Deepness in the Sky

One of the best SF of all time

Science fiction doesn't get much better than this; Deepness is among the best SF of all time. This book rocks. My two complaints would be (a) the ending seemed pretty contrived... didn't seem to work as smoothly as it should have. Also, (b) The aliens are really only seen from the viewpoint of some lobotomized language specialists doing a radio show, and come across really campy. I wish Vinge had explored more about the difference between media presentation and what they actually were... you never really know what they were like.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Good concept doesn't live up to press

The concept was quite good. However, the execution of the story fell down in the following ways: (1) The 'Spiders' seem too much (unrealistically) like humans to be thought of as alien to our human consciousness and sensibilities. Only the physical differences from humans were given any attention. (2) The Emergents seemed too similar to the Qeng Ho even though they had just had direct contact for the first time. Given their very different backgrounds, I would have expected more differences (E.g. ancient Macedonia during the conquest of Persia - both human cultures but very different). (3) The story unnecessarily depicted numerous human-like trivialities about the Spiders. This novel could have easily finished comfortably in 400-500 pages instead of the 800++ pages published.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Above Average

The book is just above average, the main componet for this book is the characters and the plot.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Imaginative!

Vinge has a highly active imagination. He's created races and places that are original and interesting. 'A Deepness in the Sky' is worth the read and is very entertaining, however, there are many pages that seem to be filler. It is not a book that is impossible to put down. While I did not find the book to be in anyway totally boring, it did seem to linger in several scenerios. To be sure, the worlds, races and plot were quite fascinating and when Vinge was not over doing character development and relationship explanations, he shines in his writing and creative skills.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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