Tatja Grimm's World

A very early work by Vernor Vinge, this is really nothing like his later novels(starting from "The Peace War").

 This is also not science fiction, but fantasy, so don't expect to encounter any new ideas as is customary in Vinge's SF works.

 The setting is a planet where stone age civilization lives along side other slightly more modern groups(they have barges and reading).

 It follows Tatja a stone age girl, who is exposed to reading by one of these barges, and soon she is off to reach her potential.

  This is a mildly entertaining story, but even by fantasy standards it is nothing special.  I can't really recommend it.

6.5/10

Marooned in Realtime

  "Marooned in Realtime" is the sequel to "The Peace War", also by Vernor Vinge.  It is not a direct sequel, as we are dealing with new characters, but it is set in the same world.

 This is actually a detective story, mixed in with Vinge's singularity concept, and using time travel(only forward though) as a means to a unique murder investigation.

 The world seen here is after-humans, there are no survives of a nuclear holocaust, just a few lost time travelers with no hope of return.

 Excellent read as are most of Vinge's books.

9.1/10

The Peace War

The Peace War is an early science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, it deals with a future Earth where a new technology has changed the operation of the world.

 They are referred to as "bobbles", huge impenetrable spheres which can be erected wherever one wishes.  Some of the scientists involved in its creation use it to stop war, by bobbling all military bases and equipment around the world.

 The plot picks up many years after the initial bobbling occurred, in a world where warfare is largely eliminated, but innovation is quelled and society is stagnant.  The story follows an old man, one of the original scientists involved in the creation of the "bobbles", a young man he trains, and the rebellion against the Peacers(those who control the bobble machines).

 This is Vinge, so the novel is filled with ideas, plenty more than what I spoiled here.  A fine novel that is absolutely worth reading, especially as it leads into yet another fine Vinge novel, "Marooned in Real Time".

9.0/10

Rainbows End

Rainbows End is the most recent work of Vernor Vinge(sadly, his output is rather slow).

This is not a space opera like some of Vinge's other award winning books, instead it takes place in the not too distant future, right here on Earth.

 Vinge constructs a world where technology has progressed, and virtual reality has stepped into the real world.

  People wear lenses which are able to overlay augmented information and mix it in with what is already there.  Add any vista you want outside of your window, decorate your house in any way you wish, and even use it for a form of x-ray vision, seeing what you cannot naturally see.

 The characters and plot are solid, but not really up to the standards I'd come to expect from Vinge. It centers around a man brought back from Alzheimer disease(since a cure is now available), he enters a world quite different from the one he left and must learn to adapt.

 It did win the Hugo award, but I don't consider this one of Vinge's best works, though it does present some very good idea's as is common with Vinge.

8.5/10

A Deepness in the Sky

 A Deepness in the Sky was written after Vinge's earlier work, A Fire Upon the Deep, but it is a prequel of sorts.

 This time the story takes place in The Slow Zone, where FTL travel is not possible, and humankind has not yet discovered The Beyond.

  An exploratory mission is formed by a group, the Qeng Ho, to travel to what is known as the on/off star, which has a regular cycle where it deactivates and produces no light.  Pham Nuwen is the central character and he arrives on board the Qeng Ho ship, he is something of a legend in his section of the galaxy.

  They discover an inhabited planet orbiting the on/off star, with an intelligent species living there that has found a way to survive the cold periods when the star goes off.

 Shortly after the Qeng Ho arrive, another group known as the Emmergents also arrive, this starts the central conflict of the story.


 This is yet another great space opera by Vernor Vinge, and it does have a few tie-ins with his earlier novel A Fire Upon the Deep, although they are rather faint.

9.3/10

A Fire Upon the Deep

Vernor Vinge! What more need be said?

 A Fire Upon the Deep is Vinge's first space opera, it takes place in a future so distant that all knowledge of Earth is long forgotten.   Humans have crawled out of the "Slow Zone", that is the region where FTL travel is impossible, over the passage of eons.

  Now humankind, along with countless alien races live in "The Beyond", where is FTL travel is possible, and an interstellar communication system(somewhat like the internet) , allows communication between distant planets.

  The plot revolves around a human ship on the run with sensitive information, it lands on a remote planet where a race of dog like creatures known as Tines live.  Soon it is known that these humans discovered something of great importance, and a race/war is on between various alien civilizations to be the first to this planet, and retrieve the information the humans found.

 Vinge bounces around many ideas, something he is known for.  Aside from the various zones of space concept, he constructs very unique aliens.  The Tines are only intelligent when enough dogs form a collective consciousness, each entity is actual a composition of numerous dogs.

 This is a terrific book, one of the best "space opera" that I'm aware of.

9.5/10