The Children of the Sky by Vernor VingeThis is the sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. This book demonstrates the Tines advancement and the perfidy that the human soul is capable of demonstrating. Ravena Bergsndot and the Mad Bad Johanna are featured prominently in this volume of the series. The "children" become divided over whether the Blight is real or not and this presents Ravena with a number of difficulties. Prejudice rears it's ugly head and counter pointed by the efforts of Johanna. I like the way that Vinge demonstrates a variety of human emotions and aberrations and ascribes them to a different species. He humanizes the Tines while keeping their unique abilities alive and well. I thought this book was going to finish a trilogy but alas that is not the case. Alas only because I can not find any evidence that he is working on the sequel to this book which leaves many, many unanswered questions. Vinge is a respected scientist as well as an author of science fiction. You may want to read an interview with him in Wired Magazine. I enjoyed the book and frankly I think the pacing in this volume is the best of the three so far. I highly recommend it. Although well-written, and with an engaging plot for the most part, I found this book to be a little disappointing, for two reasons:a) the fact that the protagonists refused to 'up their game' in the face of an antagonist that was playing for keeps. They didn't even make efforts to expose the antagonist for what he was. A lot of the stuff that happened to the Children in this book, and will happen to them in the next are therefore on their heads.b) The lack of a satisfying conclusion. There's no arc to this book, no denouement. It just ends, leading to the next book in the series.
What do You think about The Children Of The Sky (2011)?
Compared to the first two books in the series this book really dragged along with nothing happening.
—ilovetoread
Couldn't get into this one. The writing felt phoned-in, and I gave up after 50 pages.
—Crystal
Pretty good, but I feel set up for another sequel.
—rachele
