I just finished reading A Fire Upon The Deep for the first time. I enjoyed it very much! It was the perfect book to read after reading Death’s End. Where the books in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series focuses on mankind making first contact with alien life and making its first steps into space, AFUtD tells a story on a much grander scale.

After finishing Death’s End, I was curious about the more advanced civilizations that enforce the Dark Forest hypothesis. In A Fire Upon the Deep my curiosity was satisfied, because it presents a galaxy with lots of those civilizations. It adds the concept of the Zones, which is very entertaining and offer lots of possibilities for further stories. I definitely will be reading the sequel.

I loved the book for the most part. Some parts dragged a bit while other events happened too quickly or were passed over. Near the ending, for instance, some of the main characters are suddenly rescued from a perillious situation. An important event that’s only hinted on in one sentence.

But the sometimes uneven pacing doesn’t detract too much from the overall enjoyment. The book has many strong points. The writing is very good. The different races, planets, technogies and character’s motivations are all expertly described so that you are deeply immersed in the world. The story is gripping. I would have liked to read a bit more from the perspective of people who are subjected to the Blight. That remains a bit too abstract.

I do however, love how you get to read the opinions of people who think they know what’s going on, but clearly don’t. Some treat the incredible threat of the blight with nothing but disdain before they too are subjected to it’s devastating effects. It reminded me a bit about the short period just before Covid became a global phenomenon. The Net is a proper equivalent of modern day Twitter with all it’s speculation and distant contempt.

What also helped to visualise the goings on, is my simultaneous watching of season 4 of The Expanse. I think I’ll keep reading more sci-fi before switching over to another genre as I’m watching season 5.

The cover of the book didn’t help in that regard though as I don’t understand what it is that it’s supposed to depict. Maybe it’s the view from the Tines’ world with the countermeasure extending from it, but the scene on the foreground doesn’t resemble what’s described in the book. So that’s something of a curiosity for me.