{5\/5} “Old of heart traveled to the town, and came back not just younger, but smarter and happier. Ideas radiated from the town: weaving machines, gearboxes and windmills, factory postures. Something new had happened in this place. It wasn’t the inventions. It was the people that Woodcarver had midwifed, and the outlook he had created.”<\/p>\n
A Fire Upon the Deep<\/strong> by Vernor Vinge, published in 1992<\/p>\n A 5 billion year old Power was reborn and bent on escaping its prison. Refugees from the site landed on a planet. Johanna saw that there were creatures who looked like wolves. But those creatures were sentient, at least when several of them came together to form a pack. Soldiers killed Johanna’s parents, but a couple of pilgrims rescued her. Their parents killed, her brother Jefri was taken by the soldiers.<\/p>\n This novel contains an absolutely unique alien species, and a gripping story. It’s one of my favourites.<\/p>\n It’s about first contact between societies with different levels of technology. It’s about dealing with people who may or may not be on your side. And it’s about plans that are very very long term.<\/p>\n One more quotation: “Long before the humans arrived, they were a race of inward dreamers. They protected their star systems with ancient automation and friendly younger races. Another half million years and their race might be gone from the Beyond, extinct or evolved into something else. It was a common pattern, something like death and old age, but gentler.”<\/p>\n This is the 2nd time I’ve read it — I will read the sequel this time.<\/p>\n