A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

Hello, Stranger.

Let's talk about Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.

The Short of It

Plot: After awakening an ancient technology, a number of humans end up trapped on an alien planet, inhabited by a breed of medieval wolf-like aliens. An interspecies rescue project might be their only chance.

Page Count: 613

Award: 1993 Hugo

Worth a read: Yes!
Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
Bechdel Test: Pass
Technobabble: High
Review: There is just so much book in this book. Crazy aliens who have their own odd physicality, social systems, communication, etc? Yes! Novel distant future depiction of humans? Yup! Successful balance of small and large scale threats? Of course! Rogue intelligences? Why not? Tantalizing hints of a distant past? Obviously. Good characters, both human and not? Clearly. Every twist and turn is more bizarre and SF then the one before. At no point did I have any idea what would come next. 

The Medium of It

Spoiler Free!

Before talking about the book, it's worth noting how bananas it is that Vernor Vinge and his ex-wife, Joan D. Vinge, both won Hugo Awards. I mean, that's an obscene amount of talent to keep under one roof. "Honey, did I forget my Hugo?" "No, dear, that's mine."

Note: They divorced before either won. But still.

This is the second book of the internal chronology of the Zones of Thought series, but the first one written. I would still suggest reading this one first: it would not undermine the experience to read A Deepness in the Sky before this, but it does offer some clarity on things intentionally left ambiguous for parts of A Fire Upon the Deep. 

This is a tough one to go about with no spoilers. The starting point - a ship crash landing on an alien planet - does not really do quite enough to explain what makes this such a delightful read. But going too far into it would spoil so much. A starting point would be this: that there are surprises, but it is not really a question of plot twists. A plot twist is when an author sets up your expectations one way and then pulls the rug out from under you. These are simply unexpected plots: where the rug is left there, but we learn that the rug is actually made out of living caterpillars, and once they enter into pupae, they form an autocratic government hivemind. It's unpredictable simply because, living anywhere that is not Vernor Vinge's brain, there's no way to know what elements will be introduced next.

Perhaps this sounds like a criticism - a lack of focus or something. To the contrary, this is awesome. It's peak science fiction. There can be, at times, a bit too much going on - but broadly speaking, it works extremely effectively. At points there are lulls in the plot, but these are often where we're learning more about the world, and it does not feel like a drag.

Character work is uniformly excellent. Vinge has a near god-tier ability to humanize characters who are in no way human. He establishes clear motivations, wants, needs, and goals - and personalities that line up with this driving factors. Characters are strategically placed for narrative benefit: if we, as readers, need to learn something new, a character does as well. Much of this book has a semi-omniscient narrator - so we may know that someone is in danger, to heighten otherwise mundane exchanges. As readers, we know so much more about why each person is doing what they're doing, and Vinge builds suspense by leaving us wondering when the dam will break.

World-building is 11/10. We got worldz 4 dayz here. More world building than your average building has a world for. Sure, this is because A Fire Upon the Deep is more than 600 pages, but still. You want to see an alien planet? I hope you're ready to learn about life there, how it evolved, geology, mineral deposits, social structures, factions, communication, and food. Oh, you wanted to watch how humans have changed over time? Well buckle the hell up, we're going for a history lesson. And how convenient, this helps explore much more about the structure of the universe itself! Should we take a pause to go through the ins and outs of a space station? Why even ask at this point. Vinge nails it on the small, medium, and large scale. It's just really, really, really good.

This is science fiction at it's most science fiction, and I highly recommend giving it a whirl.

If this seems like it's worth a read - which it is! - consider using the link below. I'll get a few cents at no extra cost to you.

A Link Upon the Deep

The Long of It

Spoilers Ahead!

Let's talk aliens.

Tines: Intelligent wolf-like aliens that form personalities as multi-individual units that share thought. Basically piecemeal hiveminds. And changing individuals changes the personality of the whole unit. 

Riders: Basically smart plants, but they have computers to assist with memory, otherwise they forget everything. Also they putter around on a wheel.

The Blight: An evil intelligence that simply wants to erase... everything. And everyone. Has been plotting slowly and deliberately for millions of years, including manipulating evolution of species.

Aprahanti: Evil butterflies.

There are a few other species that come up, but these ones matter the most. Vinge does an incredible job with all of these - but for now, let's focus on the Tines.

Tines exist as a sorta-hivemind. This means, among other things, that they do not ever intrude on personal space, for fear of becoming part of another being. It also means that any individual is not really an enemy: one Tine individual could be a killer, but in a new pack, has a different personality. Individuals themselves are rare; the death of one member of a pack changes who and what the pack is. There are just so many layers of consideration given to this species and the ramifications of how they live. One pack continues inbreeding extensively, to maintain its identity over the years. Helmets that allow shared thought over a distance are a revolution: suddenly, a pack can exist across a much broader area. Individuals mean very little - Tines sometimes use weapons that require multiple pack members, but they are still viewed as being used by "one" - a single pack. There's just so much alien-ness all in one type of alien!

And yet... they care about each other, they protect each other, they try to do the right thing. Some are selfish, some are greedy, some are kind, some are mean. They come across as totally understandable despite their impossibility. One individual from a pack dies, and they need to find a new one. The remaining members struggle to decide which individual to incorporate, knowing how it will change them as a pack. Or when two have a child:

“I’ve been young and foolish lots; it’s my way of life. And most packs are that way when they have several young members by different parents.” As they talked, one of Peregrine’s pups had struggled to the edge of the blanket they sat on. Now it awkwardly extended its neck into the flowers that grew from the roots of a nearby tree. As it scruffed around in the green and purple, Johanna felt the buzzing begin again. The pup’s movement became a tad more organized. “Wow! I can smell the flowers with him. I bet we’ll be seeing through each other’s eyes well before we get to Flenser’s Hidden Island.” The pup backed up, and the two did a little dance on the blanket. Peregrine’s heads bobbed in time with the movement. “They are such bright little ones!” He grinned. “Oh, we are not so different from you, Johanna. I know humans are proud of their young ones. Both Woodcarver and I wonder what ours will become. She is so brilliant, and I am — well, a bit mad. Will these two make me a scientific genius? Will Woodcarver’s turn her into an adventurer? Heh, heh. Woodcarver’s a great brood kenner, but even she’s not sure what our new souls will be like. Oh, I can’t wait to be six again!”

There's such a clever balance of the relatable - excitement about having a child - and the totally unrelatable - being able to use that child's eyes. But the part to which we cannot relate is phrased in such a way that we understand the enthusiasm. It all makes sense, in context, despite being full on bonkers.

We have not even touched on the resurrected/reassembled sorta-human that a mega-intelligence creates from an ancient corpse in a ship. I mean, that happens. Or how the Riders were created by the Blight to be its instruments of destruction, once it was able to return. We haven't even talked about how human siblings end up helping opposing factions of Tines in an internal medieval dog war. 

As I said, there's a lot of book in this book.

Who would you want in your pack, Stranger?

And don't forget to read a book!