Publisher's Weekly Review
The sequel to Vinge's Hugo Award-winning A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) undergoes a jarring but effective change in scope. On a distant planet, 10 years after creating a technology-crippling "slow zone" to defeat the encroaching Blight, Ravna Bergsndot and the surviving cryo-frozen Children attempt to rebuild a civilization with the help of the telepathic, doglike Tines. Their efforts are stymied by hostile Tines and humans skeptical of the Blight's menace. Vinge has brilliantly shifted gears, offering a postsingularity novel in which the singularity has been destroyed and the formerly advanced humans struggle to cope. Vinge throws in political intrigue and even a road trip (complete with characters going incognito as circus performers), and the resulting low-tech tale is a sharply crafted masterpiece. Fans should forgive the shift in subgenre and lack of recap, but will likely chafe at the frustrating ending, which makes it clear that this is the middle book in a trilogy. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Long-awaited sequel19 years laterto Vinge's tremendous, far-future spectacular, A Fire Upon the Deep (1992).Following a horrific tussle with the Blight, a vampire-like predatory intelligence, what's left of the once-godlike Straumli Realmlibrarian Ravna, teenagers Johanna and Jefri and others preserved in cold-sleep capsulesis marooned on a planet in the Slow Zone, where complex intelligence, advanced computation and faster-than-light travel are impossible. Despite its technology, therefore, the Straumlis' spaceship is virtually helpless. The planet is inhabited by Tines, multi-bodied dog-like aliens whose group minds communicate via complex sonic pulses partly inaudible to humans. Ravna made an alliance with the powerful Woodcarver and thereby earned the enmity of psychotic megalomaniac Vendacious and the inventive, acquisitive, ruthless Tycoon. Having awoken the sleepers in the undamaged capsules, Ravna settled down to build an industrial civilization as quickly as possible, since the remnants of the Blight is only 30 light-years away. Now, ten years have passed. Unknown to Ravna, Vendacious and Tycoon have made a deal and have learned how to manipulate the more communal-minded Tines of the tropics. Ravna has her hands full dealing with Nevil, a devious politician who leads the Deniers, a group that considers Ravna delusional and thinks the Blight is coming to rescue them. Nevil's secret alliance with Tycoon will, he hopes, cement his power over the human faction; when it comes to Machiavellian intrigue, however, the humans are amateurs compared to the Tines. These latter are beautifully thought-out, brilliantly managed creations. What disappoints about the narrative is that Vinge describes rather than dramatizes, so narrative tension never builds; significant developments often take place offstage and what plot there isbig on detail, limited in scopejust sits there. Sequels loom.Information overload.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Hiding a colony of children from the life-destroying alien Blight by relocating to a "slow zone" of the universe proves harder as the children grow. Revisiting his "Zones of Thought" series, Vinge demonstrates an original way of thinking about time and space that remains fresh and exciting a decade later. (LJ 6/15/11) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.