Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep

Hi everyone

I recently picked up A Fire Upon the Deep, the first book in the Zones of Thought series by Vernor Vinge after seeing it pop up on someone’s Goodreads shelf. The premise sounded fascinating, so I decided to give it a try.
I read this on my e-reader.

"Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in 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 this galactic threat, Ravna crash lands on a strange world with a ship-hold full of cryogenically frozen children, the only survivors from a destroyed space-lab. They are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle."

This book was… strange.

On one hand, parts of it felt like I was reading a children’s book. The writing and dialogue, in particular, came across as overly simplistic and childish, it really didn’t fit the story. On the other hand, I struggled to fully grasp the scientific concepts because some ideas were barely explained or left very vague. I loved the concept of the Zones of Thought; it’s such an interesting idea, but it wasn’t written in a way that made me feel connected to the story or characters. Instead, it left me wondering how life might be if this were real, without ever making it feel relevant to the plot.

The book was way too long for the story it told. There were multiple chapters where essentially nothing happened that hadn’t already been covered. There was no real character development, and the world-building felt almost nonexistent. Endless conversations about nothing, or the same topics repeated over and over, made it feel tedious and boring.

It has also aged really poorly. The futuristic elements are now dated and, at times, almost laughable.

By the time I closed the book on my e-reader, I’d already forgotten most of it. I had to push myself to keep reading because my mind kept wandering, and I even switched to other books just to stay engaged. The premise is interesting, but unfortunately, that’s about all it has going for it.

So yes, another award-winning novel that I didn’t love or even truly like. Sad, but true.

Have you read A Fire Upon the Deep? Did it work better for you than it did for me? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena