turmoil in the depths

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Author's name: Vernor Vinge

A Flood of the Deep is Finge's most significant and consequential novel to date. It is a dazzling tale of galactic war told on a vast cosmic scale. Various races have inhabited the universe for millennia, each with its own mental capabilities determined by its location in space, from the hyper-intelligent Transcendentalists to the limited minds of the Unreasonable Depths, where only simpler creatures and even simpler technologies can be found. No one knows what alien force has divided space into these "Thought Zones," but when the warring kingdom of Strummery wields an ancient and superior weapon from the Transcendental, it unwittingly unleashes a tremendous force that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves natural and artificial intelligence. As a family of scientists tries to escape danger, their members—including two children—are captured by the Tains, a brutally primitive alien race, who use them as pawns in a bitter power struggle. Here, the rescue team, which is not entirely composed of humans, must save the two children, and uncover a secret that may save what remains of interstellar civilization.