- slower-than-light travel - the Qeng Ho return, along with Emergents and Spiders - exciting characters, innovative technology

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A Fire Upon the Deep was an epic, full of galactic threats and technology so advanced even its operators thought of it as approaching magic. Deepness has much less technology -- faster-than-light travel hasn't even been invented yet -- and feels almost claustrophobic in its focus on two starships orbiting one planet.

Not too slow for thrills

Slower-than-light (STL) settings are rare in science fiction, and for good reason. It's hard to believe that any society could be held together by the years of travel time between stars. How do you manage a civilization where each outpost is a hundred years from its nearest neighbor?

That's why it's astonishing how enthralling Vinge has made the Qeng Ho, a society of traders wandering the stars in Bussard ramjets. Wandering traders are a stereotype common to STL stories, but Vinge performs some alchemy with the Qeng Ho's technical abilities and intricate society that breathes new life into tired concepts.

Vinge also makes the problem of managing an STL civilization into an important theme, but that's not all there is to Deepness. The book presents two more unusual societies: the Emergents, who are human empire-builders under tyrannical martial law, and the alien Spiders, who have just woken up from 200 years of racial hibernation

The three cultures dance around each other for most of the book. The Emergents want to conquer the Qeng Ho and the Spiders; the Qeng Ho want to escape the Emergents and make contact with the Spiders; the Spiders mostly want to mind their own business.

The resulting lies and masquerades, alliances and betrayals, plots, counterplots and damage control build throughout the book to a strong and believable climax.

Technology, character work together

As is typical for Vinge, the technology is innovative and fully integrated with the story. Deepness does not have the plethora of gee-whiz concepts that marked A Fire Upon the Deep, but it makes intelligent use of biotechnology, ordinary mechanics and, most importantly, the information technology that ties it all together.

A Deepness in the Sky isn't perfect. Protagonist Pham Nuwen is just a bit too competent, and his infinitely complicated plots work out so well so often that it strains your suspension of disbelief.

Regardless, Pham is still an engaging hero, and the horde of other human and alien characters are equally exciting. The engaging cast of characters helps make A Deepness in the Sky one of the best genre books of the 1990s, one that may set a new standard for hard SF.