A deepness in the sky - Hutchie & Co.

606 pages

English language

Published June 10, 1999 by Millennium.

ISBN:: 978-1-85798-825-3

(1 review)

A Deepness in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge. Published in 1999, the novel is a loose prequel (set twenty thousand years earlier) to his earlier novel A Fire Upon the Deep (1992). The title is coined by one of the story's main characters in a debate, in a reference to the hibernating habits of his species and to the vastness of space.

14 editions

Alex reviewed A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge

Perfect winter book

5 stars

Sometimes it felt like a Cold war story complete with the capitalistic Good Guys, the mind ruling Bad Guys and the hint of mutually assured destruction or whatever. Then for the space twist: throw in some sentient spiders, weird astronomy and some trully brutal characters that makes you sick (without having to go into gory details, Vinge sure knows how to make a story pretty fucking dark) and you got an emotionally tough story on the cover.

Despite this, I was deeply hooked like never before! Usually there's some side story that makes you groan and cause a little struggle with a book, but here I was completely engulfed in each and every page, every side story engaging and contributing to the overall story. I've never had this strong engagement with a book before and I can't really articulate why. I guess my mind and mood was in a winter …

Sometimes it felt like a Cold war story complete with the capitalistic Good Guys, the mind ruling Bad Guys and the hint of mutually assured destruction or whatever. Then for the space twist: throw in some sentient spiders, weird astronomy and some trully brutal characters that makes you sick (without having to go into gory details, Vinge sure knows how to make a story pretty fucking dark) and you got an emotionally tough story on the cover.

Despite this, I was deeply hooked like never before! Usually there's some side story that makes you groan and cause a little struggle with a book, but here I was completely engulfed in each and every page, every side story engaging and contributing to the overall story. I've never had this strong engagement with a book before and I can't really articulate why. I guess my mind and mood was in a winter state that fitted well with this kind of book at this time?

Anyway, I loved following the technological progression of the spiders, learning of the "legendary origins" of the Cheng Ho traders was interesting and I hated the sadistic Emergents. Thumbs up.