A fire upon the deep Book

Vernor Vinge has shown, in books like True Names and The Peace War, a unique ability to write science fiction with a combination of scientific ideas that challenge the imagination and narrative drive that propels the reader through the book with tremendous excitement. With A Fire Upon the Deep, Vinge surpasses himself by creating something new—a vision of a future where intelligence in the universe is governed by strange rules at which we can only marvel&38212;in a richly inventive, gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit the far reaches of space, from the Transcend where dwell superintelligent entities to the Unthinking Depths where only simple creatures and technologies can function. These "regions of thought" are a mystery, but when scientists in the Straumli Realm discover and release an ancient Transcendent artifact, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Only a single ship escapes, aboard it a family of scientists with their two children. When they land on a planet in the Slowness the parents are killed and the children taken captive by the Tines: aliens of a medieval society locked in a bitter power struggle. The fate of races, worlds—interstellar civilization—depends on a rescue mounted by a crew of humans and aliens that is racing toward Tinesworld—and a Countermeasure that, if they can trigger in time, may stop the Blight that will otherwise bring a new dark age to the galaxy.