In contrast, A Deepness in the Sky unifies some of the same tropes-as well as new ones-to create a compelling story and pathos for the plights of the characters. As much as I liked A Fire Upon the Deep, its hard-science-fiction tropes never quite cohere, and the story and characterization suffer as a result. Taken together with this prequel, its title always reminds me of 'Smoke on the Water' ('Fire in the sky!').

With A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge convinces me that he's a perfect example of that ethos. It's this sort of realistic, hard science fiction that promises us no easy answers and makes me wonder if humans are really meant to live in space.

If we don't find fancy physics or technology to cast off the shackles of the light-speed barrier, we're looking at a very distorted, relativistic existence indeed. Empires and republics alike crumble under the weight of corruption, stagnation, or the simple stress inherent in managing a civilization separated by light-years. Will humanity still exist-would we recognize it as humanity even if it does? How many times between now and then will civilizations rise and fall? Because if there's one constant across the depths of space and time, it's that nothing lasts forever. I'm talking one-, ten-, fifty-thousand years into the future. I don't just worry about the future of my generation, or the future of the generation after mine, or the future of a couple of generations down the line. I don't know about you, but I spend an inordinate amount of time meditating upon the far future of humanity.

A deepness in the sky by vernor vinge