blog.durdle.com

For ages I’ve been meaning to keep track of the books I read as I finish reading them. My friend Ryan has been doing this for some time; he doesn’t write full reviews, just the date when he finishes a book and maybe a one line comment about what he thought of it. I’d intended to do this starting at the beginning of this year, but what with one thing and another never got round to it. But now…

I’ve just finished reading Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky (prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep) and I wish I hadn’t finished it. Not, you understand, because I didn’t enjoy the book, but because I knew as I reached the end that I was nearing the point where I’d stop being able to spend time with the characters.

Vinge writes epic science fiction - the principals in “A Deepness…” spend much of their lives in cold-sleep, only waking in staggered shifts to work on their preparation for an entire civiliation to become ready to trade with. Despite their fragmented lives the reader has a real sense of who these people are and what they’re trying to achieve. I enjoyed this book so much that as I realised I was nearing the end I began to ration my time with it. In the moments where I sensed an important revelation was coming, I’d put the book down and save it for the next night.

I read the earlier work (A Fire Upon the Deep) on the recommendation of a guy I used to work with - I’d not heard of Vinge’s work before that, but I’m very glad I was pointed in his direction. (Thanks John!) At the same time he creates very real, very human, characters Vinge is able to construct a convincing non-human, non-bipedal, non-StarTrek-alien-of-the-week civiliation. The spiders see differently, walk differently, breed, sleep, eat and live differently, yet you’ll find yourself connecting with them too.

This is beautifully constructed science-fiction, with completely realised civilisations and fantastic approaches to new technologies. The “localizers” in the book and the way several characters use them is pure genius. And a conquering force using “focus” a mind virus that imposes a sort of controlled - targeted - autism is, while quite evil, a brilliant creation.

A must for any SF fan.