A Fire Upon the Deep deserves its 1993 Hugo award; it’s a true space opera, but one very different from Star Wars or Dune, and it executes well. If you told me all the subgenres and character types Vernor Vinge includes in this novel, I’d predict a much worse book than the one he wrote. The worldbuilding and sci-fi concepts Vinge introduces in this first book of the series will stick with me for a while, I think. One of the most “fun” parts of space operas is thinking about how different life forms could cooperate (or make war) with one another; in my opinion, this is exactly what A Fire Upon the Deep does best.
These days, I’m not much for thrillers in book form, or “dark” media. If a book includes conflict (which they all do), I prefer that it’s relatively low stakes, or that the good ending is somewhat inevitable, or that the people are not all that evil. A Fire Upon the Deep kept me nervous for a good portion of the story, and includes some characters a bit more evil than my preferences. My low(er) score reflects this, but I still enjoyed the book quite a bit, and I may eventually return to the series.