[veidr]

Vernor Vinge has some hits and some misses, but A Deepness in the Sky (best to just take the plunge and read it without googling — it's good either way, but better if you don't even read the back of the paperback).

Then, a bit further afield but for me, at least, exercised what I liked in The Culture series, even though stylistically different: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.

[derektank]

I think A Fire Upon the Deep would be a more enjoyable starting place for someone that likes the Culture series, even though A Deepness in the Sky is generally considered the better novel.

[veidr]

That is probably true, and I was assuming that if you read A Deepness in the Sky, you would go on to read A Fire Upon the Deep.

But I got it backwards. While A Deepness in the Sky is set earlier than A Fire Upon the Deep, it was actually published later, as a prequel.

So I agree. Read the first-published one, and if you like it, read the other.

[dooglius]

I wish I had read Deepness first as Fire sort of spoils it (granted, either direction will spoil some things)

[veidr]

OK now I reverse my reversal; you — and original me — are/am right: read Deepness first. First! haha