This was one of the most creative and enjoyable sci-fi books I’d read in a while. The two main storylines are split between spider-like intelligent aliens on a remote planet and the conflict between humans in orbit who are preparing to make First Contact.

The way that the alien storyline is “translated” into English is a very compelling storytelling device. The human storyline paints a vivid picture of a far-future spacefaring civilization that still feels grounded by the limitations of technology. Spaceflight takes decades in ramjet ships, with crews rotating in and out of cryosleep. I loved the ways that cryosleep affected the political and dynamics among the humans.

The Qeng Ho trading civilization is post-Cold War neoliberalism taken to its limit. A Deepness in the Sky was written in the late 90s and the Qeng Ho are cast as the heroes of the story, but Vinge still manages to describe and portray the downfalls and limits of the unending quest for efficiency that felt precient when reading after the supply chain disruptions of the 2020 pandemic.

Vinge was a Computer Science professor as his day job. One of the most interesting ideas he puts forward in the book is that of the programmer-archaeologist. Thousands of years into the digital age, all useful programs have already been written by someone, somewhere. The job of the programmer isn’t to write new code, but to sift through existing archives to find what’s useful in the current moment.

Overall, a really enjoyable book that continually made me stop and think.