I really liked A Fire Upon the Deep.
Two writers I also love are Neal Asher - Spatterjay is an awesome series and Peter F Hamilton - Nights Dawn series is utterly epic in scope.
Links
http://freespace.virgin.net/n.asher/books.htm
http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/inde...=confederation
http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin...ogy-eBook.html Best Price for the whole Nights Dawn set so far.