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A Fire Upon the Deep

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A Fire Upon the Deep

Written by: Vernor Vinge
Narrated by: Peter Larkin
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About this listen

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, which began the Zones of Thought series, is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

©1992 Vernor Vinge (P)2010 Macmillan Audio
Fantasy Fiction First Contact Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration Space Interstellar
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What the critics say

  • Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1993

What listeners say about A Fire Upon the Deep

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

OK story but not sure what the hype is about

the overall story was interesting but not like the best hard science fiction I've ever heard. I really hated the narration of the new stories, very monotone and hard to listen to. had to skip through most of it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Nobody does it like this!

Nothing to dislike here. Vinge pulled out the stops, delivered the goods.. it's fresh ideas all the weay.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Words fail to express: Exellence

Some minds won't understand why this book has the power to shape minds, our models of reality, languages, and our relationships for the better. It is a part of how to recover our own civilization from it's current unraveling (2023).
It's hope. A guide. A masterpiece.
I will attempt to teach some minds what it has to offer. You, dear reader, will likely never hear how this goes. What struggles, what power, what wisdom will be given birth?

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, bad performance

The voice act is not that good, Good story, bad performance , sometimes read too fast

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Distracting Narration

This is a good six-go book with an engaging story, interesting and relatable characters and well thought out alien species. The narration is cartoonish, though, and I found that distracting.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A good read

Fantastic book. Loved the complexities of the "Tynes" creatures (sorry for spelling, it was an audiobook after all). Narration took some getting used to, but I find that with many of the audio books I listen to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I understand why this won the Hugo

I’ve never read a Vernon Vinge book that failed to impress me. This book impressed me. My only complaint is it is part of a series and is slightly less satisfying when you finish than a stand alone novel, because you know you are not done yet.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic

A great book with a great reading. The story has stuck eith me for decades and influences my thoughts of what is possible to this day. Perhaps more than ever, the warnings of autonomous AI are important to consider.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Must Read for Hard Scifi Fans

Interesting Aliens, weird physics, relatable characters. As long as your cool with alittle 80/90s style campy narrations, (which I actually really liked) then dive right in friend!

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That was pretty cool.

Seemed a little complex at the start,, "part of audio book problem/experience. With a traditional book,, you can jump back and study, what you didn't get. But it was just getting up to speed with a truly creative writer's, vast and very unique vision. Going to be listening to this one again, in the future.

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