We Read Science Fiction

Some modern science fiction novels have awesome new technologies, some have awesome stories and others have great characters, but as we’ve debated here, rarely are they all combined into one compelling, cohesive and thrilling story. This is that rare book that I use to judge all other “high tech” science fiction novels against.

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge is centered around two rival expeditions to a strange “On/Off” that “goes dark” for 215 of every 250 years. The two groups of humans venture out to witness the star lighting up again and discover a clever, newly technological sentient race of aliens.

Having won the Hugo, the Prometheus, the Campbell and as a top-5 finalist for the Nebula, this novel is one of the most honored works in Science Fiction in the past 20 years. Now it’s also my #2 on my top ten science fiction novels list, which I’m sure Mr. Vinge will prize above all the others :).

Summary: Clever technology, great story, flawed good guys, admirable bad guys, adventure, aliens and war. What more could you want? A truly must-read space opera novel. Is there a down side? Yes, but nothing to detract from the general awesomeness. It’s a bit long at over 500 pages, and Vinge throws in a few tangents that might have made better short stories set in the same universe. Also, for fans of A Fire Upon The Deep, this isn’t really a prequel even though the cover claims it is. Lastly, since the comparison is inevitable, the technological scope of Deepness isn’t as unique as that of Fire’s “zones of thought”, but this is more than made up for by comprehensive character development and subtle complexities in the plot.

When I was starting out in my adventures in Science Fiction in the late 90’s I Googled for as many “top lists” of science fiction as I could get (some things come full circle eh?). A Fire Upon The Deep was consistently at the top of all of these lists, and mentioned over and over in many discussions of modern SciFi. After reading (and loving) Fire, I learned that Deepness had just been released, and fooled by the “prequel” marketing I paid top dollar for the hardcover just weeks after it’s release.

You know what? I loved Deepness MORE. From that point forwards I was hooked on Vernor Vinge as an author, and I now have all of his works, including his short story collections. Obviously Vernor Vinge is one of my all-time favorite authors, so you may dismiss this novel based on the assumption that I simply needed to include one of his works in my Top 10 list. While that might be logical, this is more than pure favoritism. This novel deserves to be on my list, and at position #2 no less. It contended for #1, but that position (as you’ll soon learn) simply can never be overthrown.

So go grab Deepness and Fire from the library, bookstore or a friend’s bookshelf and read them now, just be sure you can take a few days of vacation or call in sick. You’ll thank me later.