A Fire Upon the Deep

By: Vernor Vinge

Narrated by: Peter Larkin

Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Weird and Imaginative

If you are a fan of weird inventive sci-fi that makes you think, this is a great book to pick up. While it lacks the depth of character and political consciousness of Dune, Dispossessed, Man in the High Castle, or Book of the Second Sun, it belongs in that same company. It imagines radically different worlds and sees them through in detail even if the plot and characters feel a little stock.

it was aight.

Isaac Arthur suggested this it was okay but I think the story could have done better. the tines were the best part.

What a story

This book is something else! A look into the future through the eyes of aliens and humans alike. imaginitive and unique alien races, an interssting take on stratofied galactic computational potential, and a new take on gods all culminate in an immersive read.

Intelligent, challenging, rewarding, exciting.

Top tier science fiction. Absolutely amazing stuff. Challenging and exciting read. This is elevates the genre.

Very slow build. Epic ending.

The narrator was excellent. The story is unique and interesting. But it requires a ton of concentration, dedication, and patience to finish. Author does a great job building a unique galaxy, bit by bit, but does do at the expense of the story's pace. It's a long slog, but worth it in the end.

Very different culture

I liked discovering a very different concept of how the galaxy works and levels of existence. Also the culture of a pack society. very good narrator!

It was good, but not great.

It's a good story, but very long, for me it was way to long periods where very little happened. The last 5 chapters on the other hand was thrilling and very good. The narration was good, but not stellar.

Worth a listen

Good story, great characters. The ending was a little to abrupt for all the build up. Would recommend to others. Narrator performance was outstanding.

My all-time favorite book!

This book is just outstanding. The universe that Vinge creates is so full, the alien races are so original, and the story itself is amazing. If you like hard sci-fi, read/listen to this book. Peter Larkin does a good job reading it, even though some of his voices are hilarious.

Not perfect. Def worth a read.

Very interesting. Some really neat ideas, ahead of its time and holds up. There are wholes and gaps, but held my interest.