Vernor Vinge (1944–2024)

Ordinarily, I am a strong proponent of reading fiction series in publication order, even when that sequence differs from the narrative chronology of the books. Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought series is a rare exception to the rule. I did read it in publication order, but the second book is a distant prequel to the first, and the third is a very near sequel to the first. I think the best reading order would perhaps be neither publication nor chronology, but to read the third book after the first, and save the second for last. (I really think A Deepness in the Sky is the best of the three and could be fully appreciated as a standalone novel.)

Although this third book The Children of the Sky is nearly as long and complex as either of the others, it doesn't have their level of innovation in character or world vision, largely carrying forth some key cast and the setting of A Fire Upon the Deep. As a result, and especially in contrast to A Deepness in the Sky, it often feels like a mere epilogue to Fire. The ending of Children leaves many of its largest dilemmas and conflicts unresolved, and it pretty clearly implies that Vinge was hoping to eventually write at least one more book to further the story. So this third and sadly final book of Zones of Thought is vexed by some of the weaknesses typical of the second book of a trilogy.

I had planned to defer reading The Children of the Sky for a little longer after reading the second book, but I was prompted to pick it up sooner due to the recent death of its author. My memories of A Fire Upon the Deep were fuzzier than I would have liked, but Vinge was very artful with providing the right amount of indirect exposition so that I felt like I was on top of the story anyhow. I did enjoy the book, even though it was slighter than the other two: perhaps 50% of the readerly illumination for 70% of the reading effort, as compared to one of the others. Vinge kept me caring about his characters and he did surprise me with a couple of major plot twists. I don't want to pan a book that was in many ways admirable, but it was definitely the least of its series.

In the closing pages of the book, Vinge incidentally plays the trick that had so impressed Samuel Delany in Heinlein's Starship Troopers. The presumptively "white" humans of the story with their Nordic-sounding names all turn out to be phenotypically black.… (more)

Children of the Sky (2011), the third volume of Vernor Vinge’s Zones of Thought series, is a direct sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep (1992). Set a couple of years after the Battle on Starship Hill, the story moves back and forth between human characters and the Tines, telepathic dog-like pack animals whose intelligence depends on the number and proximity of pack members. Each pack seems to have a specialty—Tycoon is an entrepreneur, Pilgrim is a scout, and Vendacious is a perfectly named villain.
The world-building is complex, original, and internally consistent. I think it must have inspired writers such as Adrian Tchaikovsky, Peter F. Hamilton, and Alistair Reynolds. The story is not so much a space opera as a planetary adventure set at the edge of the slow zone where changes in the laws of physics degrade artificial intelligence. It is a tribute to Vinge’s skill as a storyteller that we care about several of these packs as much as we do the several human characters with whom they interact.
Caveat: Vinge is not a writer who spoon-feeds the exposition, and readers are well-advised to reacquaint themselves with the slow-zone universe before diving in.… (more)

Oooh boy.
I went into this one with a lot of expectations. It came highly recommended by one of my favorite booktubers and it sat in my to-read shortlist for a few months, during which I probably built it up in my head.
First of all, Vernor Vinge is certainly an accomplished sci-fi author, and he deserves all the praise bestowed upon him by the sci-fi community. I heard that he passed away 3 days ago. RIP.
The author exhibits incredible capabilities when it comes to worldbuilding, describing the fascinating inner workings of alien societies and physiology, coming up with concepts and rules of the world, and all the other things that make or break a good hard sci-fi novel.
There are concepts in this book that I've never come across anywhere else in my long journey through the genre, like the best-ever description of the hive mind, the idea of the Zones that regulate the natural laws in the Galaxy, etc.
However, despite all these positives, I didn't enjoy the read all that much. It is usually a given that the sci-fi novel doesn't have to feature high-quality prose or character-driven stories, but even with that in mind, this book was hard to read. I didn't relate to any of the characters and didn't care about them because none of them felt real. The Tine creatures were written especially cartoonishly. You have your "evil villain", "loyal brave friend", "adventurous hero" and "wise mentor".
The author likes using ellipses a lot, to the point that it gets annoying. Another thing I didn't like was one-word sentences to describe actions or emotions, like, instead of saying "She laughed", it's "Laughter."; "It confused him" - "Confusion."
There is a lot of repetition. For instance, we read how character A learns about X. Then character A tells character B about X. And we read the full description of X again. Then we are in character B's perspective and we read something like, "B thought about the conversation with A. A told him that X works in this and that way..." and there is another full description of X.
In short, the story is grand and epic and all, but the writing is not on a level to support such a great ambitious vision. I won't be reading the sequel.… (more)