A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, Book #1 of The Zones of Thought series.
Introduction
Johanna and Jefri’s parent’s spaceship has crashed on a planet ruled by the Tines. The Tines are a dog-like race that has communal minds. Two rival groups of Tines capture each kid. On the other side of the galaxy, Ravna and her crew race to get to the kids. Ravna believes that the kids have the clue needed to fight the super-intelligent being called the Blight. She hopes to get that clue before the ships controlled by the Blight intercept her or get to the kids first.
Summary
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is set in the far future when humanity has gone to the stars and mingles with the beings found there. The world-building is the star in this novel.
There are four areas of the galaxy that are called zones of thought. Knowledge, speed of thought, and speed of travel all increase as one go from the inner core to the outermost edge of the galaxy. The Unthinking Depths have the least of all. The Slow Zone, where the old earth is located, is limited to sub-light travel. The Beyond has faster than light travel. It is where humanity has expanded to and the area where the kid’s spaceship came from. When civilizations become extremely advanced, they head to the final zone called the Transcend.
Researchers in the low Transcend release the superintelligence called the Blight. Only the kid’s spaceship escapes. The plot alternates between the story on the Tines world and Ravna’s crew.
Recommendation
While the world-building of the Ravna plot was intriguing, the actual interaction between Ravna and Pham Nuwen was less so. The better stories were about Johanna’s interaction with the Tine called Woodcarver and the melding of Jefri with the Tine called Amdi. The background is difficult to understand, but the characters make it an interesting read.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77711.A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep
A similar novel, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, book #1 of The Expanse, is a space opera set in the near future when the solar system is settled. Jim Holden becomes the captain of the Rocinante and Detective Miller is on a missing person case. Their paths cross and the fate of the solar system lies in their hands. This is a link to my review.