A deepness in the sky - Vernor Vinge

This is science fiction on the grandest of scales - a cast of thousands set across hundreds of years and in the farthest reaches of Human Space. A prequel to his earlier novel A FIRE UPON THE DEEP, this new novel is epic in scope and a thoroughly riveting read.

Ezr Vinh is a member of one of the largest and most powerful clans within the Qeng Ho - the Qeng Ho are a race apart, traders whose nation is space, whose very reason for living is finding the outposts of fallen civilisations, waiting for them to claw themselves back to a point where they are able to be of use and then taking them for all they are worth. But nicely. The Emergents have dragged themselves back from the brink of ruin, taking on board as much of Qeng Ho tradition as they need to make deals of their own. But their methods are brutal and ruthless. A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY is the story of Ezr Vinh and Thomas Nau, an Emergent Podmaster, and the compromises they have to make in order to survive at the limits of the universe as they sit in wait for the spider citizens of Arachna. Waiting for the new sun to wake Arachna to a new atomic age...