I am just now going through A Fire Upon the Deep and loving it. I would Recommend Hyperion as a similar book, in that it deals with a galaxy wide threat with smaller plotlines interwoven ( it has more similarities beyond the plotlines).
Regarding the Singularity, I believe the term is meant to be the point in time where artificial intelligence will cross the point where it can advance itself faster than anything we could do.
The “series” is very disconnected, mostly just set in the same universe. FWIW we thought a Deepness in the Sky was fun but not as good as afire Upon the Deep.
I don't think "AI-gods" is a fitting description. The "powers" are entire biological civilizations melding into a single meta-mind. Which for me and many in the universe sounds like an unspeakably horrible fate, but for many other people or cultures of the galactic community means achieving the next level of existence. "Becoming a living god" as Ravna puts it.
Some of the Powers are civilizations becoming group-minds, but some are indeed explicitly AI. The Blight is definitely AI: we saw it being created in the beginning!
Wow, 1992?! I’m blown away. I’m only about 20% in and had to see what other people were saying about it. I hadn’t heard anything about it. It’s been on my Goodreads for 7 years 😅 This video was great!
So glad you liked it! And so awesome to hear more people are picking up great sci fi, that’s exactly what we were hoping might happen when we started up.
@@hugonautspod wowsa, I just bought it as it was only like £4 here in the UK, just finished Undying Mercenaries 2 minutes ago so about to dive into this.
A Fire Upon The Deep is not a very good book. The 2 main human characters are pretty one dimensional and the Tine aliens didn't make any sense at all. How can creatures that are basically dogs that don't have hands and must do everything with their mouths, how could these things quarry stones and build castles and use crossbows!? I'm willing to suspend a certain amount of disbelief but not that much. I did however like the very beginning when the family is going like a bat out of hell to get away from the blight and i thought the part with the father using the ship's thrust to land on the planet was very nicely done but the book went downhill from there as far as I was concerned.
Haven't covered them yet! We read Deepness in the Sky but didn't love it quite as much as Fire Upon the Deep. Is The Outcasts of Heaven Belt worth a read? Read the Snow Queen and didn't much care for it, but definitely game to give Joan Vinge a second chance.
@@hugonautspod Ah bummer, I liked Deepness better, but to each their own! Outcasts of Heaven Belt is a fairly quick read, being from '78, so shorter. I quite enjoyed it, and the prequel stories as well. They definitely seemed closer to the Qeng Ho stuff from Deepness, though (and serve as an example of a system like Pham Nuwen might want to save from disaster).
Please do one of Leckie’s books! If you do Ancillary Justice be sure to quote the (non-spoiling) scene where the sympathetic authority figure lays into a local authority because the holds they use to “restrain” someone can cause permanent injury or death. Written way before George Floyd was killed
Just saying, the way Cody says "the humans, *our* species" @2:46 .... lil sus
Its funny seeing Blueshell and Greenstaulk in your background
So glad you noticed the little guys!
Big Beautiful Butterflies… that are also murderous. Should have led from the beginning with this
Big Beautiful Butterflies whoms language sounds like angelic singing... that translates to a death threat.
I am just now going through A Fire Upon the Deep and loving it. I would Recommend Hyperion as a similar book, in that it deals with a galaxy wide threat with smaller plotlines interwoven ( it has more similarities beyond the plotlines).
I may need to retry this one. I remember thinking it was OK, but not great and I wasn’t moved to continue the series.
Regarding the Singularity, I believe the term is meant to be the point in time where artificial intelligence will cross the point where it can advance itself faster than anything we could do.
The “series” is very disconnected, mostly just set in the same universe. FWIW we thought a Deepness in the Sky was fun but not as good as afire Upon the Deep.
I don't think "AI-gods" is a fitting description. The "powers" are entire biological civilizations melding into a single meta-mind. Which for me and many in the universe sounds like an unspeakably horrible fate, but for many other people or cultures of the galactic community means achieving the next level of existence. "Becoming a living god" as Ravna puts it.
Some of the Powers are civilizations becoming group-minds, but some are indeed explicitly AI. The Blight is definitely AI: we saw it being created in the beginning!
Wow, 1992?! I’m blown away. I’m only about 20% in and had to see what other people were saying about it. I hadn’t heard anything about it. It’s been on my Goodreads for 7 years 😅 This video was great!
So glad you’re liking the book - and the videos too! Happy reading
Another thing I liked about this book is how it casually answers the Fermi Paradox in an original way, and it's not even a 'Fermi story.'
Answer: our part of the galaxy sucks, leave the sticks if you wanna meet the cool kids
@@hugonautspod Haha, yep 😂
Bought the book because of this review. After reading it, so glad I did.
So glad you liked it! And so awesome to hear more people are picking up great sci fi, that’s exactly what we were hoping might happen when we started up.
Oh hell yes Children of Time! And Children of Ruin! I loved both of them 😍
16:05 Oh boy… it’s like hearing a character in one of these works of fiction, and appreciating the layered irony.
Wattup Cody, dope channel concept.
This book does get a lot of love, deservedly so. Follow ups not quite so great.
V much agreed!
Im thinking of getting this book, how has it aged?
Aged very well! Definitely still highly, highly recommend, and in many ways (re the downsides of the internet) incredibly timely at the moment
@@hugonautspod wowsa, I just bought it as it was only like £4 here in the UK, just finished Undying Mercenaries 2 minutes ago so about to dive into this.
Okay, I'm sold
A Fire Upon The Deep is not a very good book. The 2 main human characters are pretty one dimensional and the Tine aliens didn't make any sense at all. How can creatures that are basically dogs that don't have hands and must do everything with their mouths, how could these things quarry stones and build castles and use crossbows!? I'm willing to suspend a certain amount of disbelief but not that much. I did however like the very beginning when the family is going like a bat out of hell to get away from the blight and i thought the part with the father using the ship's thrust to land on the planet was very nicely done but the book went downhill from there as far as I was concerned.
Have you guys read/done A Deepness In the Sky? or Outcasts of Heaven Belt?
Haven't covered them yet! We read Deepness in the Sky but didn't love it quite as much as Fire Upon the Deep. Is The Outcasts of Heaven Belt worth a read? Read the Snow Queen and didn't much care for it, but definitely game to give Joan Vinge a second chance.
@@hugonautspod Ah bummer, I liked Deepness better, but to each their own!
Outcasts of Heaven Belt is a fairly quick read, being from '78, so shorter. I quite enjoyed it, and the prequel stories as well. They definitely seemed closer to the Qeng Ho stuff from Deepness, though (and serve as an example of a system like Pham Nuwen might want to save from disaster).
@@cullen9119 Thanks for the rec, we'll check em out!
Please do one of Leckie’s books! If you do Ancillary Justice be sure to quote the (non-spoiling) scene where the sympathetic authority figure lays into a local authority because the holds they use to “restrain” someone can cause permanent injury or death. Written way before George Floyd was killed
We absolutely will! Ancillary Justice might be our favorite sci-fi book of the last twenty years. Can't wait to talk about it on the show soon!
I heard of this book as other booktubers ranked it #1 best sci-fi book of all time, so there’s that.
Oh that's interesting! I don't think we'd say #1 of all time probably, but glad to hear Vinge has big fans