with group consciousness. They are like small mammals, but an individual of this species is not even conscious or intelligent. It is only when they they join together in groups of 5-8 that they become intelligent entities. This is a very interesting idea, and Vinge develops it beautifully and in great detail. In the other plot line, one of the alien races is derived from aquatic plants/animals that get around on motorized carts, and might be the dominant race of the galaxy. Then there is the idea that in this universe the closer you get to the core of the galaxy the slower you travel, creating concentric zones where the speed possible varies.

What ties the two plot lines together is the possibility that the ship that took the family away may have the answer to defeating the rogue AI, so the ship with the mixed human/alien crew has to get there ahead of the AI. This novel has an impressive set of ideas that are fascinating. This is a book you have to read if you are a fan of science fiction.

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