First, a personal note: Not only did I begin reading this totally blind, but I also thought it was much longer than it actually was. In the Kindle edition I read, the notes covered the last 40% of the book, so when I reached 50%, I believed I still had half the book left!

Anyway, it was a great ride —albeit at some points, especially in the beginning, more of a struggle— since the author leaned a little too much toward showing over telling. Some parts were so vague that I found myself reading along without fully comprehending the concepts being mentioned. Apart from that, Vernor Vinge conceived a novel that skillfully merges space opera spanning the entire galaxy with medieval politics on a certain small planet, and hard science with almost mystical concepts and cosmic horror.

In a distant future, a human civilization far from Earth accidentally releases an ancient evil that begins spreading a blight across known civilizations, enslaving them and killing billions—along with certain Powers (the equivalent of gods?). A family among the humans responsible for its release manages to escape on a spaceship carrying a possible Countermeasure, but their ship crash-lands on a planet inhabited by a very distinct species. The parents are killed almost immediately by the locals, and their two children are separated —the teenage girl taken by a group of adventurous locals and the younger child captured by the assaulting forces of the enemy. Neither of them knows the other is alive, and from that point, the story unfolds in three different arcs: the treatment of both children by their respective captors and the political developments on the planet make up the first two, while the third follows the assembly of a ragtag rescue-retrieval team on a highly advanced world far away. This team consists of a female human librarian, a human reconstructed from spare parts by an ancient Power, and two non-human, plant-like creatures.

After the rather slow start, the story becomes increasingly engrossing —on a true page-turner level— and before long, I found myself genuinely caring about all the main characters. Of course, the greatest attraction of the book is the species of "Tines" that inhabit the planet. The Tines are highly intelligent, dog-like creatures (though, in my imagination, they resembled weasels or otters more) that exist as individual minds composed of packs. Each "person" consists of four to six members who must remain in close proximity at all times —while keeping a certain distance from other packs, as their thoughts would otherwise intermingle. This world-building concept allows Vinge to create not only a truly alien society but also a deeply fascinating one.

A mind-challenging book, I really enjoyed it overall.