A Fire Upon the Deep

Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep is an instant classic science fiction novel. It won the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction novel of 1992 and is considered one of the finest examples of its genre.

Vinge also won the Hugo award in 2000 for A Deepness In The Sky and again in 2007 for Rainbows End. A Deepness in the Sky is an astonishing novel, written in the same fictional universe as A Fire Upon The Deep, sometimes called the Zones of Thought. (SeeMadProfessah's A review.)

A Fire Upon The Deep has a very complicated but engrossing plot (of course).

The basic story is about what happens to two young children Johanna and Jefri who are accompanying their scientist parents when the family is forced to evacuate a region of space to avoid a dangerous anomaly, crash-land on a planet and the kids are orphaned. The inhabitants of the planet are one of science fiction's most intriguing creations: Tines, furry four-legged creature which resemble dogs in appearance and intelligence but when they bond together in groups of four or more they become sentient beings. Vinge is at his amazingly sympathetic when depicting aliens and their novel civilizations. The Tines' culture resembles a medieval feudal society emerging from the Bronze Age which has had two aliens (who happen to be adolescents) with 30th century technology.

The plot develops in surprising ways and Vinge deals with the youth of the protagonists amazingly well. The two are separated relatively early in the book and join rival factions of the Tines, the overall resolution is exciting and engrossing.

A Fire Upon The Deep is a classic work that should be read (and re-read) by anyone remotely interested in alien civilizations, high technology and youthful heroes.

Mass Market Paperback: 624 pages
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Date: February 15, 1993

OVERALL GRADE: A

PLOT: A
IMAGERY: A+
IMPACT: A-
WRITING: A-