I was disappointed by this book. There are some strong moments but the political struggle in space annoyed me after some time, especially because the captured people are so powerless. Almost the same is true for the events on the homeplanet of the spiders. Their genius Sherkaner Underhill brings them so rapidely into the atomic age that I had to chew hard to accept it. What I really liked was the big and convincing concept of a merchant guild in space and the carreer of Pham Nuwen. Very exciting and adventurous. The showdown is good with a nice surprise but it cannot save the book. ( )

I was disappointed by this book. There are some strong moments but the political struggle in space annoyed me after some time, especially because the captured people are so powerless. Almost the same is true for the events on the homeplanet of the spiders. Their genius Sherkaner Underhill brings them so rapidely into the atomic age that I had to chew hard to accept it. What I really liked was the big and convincing concept of a merchant guild in space and the carreer of Pham Nuwen. Very exciting and adventurous. The showdown is good with a nice surprise but it cannot save the book. ( )

A truly great book deserving 6 stars!!: The Alien. A beautiful, strange world thriving in a uniquely alien climate. A totally alien sentient race, described in an evolving, and fantastically evocative, thoughtful manner. Problems of first contact language and societal issues are crucial to the story, and handled amazingly well. The Human. Terribly cruel despotic rule, involving slavery, rape, bigotry, and "state-of-the-art" diplomacy and duplicity. Millennia spanning civilizations, hemmed in by extremely well-chosen scientific, economic, ecological and societal barriers. Love is crushed, lost, rampaged and explosively rediscovered. Dreams are buried and reawakened.Deepness in the Sky is one of those very, very few novels that encompasses all of the above, in a beautifully interwoven story. A civilization of millennium spanning space traders races to an astronomical anomaly, a newly discovered planet in an on/off-star galaxy. They are met there by another group of space travelers whom they had not previously encountered. Both groups are hoping to harvest huge profits from being the first to interact with the new non-human civilization just discovered on the planet. We learn about all three civilizations in detail, via big picture views/histories, and through many, many personal characterizations. This book manages to get us involved with, and caring about at least 12 major characters.Vinge's amazing story is beautifully, tragically, magically, heartrendingly emotional, and at the same time mind-bendingly thoughtful on many levels. I cannot overstate how great this book is. The way he evolves our understanding of the alien civilization, until we can still care (strongly!!) about these beings as they are described not in translated human-conditioned terms, but rather in a true first-contact, "eye-to-eye" manner, is only one of the rare, and beautiful, back-shivering moments Vinge brings us to. Absolutely, read and enjoy this book!!I do wish a sixth star could be found to rate books like this!! 5 stars are given for lesser books, because these are such rare finds.

I felt this was a better book than "A Fire Upon the Deep" which was written earlier than this one and set in the same universe (though at a later point). Vinge is a great writer and really connects you with his characters. What is most amazing about this book is how you empathize with the alien race and it's main character Sherkaner Underhill which is completely different from most sci-fi with multiple races where most of the dialogue is slanted towards the humanoid races. A very inventive book and well worth reading. ( )

See http://www.librarything.com/work/1850...