Pages : 538
Overall Mark : 6/10
This is the story of Pham Nuwen, a small cog in the interstellar trading fleet of the Qeng Ho. Both they and the Emergents are orbiting Arachna, a dormant planet which will shortly wake up when its On/Off star relights after decades of darkness. Both groups hope to exploit the coming age of technology and commerce on Arachna.
But while the Qeng Ho seek only to trade aggressively, the Emergents’ plans are far more sinister, amounting to little short of genocide...
VERNOR VINGE (1944-)
Vernor Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, a computer scientist and science fiction author. He is best known for his two epic space operas A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) and A Deepness in the Sky (1999), both of which won the Hugo Award and were shortlisted for the Nebula. He is the winner of 5 Hugos, 4 Prometheus Awards and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, among many others.
VERDICT
This was pretty slow paced and at times I couldn’t tell where Vinge was going with the narrative, but eventually things got a little interesting. Like the previous book, I found it hard to follow what was happening that was of any real importance, but the characters were still fun to read about even if I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure at all times what their plans or motivations might be.
