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A Fire Upon The Deep
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale.Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit 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 the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
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tphil10283
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Pickpick

This is one of the best sci-fi books I‘ve ever read. It was published in 1992 and it‘s interesting how it‘s easy to notice that since then modern technologies have made some of the story somewhat obsolete in details. Still it‘s a great read.

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Twainy
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Mehso-so

🎧📚 Interesting alien universe.

A majority of this story involves talking alien dogs & the narration made it feel like Paw Patrol. If you‘ve got kids you know what I‘m talking about.

I suggest the paperback.

The dogs, packs are considered 1 entity, they replace parts as dogs die. They use their mouths as hands.

2 human children have crashed & are stranded.

I couldn‘t get beyond dog aliens 🙄 a lot of goodness but it wasn‘t for me.

⭐️⭐️3/4

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HeyT
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Pickpick

Even though it took me like two weeks to finish due to other commitments I really enjoyed this. I thought the way the world was structured that the universe is set up into bands where technology and sentience are restricted was interesting. I also really enjoyed the non-human beings. This really worked as a standalone so I'm not sure if I want to read the sequel although I did really love the characters.

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HeyT
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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I‘ve been distracted by an influx of gaming events this week but decided to carve out some time for porch reading. I‘m enjoying the tagged but it‘s still slow going for me reading wise.

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HeyT
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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#BookReport
Managed to finish three this week which exceeded my expectations. I finished the Spiritwalker trilogy and made progress on the Thursday Next series as well.

#WeeklyForecast
My goal this week is to finish the tagged and then move on to my Book Spin pick of Pandora's Star. I'm trying to work in my library books in between my RNG selections.

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HeyT
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Made it in to the library this morning to pick up a new #libraryhaul I hope I‘ll finish all three this time instead of just two like last time.

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GDLeon
Fire Upon the Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Pickpick

More than everything I loved about this book was I believed that this was probably a realistic view of how the universe looks like. Was is the next level of existence after conscious individuals? Maybe a hive mind, but what after that? After a few billion years of existence some cultures might transcend. Kind of reminded me of Asimov‘s ‘Last Question‘

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LindseysLibrary
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
Bailedbailed

Wow, this was....strange. I‘ve never so immediately disconnected from and disliked an author‘s writing style and voice. I could barely get through 5 pages of it. Immediate bail, but I know it‘s famous, so maybe this is one of those I‘ll return to later in life and love it (?).

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Xeno
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Rolling hills and thick greenery: my favorite place to daydream
Chapter 35 page 483
“...look out on the universe. It does not care, and even with all our science there are some disasters that we can not avert. All evil and good is petty before Nature. Personally, we take comfort from this, that there is a universe to admire that cannot be twisted to villainy or good, but which simply is.”
#sciencefiction #scifi #vernorvinge #universe

JessNevertheless Goals 💕🌿 6y
Wan.der.love Welcome to Litsy - great pic and quote! 6y
ctboeheim Love that book. Try his Rainbow's End if you haven't already. 6y
Xeno @ctboeheim will do! Thanks for the recommendation!! 6y
15 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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dixonrichardj
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Been on the reading list for a long time, really glad I'm finally getting the chance to read it. So far some solid world building and interesting ideas, with great pacing and twists. Loving the intergalactic Twitter with "1000 posts an hour!". Already got the sequel and finale lined up.

CoffeeNBooks Welcome to Litsy! 🎉 6y
StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Welcome to Litsy 📖💙 6y
6 likes2 comments
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Xeno
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Pickpick

A story that requires complete devotion. It‘s total and immediate immersion into an alien universe. There‘s a handful of species each with rich unique histories. It‘s a refreshing story that should be read at least twice. A story worth the time and effort it requires. #vernorvinge #zonesofthought #sciencefiction #scifi #1990s

JessNevertheless 👽👽👽 6y
CoffeeNBooks Welcome to Litsy! 🎉 6y
BookwormAHN Welcome to Litsy 😺 6y
Eggs Welcome to Litsy 🤗👋🏻 6y
rgrtht Unique shot! It echoes... something of Vinge's novel, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Probably just the unexpected perspective. Nice one :) 5y
15 likes5 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Pickpick

*deep breath*

When a galaxy-destroying evil Blight is unleashed a space librarian, an explorer resurrected from the distant past, & 2 sentient potted plants must travel to a world inhabited by dog-like alien packs that each form an individual identity* to save 2 human children who crashed there & find the Countermeasure to stop the Blight.

A glacially slow read & as dense as sci-fi gets, but so rewarding with amazing ideas & great characters.

TobeyTheScavengerMonk *Like each pack is made of 4-6 dog-aliens but they all form one mind through a sound based nervous system. The level of detail put into these creatures, their medieval world, and their court intrigue was simply stunning. 7y
Texreader An awesome writer. Don't know if I could survive this tome though. 7y
Marchpane "2 sentient potted plants" - was one of them a bowl of petunias? 7y
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saresmoore Wow. There is so much in this description! Well done, first of all. And secondly, I'm super intrigued! The sound-based mini hive mind idea is special. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Texreader There is just SO MUCH. It's like he fit a trilogies worth of stuff into one book. It took me forever but I loved every minute. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Marchpane Haha no whales or petunias to be found. Turns out the plants make great starship pilots. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @saresmoore One of my favorite things is watching an author take an idea, time travel or superheroes in WWII or a race of collective individuals, and dig into the practical ramifications. Vinge explains their architecture and art and culture in incredible detail. 7y
54 likes5 stack adds7 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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#fireandice #RockinMay

A Fire Upon the Deep is my #currentread and is fantastic but I'm moving at a crawl. I'm extremely book monogamous, but if I'm not through by the end of the week I may take a break and try to zoom through a quick read before coming back to it.

saresmoore Ha! Book monogamous. I tend to be in the process of reading anywhere between six and twelve books at a time... 😶😳 7y
LeahBergen @saresmoore You're a bit of a book polyandrist. 😄 7y
saresmoore @LeahBergen Yes! Haha! 7y
Cinfhen I'm an options girl....can't stick to just one (book, that is😜) 7y
chapter_fifty2017 I applaud your monogamy something i cannot do qith books but vernon vinge he has been on my tbr for so long , a sci fi fanatic friend of mine reccommeded him 7y
45 likes5 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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#Maps are pretty commonplace in fantasy novels, but it was neat to see a map of the Milky Way Galaxy and all of the planets that are visited in the science fiction book I'm currently reading. #PiratesLife #WhataWaytoLive

CrowCAH Neato, so cool! 7y
Bradleygirl Niiiice 7y
Texreader Awesome! I love Vinge's The Ungoverned. This was is probably too hard science for me. 7y
49 likes3 comments
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BoldCityBooks
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge

Just a heads up! This book is free for a few days if you sign up to become a member of Tor's eBook Club!

Texreader I loved his story The Ungoverned 8y
BoldCityBooks @Texreader This is what I call a "retirement book" which means I'll have time to read this 1000 page behemoth in 30 years when I'm retired haha! 8y
10 likes2 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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To the humans that crash land there, Tinesworld is a #madworld in my #currentread A Fire Upon the Deep.

One Tine is made up of four to six dog-like creatures that are sonically connected to form one individual identity. A single one is viewed like a severed limb but collectives can live for hundreds of years by replacing parts that die or age. Their technology level is medieval, castles and boats, and they use their mouths as hands.

TobeyTheScavengerMonk #LyricalApril Image credit to Itzcoatl34 and TheJiggyMonster on DeviantArt 8y
Cinfhen The illustration is beautiful but the book sounds wayyyy out of my reading comfort zone! 8y
Cinfhen Even Litsy categorizes this as HARD SCIENCE FICTION 😅 8y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @saresmoore More about the Tines. 7y
saresmoore COOL! 7y
40 likes1 stack add5 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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My last group of students goes back to their regular class at 2:40 so my #LitsyPartyofOne starts NOW. Just starting this science fiction classic. #teachersoflitsy #theweekendisnow

TobeyTheScavengerMonk Anybody ever notice that there is absolutely no graceful way to hold a book for a picture? 8y
Alfoster 😂😂😂😂😂! 8y
saresmoore Not to mention that partial human hands look weird no matter how they're arranged. 8y
moranadatter Great choice! 8y
50 likes5 comments
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Chessa
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
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Pickpick

Gertie and I recommend this epic hard science fiction book. It hurt my brain in the BEST way! I have a somewhat mixed relationship with hard SF - I always want to love it, but sometimes I just get too bogged down in details. Not the case here - HUGE ideas, amazing story, just so fun. My husband often says, "I wish I could read that book again for the first time." High praise from him! #recommendsday #gertiehuck #dogsoflitsy

britt_brooke What a cutie! 8y
LauraBeth Why do I sense Gertie thinks she can fit on laps? 8y
respekt1111 Love the name! 👍🐶 8y
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Chessa @britt_brooke Thanks! ❤️ 🐶 8y
Chessa @LauraBeth You have excellent intuition!!!! She hilariously does. Giant lap baby! 8y
Chessa @respekt1111 Thanks! Her full name is Gertrude Huckleberry. 😁 8y
LeahBergen Awww! 😍 8y
respekt1111 Awesome!👍😁 8y
moranadatter Gorgeous! Also, I second this recommendation. It's a fantastic book! 8y
kylienoele Sweet, sweet pup! 😍 8y
Chessa @LeahBergen Hee! She's a good bad girl. 🐶😍 8y
Chessa @kmdartist It's so good, right? I could read it again - I have vague memories of the puppy-like multibodied aliens and uber scary vague bad guys, but the details have evaporated to the point where it would be new again! 8y
Chessa @kylienoele Heehee, thanks! ❤️ 8y
53 likes5 stack adds13 comments
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hof1991
A Fire Upon The Deep | Vernor Vinge
Pickpick

Looking for a great SF book that you missed the first time around? Epic. Inventive.