A Fire Upon the Deep

By: Vernor Vinge

Narrated by: Peter Larkin

A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function.

Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought", but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.

Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.

A Fire upon the Deep, which began the Zones of Thought series, is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

©1992 Vernor Vinge (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1993

Loved the universe and the aliens

Highly recommended. Overall, I liked "A Deepness in the Sky" better, but this book was great too. The first part of "Fire" was excellent, exploring a fascinating universe and a unique alien race. I *really* liked the way the race was introduced --- realization of its differences only slowly coming into focus. And the idea of the universe having slow and fast zones was really great. Unfortunately, once the universe was introduced, the second half was much weaker --- just a slow march to a predictable conclusion. (Ironically, "Deepness" was the opposite. It was so slow in the beginning, but ended on a high note.) Despite this minor weakness, Vernor Vinge is definitely on my list of favorite authors. I read this book before "Deepness" and recommend that order (even though this occurs later in time).

Wierd but not in a good way...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story is very unique. So if you are looking for something different then this is it. The alien creatures are very very alien, but not like your normal genre humanoid-looking aliens but talking trees and dogs. This seemed to me more like a adulterated children's book then a fresh sci-fi tale.
SPOILER ALERT: I hate when a book ends with a super powerful unexplained phenomenon.

Has A Fire Upon the Deep turned you off from other books in this genre?

Nope. Still love my scifi and fantasy.

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

The descriptions were detailed in some areas but others it was hard to follow what the setting looked like. The creatures were so odd it was very hard to hold an image in your mind of what was going on. I found myself daydreaming through sections while driving and when I rewound, found that I hadn't missed anything.

Any additional comments?

I have to say I was entertained but I would not continue with this series.

One of the best science fiction works I've read

I'd put this book up there with Dune. Lots of unique hard SciFi ideas, plot that keeps me interested in every thread, characters I get attached to, tongue in cheek parody of 90s era Usenet. It's just so fucking good.

Hollywood writers could never come up with this

Would you consider the audio edition of A Fire Upon the Deep to be better than the print version?

Don't know

What did you like best about this story?

Amazing creativity, introduction to cool scientific ideas and compelled me to review Einstein, really fleshed out world that makes BSG or Hollywood Sci fi seem puerile by comparison.

What does Peter Larkin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great vocal range and giving consistent voices to the different characters.

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

Yes but for lack of time....

Any additional comments?

My new favorite Sci Fi story.

What imagination!

I'm a pretty big fan of sci-fi authors and I finally picked up this much recommended book. Overall, the prose and actual mechanics of the story are pretty unremarkable. However, the Tines are probably one of the most interesting sci-fi conceptions I have ever read. They make this book not quite spectacular, but invariably interesting. I did prefer "A Deepness in the Sky" over this book but neither are disappointing.

Absolutely Amazing!

A wild cosmic adventure! It takes a while to warm up but once you're in you can't put it down! ( or whatever the audible equivalent ) Sci-fi at it's best!

Favorite Sci-Fi book of all time

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Fantastic book filled with many new sci-fi ideas that add flavor and discovery to every page. Vinge's obvious interest and personal depth in science and math clearly come out in the book - and yet it is his character's complex and often endearing personas that make the book so engaging. The story must have been something crafted in Vinge's mind long before he ever wrote it - the way he pulled all the pieces together to a final climactic ending that was overwhelming, elating, and yet bittersweet.

excellent sci fi

great story. awesome narration imo, since i saw some ppl didnt like it. subjective i suppose. but particularly for this novel its in the spirit. sounds like peregrin narreted;).

All sci-fi, No boredom

I adored Larkin’s fantastical voices. He was not afraid to step out of the realm of normal with his performance, and I loved it! The writing didn’t have much literary nuance to it, but the plot is interesting. Vinge’s magical sci-fi world embodies all of the possibility I’ve been waiting to see in this genre. Overall an entertaining listen.

Good Narrating, better story!

Narrator might have had a cold at some point, but his voice matched the story well enough for my taste, and his voices good enough to keep me interested. Blight concept may seem confusing at first, but great story.