The Children of the Sky

Ten years have passed on Tines World, where Ravna Bergnsdot and a number of human children ended up after a disaster that nearly obliterated humankind throughout the galaxy. Ravna and the pack animals for which the planet is named have survived a war, and Ravna has saved more than one hundred children who were in cold-sleep aboard the vessel that brought them.

While there is peace among the Tines, there are those among them—and among the humans—who seek power… and no matter the cost, these malcontents are determined to overturn the fledgling civilization that has taken root since the humans landed.

I loved A Fire Upon the Deep it was my first big science fiction book and it changed everything for me as far as science fiction. Before this most of my science fiction reading had been Philip K. Dick, who I love, but this was something different.

The first encounter with the Tines was amazing and I felt like it was such an amazing alien race. Non-humanoid and awesome.

This is not that book. The Children of the Sky was good, but I didn’t get the same magical feeling as the first book. I think part of this is because the characters that I loved in the first book are all grown up and I did not love the people they had become. I don’t disagree with any choices made but I found so many characters unlikable in their current form.

The writing more than makes up for that though. Verner Vinge’s style is wonderful to read and I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. It was a longer read but more than worth it.

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