Synopses & Reviews
After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.
The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens' very doorstep for their strange star to relight and for their planet to reawaken, as it does every tow hundred and fifty years....
Then, following terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike.
More than just a great science fiction adventure, A Deepness in the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery, and the redemptive power of love.
Vernor Vinge's previous novel, A Fire Upon the Deep, received the Hugo Award, for which each of his three previous books was a finalist. His short novel True Names is widely acknowledged as a seminal cybernovel by readers and scientists alike. Vinge is also a professor of computer science at San Diego State University.
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel
Winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award
Winner of the Prometheus Award
After thousands of years of searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groupsthe Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of mindsare dramatically opposed in their anticipation of this first contact, for the group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But initially, both groups must wait at the aliens' very doorstep for their strange star to relight and for their planet to reawaken, as it does every 250 years.
Then, following terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike.
A Deepness in the Sky is not only a great sci-fi novelit is a universal drama of courage, love, and self-discovery.
"Huge, intricate, and ingenious, with superbly realized aliens: a chilling, spellbinding dramatization of the horrors of slavery and mind control."Kirkus Reviews
"A feast of imagination. As always, Vinge satisfies with richly imagined worlds and a full-flavored story."Greg Bear
"Wonderfully engaging."Cleveland Plain Dealer
"This prequel to A Fire upon the Deep demonstrates Vinge's capacity for meticulously detailed culture-building and grand-scale drama."Library Journal
"This long, action-packed novel should fully engage any SF reader's sense of wonder."Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"Huge, intricate, and ingenious, with superbly realized aliens:a chilling spellbinding dramatization of the horrors of slavery and mind control."--
Kirkus Reviews (pointer review)
"A feast of imagination. As always, Vinge satisfies with richly imagined worlds and a full-flavored story."--Greg Bear
"Wonderfully engaging!"--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Synopsis
After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.
The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens' very doorstep for their strange star to relight and for their planet to reawaken, as it does every two hundred and fifty years....
Then, following terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike.
More than just a great science fiction adventure, A Deepness in the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery, and the redemptive power of love.
A Deepness in the Sky is a 1999 Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel and the winner of the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
About the Author
Vernor Vinge has won five Hugo Awards, including one for each of his last three novels, A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and Rainbows End (2006). Known for his rigorous hard-science approach to his science fiction, he became an iconic figure among cybernetic scientists with the publication in 1981 of his novella "True Names," which is considered a seminal, visionary work of Internet fiction. His many books also include Marooned in Realtime and The Peace War. Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin and raised in Central Michigan, Vinge is the son of geographers. Fascinated by science and particularly computers from an early age, he has a Ph.D. in computer science, and taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University for thirty years. He has gained a great deal of attention both here and abroad for his theory of the coming machine intelligence Singularity. Sought widely as a speaker to both business and scientific groups, he lives in San Diego, California.