The Children of the Sky (Zones of Thought)
Advance praise forThe Children of the Sky:“Imagine bootstrapping a fallen civilization into transcendence using nothing but a collection of hive-mind Machiavellis, a crippled hyperadvanced spaceship, and a pack of surly, scheming orphaned adolescents. Oh, and then there’s the vengeful god ramscooping itself to relativistic speeds a mere thirty light years away. Vinge’s explosive imagination and deft storytelling make epics sail past like hummingbirds—you’ll steal daytime moments to read more, and lie awake at night contemplating what you’ve read.” —Cory Doctorow, bestselling and award-winning author ofLittle Brother“Vernor Vinge’s stories and novels have always surprised and entertained me, andThe Children of the Skycarries on that grand tradition!” —Greg Bear, bestselling author ofHull Zero Three“No one has ever crafted a more complex, fascinating, and strangely realistic alien race than Vernor Vinge’s marvelous Tines.” —David Brin,bestselling author ofThe PostmanandStartide RisingRaves forA Fire Upon the Deepby Vernor Vinge“This is big-scale science fiction at its best."  —The Denver Post“With uninterrupted pacing, suspense without contrivance, and deftly drawn aliens who can be pleasantly comical without becoming cute, Vinge offers heart-pounding, mind-expanding science fiction at its best.” —Publishers Weekly,Starred Review“There are not too many novels that leave this reader screaming violently for more. Vernor Vinge's has done so." —Locus"When I was young and had to write my address in a school notebook, I would begin with my street and apartment number and then go on through city, county, state, country and continent in a litany of ever more grandiose place names that did not end until I reached ‘Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, The Universe.’ In those days, it thrilled me that my small corner of the Bronx was just one part of the vastness I could see in the sky at night. This is the feeling I got from readingA Fire Upon the Deepby Vernor Vinge.” —New York Times Book Review“No summary can do justice to the depth and conviction of Vinge's ideas. The overall concept astonishes; the aliens are developed with memorable skill and insight; the plot twists and turns with unputdownable tension. A masterpiece of universe-building.” —Kirkus Reviews,Starred Review“Though Vinge's galaxy is huger than one can begin to grasp, it is, at the same time, entirely seeable in the mind's eye. To find out how he does this trick, how he has managed to create a setting intimate enough to hold a single tale and big enough to tell a thousand, just read the book." —John Clute,Interzone