A Deepness in the Sky

By: Vernor Vinge

Narrated by: Peter Larkin

Length: 28 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds. The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens' very doorstep for their strange star to relight and for their planet to reawaken, as it does every 250 years

Then, following terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike.

More than just a great science-fiction adventure, A Deepness in the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery, and the redemptive power of love.

Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky, the second installment of the Zones of Thought series, is a 1999 Nebula Award nominee for Best Novel and the winner of the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

©1999 Vernor Vinge (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2000

"This prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep demonstrates Vinge's capacity for meticulously detailed culture-building and grand-scale sf drama." ( Library Journal)
"Major revelations, ironies, and payoffs.... A powerful story in the grandest SF tradition." (Amazon.com review)

Great Story, Poor Performance

What did you like best about A Deepness in the Sky? What did you like least?

The story is great. The performance was inappropriate. The voice is not without talent, but he has a matter-of-fact quality that is very wrong for certain parts of the story, especially the sex scenes which he makes very creepy and unlistenable, I ended up putting this down before finishing because the reader gave me the creeps. Not recommended. Maybe I will read this one soon.

Would you be willing to try another one of Peter Larkin’s performances?

Nope.

Better than expected

The other reviews are right: You have to stick with this book. It seems at first to be a standard space opera, but the plot gets more complicated as it evolves. The description of a sub-light speed space faring community is well thought out and believable. And the author knows his science.

Less believable are the aliens, who seem very human in their reactions. Given the cultural differences among earthlings, it is hard to believe that an alien world would have such similar psychologies to Americans. And the plot's pacing is somewhat erratic, sometimes slow and sometimes fast. I didn't mind it, but others may. And, yes, the author repeats things, but more as a reminder of where you are in the plot and where the character is at that moment. There are a number of leading characters to keep track of.

The story has its share of unexpected twists and turns, which kept me engaged. I look forward to more stories about the deep space traders.

Deep stuff.

I've read a fair amount of sci-fi in my day, including the greats like Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, and Herbert. And yet, here in this story, my first introduction to Vernor Vinge, were profound and interesting concepts I have never seen expressed.

Most of the story took place with no clear heroes, where a group of sympathetic characters were stuck in a seemingly hopeless situation. There was slavery, treachery, tyranny, and exploitation on all sides. The story was tedious at times, and I kept checking the time remaining, even speeding up the playback just to get through it.

But I'm glad I did. There's nothing I hate more in a story than a bad ending. If you're like me and you're reading this, take my advice: Pick this one up, stick with it, and you'll be okay. It's a good book, ultimately hopeful and optimistic. There's even love, and redemption, along with excellent narration, world building, and cool little details that help you lose yourself in the scenes as they play out.

takes a while to get going

this story is ambitious. there are many groups and characters, all which need development. it takes a while before you feel any sort of connection

slow start

the book was a slow start but built into a solid enjoyable story. I look forward to continuing Vernor Vinge's series

Highly conflicted about this one

This one took me over two months to finish, a record in over 10 years of audible listening (normally I am done weeks before my next credit comes due, this book made me pile up two credits!) This is a good story, complex and involved, with multiple groups and amazing detail and scope. The problem was that the evil in this story was too overpowering (this was a problem in the previous book, and I suspect in all Vinge books. He does not give us villains with obvious weaknesses). In this case he also did not give us really good characters as a counter, (or hid them) The oppressive, overwhelming evil of the villains really made the first half of this book depressing. And it is a long book, so that is a long time. Perhaps it is the times we live in now as opposed to when the book came out. When the villains drowned the truth in a flood of lies and conspiracy theories near the end it was almost too much. I resisted turning the book in for a refund only because I knew there had to be a payoff at the end. There was. So I suppose this would be a four or five star review in someone who wasn't such a snowflake. Just be warned, It takes a long time before things start looking less bleak.

Seriously good science fiction

I absolutely love how Vinge creates actually alien aliens in truly creative situations. The technology aspect of his science fiction is creative while remaining more relevant than a lot of classic sci-fi. And all of it combines into a well structured story with sufficient depth to really let the reader get engulfed in the world with the characters, no matter how bizarre or frightening the descriptions may seem at first.

Terrific Science Fiction Drama

If you could sum up A Deepness in the Sky in three words, what would they be?

Intricate, captivating and dramatic

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Deepness in the Sky?

The radio debate between Underhill and Perdure; science vs religious dogma.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narrator did a good job making each character stand out and unique. That said, his portrayal of Kiwi was disappointing, she sounded like a badly dubbed anime character.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it's much too long for that. This is a book to be enjoyed over time, when you can pay attention to it.

Book 5 Star Narrator 2 :(

Vinge shows his readers again all the elements of modern classic scifi. Great characters, alien world, time travel, technological speculation, war intrigue, and pure imagination. The narrator unfortunately for this one flops. The voice must be able to allow the listener to forget his presence, so dialogue flows realistically. Still, this book is not to be missed in any form. A modern classic, thoroughly pleasurable, but beware of spiders.

Even better than the original

And, despite being set in the same universe you don't have to have even heard of A Fire upon the Deep to fully get this story.

The narrator is very good too.