OMG. Â I loved this book! Â I have reader cookies for big ideas, bright ideas, fabulous world-building, and depth of character. Â Vernor is capable of all of that, and he showed his stuff pretty brilliantly in The Children of the Sky. This book is solid science fiction, and as good as A Deepness in the Sky, which I read many times. Â I’ve even gone off an bought a copy of A Fire Upon the Deep to re-read, just so I can start the story over and finish it all.
In some ways, The Children of the Sky is much more simply plotted than Vernor’s other work in this series. Â But it’s not a simple book. Â The nuances are pretty fabulously done between humans and tines (and you gotta love an alien series that is essentially packs of dogs). Â Vernor does a nice job exploring the interior politics of disbelief and hope, and the lengths to which humans will go to have power.