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http://pro-libertate.net/node/44 ( )

A very smart girl from a low tech world, gathers information about how to get everyone moving to a higher level of technology. Circumstances force her to be a bit of a sociopath, but the drive to improvement leads through murky waters... ( )

An interesting idea, unfortunately its potential is not fully realized by this book.
A young woman comes out of the barbarian wastes. At first she is assumed to be mentally deficient - but it soon becomes clear that she is several orders of magnitude more intelligent than anyone around her - and ruthless enough to use that intelligence to her own ends.
The material here was originally published as several separate stories featuring the character of Tatja Grimm. Unfortunately, they don't really come together as a novel. Although they work as separate stories, as a novel they're missing essential pieces of background information and other narrative elements to achieve coherency. The story brings up interesting concepts and questions, but barely explores them, leaving a reader with the impression of a tale which wants to rise above the level of a simple sci-fantasy adventure, but doesn't, quite. It's too bad, because there are many tantalizing elements here. I especially love the concept of the traveling publishing company that purveys science fiction and fantasy stories on an alien world. I really do like Vinge's writing in general - but 'A Fire Upon the Deep' this is not. ( )

Vinge often plays with the theme of an intelligence that transcends the human, and this book is no exception. Tatja Grimm is born into a primitive culture in the interior and leaves it as a little girl to find someone worth talking to. This isn't so much a novel as three closely connected stories about her that were written and published independently collected together: "The Barbarian Princess," "The Imposter Queen" (first published as "Grimm's Story") and "The Feral Child" (originally "Grimm's World") I thought the first story was the strongest of the three. That delighted me with its meta aspects. Tatja is taken in by a barge that travels the coast and archipelagos selling "Fantasies" magazine, filled with "contrivance fiction" aka "cf." She's then trained to act the part of "Hrala" one of the leading characters in a popular series by Chem Trinos--think Conan. And a "Ivam Alecques" sounds like a nod to Isaac Asmiov and a "Enar Gerau" possibly Arthur C. Clarke. That first story was fun, clever, and yet surprising.

The other two stories I didn't find as impressive, even if they were both entertaining. In fact, I thought the concluding story the weakest and most predictable of the three--with the ending something of an anti-climax. But I agree with the reviewer who claimed this novel is worth reading for the world-building alone, of the picture of a metal poor world whose people are nevertheless making the climb to a technology that reaches for the stars. Vinge has definitely written better novels, but this was a pleasure to read--never a slog. ( )