Reviewing "A Fire Upon the Deep" and explaining Vinge's "Zones of Thought"
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- Tonight I review the Vernor Vinge's 1993 Hugo Award winning novel "A Fire Upon the Deep". This novel shared the Hugo in 1992 with Connie Willis' "Doomsday Book" that I previously reviewed on the channel.
I provide a plot overview, talk to what I liked, what I didn't like, put it to the memory test and rank it on the Sci-Fi Shed Ladder.
I also spend some time explaining Vinge's "Zone of Thoughts" and what this amazing universe looks like.
As always, it's a pleasure spending some time with you in the Shed!
![A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge [Spoiler Free Review][Zones of Thought #1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gSy5f5IV0Go/mqdefault.jpg)
I had almost the same experience that you did. Great ideas, great writing (although a bit wordy), amazing aliens. I understand how this is a top read for a lot of SF fans. I'm almost done with the trilogy and will be doing a Children of the Sky review in the next few days. Great review Pete.
*Edit, forgot to ask. Have you read Deepness in the Sky and Children of the Sky? I might try to do a collaboration video with some fellow booktubers just briefly going over the series as a whole.
Thanks buddy, I have read the complete Zones of Thought. I'm currently rereading Deepness for the ladder. A collab would be fun!
So sad that Mr. Vinge recently passed away😢
Now we'll never know how things work out for the humans an tines 😔
I suspect, in "Children of the Sky",that the choir are constructing a fractal antenna with their copper coated pyramid structure, being somehow manipulated by the Blight to aid its voyage to Tines World. Wish I was smart and skilled enough to continue Mr. Vinge's tale...
Very sad indeed, why not have a go at it anyway Robert? You may surprise yourself, and worst case scenario, you'll still have something you can be proud of.
I just finished A Fire Upon The Deep. I had the exact same feelings about the book. The action part towards the end was kind of frustrating for me and I felt like it was another unnecessary extension of a long book. This really was a great book and the Tines alone made it worth the read. Whitney sent me here and I'm glad she did. I love the struggle at the end where you decide where to place this book among your favorites. It's a struggle we all face when we think about it. Great video buddy. I'm subscribing
Thank you Dale, welcome aboard and thank you Whitney 🙂 have you read the prequel, A Deepness in the Sky? I'm currently rereading it, I will post a review when I finish it.
@@thesci-fished I haven't read it. It's an intimidating chunker but the reviews of it are better than this book so I am curious. I look forward to your review.
@@dalejones4322 it is definitely a clunker, and for me, more of a true space opera, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Thank you for your support, I greatly appreciate it. I've got Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke on my TBR, not sure how I'm going to keep up the weekly reviews after seeing the size of that thing 😆😆
Love the book but I agree it could have been a bit tighter in editing. Perhaps 400 pg instead of 600 pg. Dogs, stranded kids and space opera. Perfect combination. Good explanation of the different states of space.
Thanks Richard, I'm about to embark on a vintasf marathon. I need to catch up on a few of your videos :-) Thanks again for the support.
It's too advanced for me. The only SF I'd read prior to trying AFUTD was John Scalzi's Old Man's War. I couldn't make it beyond the 100th page of Vinge's book. It was a combination of my mind wandering during certain passages as well as not really understanding the setting or what was happening. I couldn't conjure any imagery in my mind to picture what was happening. I guess as a reader I need more hand-holding. But, there's no denying it's a popular, well-loved book so it must just be me.
Thanks for the comment. I understand what you mean and it's one of the reasons I couldn't really recommend the book to new SF readers. I think A Deepness in the Sky (the sequel) is probably a little more difficult to follow.
@@thesci-fished Maybe if I work my way up to it, I could retry AFUTD someday. Anyway, I enjoy your reviews. Thanks for replying.
@@kenward1310 my pleasure, thanks for the support and I'm glad you're enjoying the content.
I listened to this as an audiobook and not having that picture of the zones of thought was lost in the jargon of the beyond/transcend etc. That being said I was never fully sure what the riders looked like or the relation b/w the clams and fronds. Are they big enough to carry a person piggy back? Or easy enough to pick up? I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea they don't have short term memory out of their spodes? But over all I enjoyed it and appreciate that he did not spoon feed info. I am thinking of going back and reading it on my kindle. You may try the audiobook to see if its easier.
Vinge is another scientist/writer like Benford or Clarke so you get some exposition. i devoured these two books after i started reading sci-fi again in the 90s and was very glad to find them. i recently read the Peace War, another series with strong concepts. he makes the arrow of time horrifying. the Zones of thought concept is in line with dark matter theories and he make it so much more compelling by conjectures of the effect of zone transits and planets on the transition regions. classic Vinge.
i find your ranking painful and i'm sitting here yelling at the screen with suggestions. did you read the southern reach trilogy? another one is about to drop in it. did you read Surface Detail or the Hydrogen Sonata yet? is that ladder only for Hugo winners? cheers!
BYW i get migraines seasonally and find magnesium supplements washed down with coffee do the trick. mine are visual and i plow right through them. i consider them unacceptable! oh, and there's a movie on streaming called "Timetrap" will give you a hoot. cheers.
Hi Stephen,thanks for the suggested reads, so many great books and so little time :( . I have read something from each of those authors you mentioned but not the complete works or trilogies. I hope my rankings aren't too painful to the point of you not watching anymore :) I try to be true to myself and the criteria I used at the beginning of the channel but honestly, I reckon if I were to do this again in the future, my rankings would be completely different. It really is a personal thing that reflect my current mood. I'm only ranking the Hugo and/or Nebula award winners on the board and hence why the content has been biased towards those books. Where would you have ranked Fire on the board in regards to the others on the board so far? Thanks for the tip regarding the migraines, I'll have to try some magnesium supplements. I find mine are consistent with my stress levels. So like you, I also push through the migraines and continue reading through them, because reading is really a great stress relief for me. I always enjoy reading your posts, thanks for commenting.
@-fished ah, i see. i have you subbed, so i'll be watching. your taste in fiction runs along the same lines.
big operas! i once passed Greg Bear's EON to a buddy of mine and it stifled him utterly. the running joke became, "did you finish EON yet?" i don't have a clue where i'd rank it on your list, i've only read a few of those. i said before, A Case of Conscience is well placed.
@@stephenmorton8017 Thank you for the support, I'ts always fun to hear others opinions and stories. Thanks fot watching.
@@thesci-fished
I am not sure what the magnesium does, perhaps you have a deficiency. HOWEVER, the coffee makes perfect sense - as it has caffeine in it, and caffeine accellerates the effects of painkillers, like Tylenol(APAP) and aspirin - and it contracts (or was it expands?) the blood vessels in the brain.
I did not like it very much and I did not finish the second book. A premise driven book, no character development and not very climactic.
Can't really argue that point, ì have a review of "A Deepness in the sky" coming up. You may be interested in my thoughts on that one too. Thank you for watching and sharing your experiences.