SOJALS rating:

Very good (3/5)

I first read this in April 2001.

Two human expedition seek the alien originators of signals from space. One fleet is the Queng Ho, the massive trading organization. The other fleet is the recently-discovered Emergent civilization, a culture that stinks of deception and fascistic exploitation. It’s inevitable that the two expeditions will clash over potential riches of an alien civilizations.

This was so much better than I’d anticipated. Normally, I’m very dubious about prequels. I haven’t yet read the Foundation prequel, or seen the recent Star Wars prequel movie. I mean what’s the point - you already know what is going to happen, don’t’ you? Anyway this is 30,000 years or so before "A Fire Upon The Deep" and Pham Nuwen is already a historical figure.

And it’s great - as good as "Fire", and you can read the books in either order.