{Answered} Zones of Thought -- A question about the order of the novels

[Ursa major]

I've just bought the ebook of Zones of Thought. What I was going to buy was an ebook of A Fire Upon The Deep, but Zones of Thought, containing A Fire Upon The Deep and the prequel, A Deepness in the Sky, was actually cheaper and so, even if the prequel was not up to much (and it's a Hugo winner in its own right, so it should very much be up to much), I'd have bargain.

Anyway, the problem I'm having is two-fold:

1. it isn't clear to me which book is which: the two parts each begin with a prologue but neither has its own "title" page;
2. I'm not sure whether I should read them in date of publication order (which may be how they appear in the book I've bought -- that's my assumption -- but may not) or in their positions in the timeline of the books' universe.

Note, the ebook is a 2010 edition, so it shouldn't include The Children of the Sky (2011).


Can anyone help?

 

[williamjm]

I read A Fire Upon The Deep first and I think it probably works better that way round although it probably doesn't matter too much.

The first line of Deepness is "The manhunt extended across several hundred light years and eight centuries." which should help you identify which book is which.

 

[tinkerdan]

If you are able to view the books on amazon and read the samples offered that should clear up questions about which is which.
Plus the series order is here::

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075VGKYHT?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_shvlr&storeType=ebooks

Chronologically you'd just move the
A Deepness in the Sky

To the front.

 

[Ursa major]

The first line of Deepness is "The manhunt extended across several hundred light years and eight centuries."

Thanks.

The stories in the ebook I've bought are, it seems, in publication order.

 

[Rodders]

I have Zones of Thought and would read them in the order the book suggests. I have read A Fire Upon The Deep, which started slowly for me, but was ultimately well worth the read. The Tines were a particularly Interesting species. I have yet to read A Deepness In The Sky but one of my reading goals is to read more classic sf, so I will definitely return.

 

[williamjm]

I have Zones of Thought and would read them in the order the book suggests. I have read A Fire Upon The Deep, which started slowly for me, but was ultimately well worth the read. The Tines were a particularly Interesting species. I have yet to read A Deepness In The Sky but one of my reading goals is to read more classic sf, so I will definitely return.

I think The Tines are one of the most fascinating alien races in SF. The interludes where the galactic civilisation is discussing what's going on over their social media might be very much based on the early 90s Internet but still bits seems familiar - I'm sure we've all encountered a Twirlip of the Mists equivalent at some point.

Deepness is only loosely related but I still think it's a great book. The third book Children of the Sky wasn't a classic like the others but it was nice to return to the Tines' world.

 

[Danny McG]

I would have liked further stories about the peoples who all used "the web of a million lies" but everyone raved about the cute doggies - so it goes

 

[Rodders]

I didn’t realise there was a third novel. I’ll have to pick that one up as well.

 

[Ursa major]

I now see that one problem with an ebook -- when loaded onto my original Kindle (I also have a Kindle Fire**) -- is that one loses track of where one is, in the sense that when I thought I was near the beginning of he book when reading the first few chapters of A Fire Upon the Deep, I was actually in the middle. (With a real book, this is all too obvious.)

So the book is actually in time order within the universe of the novels, not the published order. This is far more obvious on the Kindle Fire and, to be fair, is pointed out on every page on the old Kindle, in terms of the percentage of the book you've read. Trouble is, I tend not to take much notice of this until I'm getting to the end of a book (or, in less fortunate circumstances, when I want to know how things work out but I find myself hoping that there's not much more to read).

Anyway, I've started with A Fire Upon the Deep, and will continue with it, i.e. I'm sticking with the published order.


** - I decided that, when I bought the Fire, I'd stick to buying books on the old Kindle as, without a touch sensitve screen, this device helps me avoid buying books just on the off chance that I might read them someday: it's so much hassle using buttons to navigate a virtual keyboard that my (paid-for) TBR pile can remain at a manageable size.

 

[Bick]

I didn’t realise there was a third novel. I’ll have to pick that one up as well.

What is this? There's a third one? I didn't know either... hmm, might have to look into that. I much preferred Fire to Deepness tho.ugh.

 

[williamjm]

What is this? There's a third one? I didn't know either... hmm, might have to look into that. I much preferred Fire to Deepness tho.ugh.

The Children of the Sky came out about a decade ago. It follows some of the characters from Fire starting a few years after the end of that book. It felt a bit smaller in scope than the other two books.