The Uplift Saga by David Brin

[Werthead]

Book 1: Sundiver

Two billion years ago, the Progenitors commenced the process of 'uplift': genetically engineering the more intelligent animals of many scores of worlds to sentience and intelligence. They in turn uplifted other races, and then others, in an unbroken chain that would eventually span aeons and no less than five galaxies. Each 'Patron' race would receive 100,000 years of indentured servitude from their client races before the clients would be allowed to uplift species of their own and become Patrons themselves. The Progenitors are long gone, as are many of the races they sired, but the process of uplift goes on. When a race is discovered in a tiny corner of one galaxy which has no Patrons and claims to have evolved naturally without outside intervention, it sends shockwaves through galactic society.

The Solar system, 2246. Humanity has narrowly avoided being given to another Patron race to 'complete' their 'long-abandoned' uplifting. At the time they were discovered, humanity had already uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins to sentience, and were able to claim Patron status for themselves, to the fury of many, far older races. When a scientific mission is launched from Mercury to investigate lifeforms discovered living in the Sun's upper layers, several other alien races are furious with humanity's temerity: the Galactic Library states that life cannot exist in the atmosphere of stars, so their claims are clearly lies intended to bolster their own status. Jacob Demwa, an expert in uplift, is called in to help clarify the situation, but he finds several human and alien factions battling to control the information about the discovery for their own ends, and some of them may be willing to kill to achieve their ends.

Sundiver (originally published in 1980) is the first novel in David Brin's acclaimed Uplift Saga, a space opera series running to six novels. The series has won two Hugos, two Locus awards and a Nebula for Best Novel, and is highly regarded in the SF canon. However, most of these plaudits are aimed at later books in the series (particularly the second and third volumes, Startide Rising and The Uplift War). Sundiver itself tends to get a little overlooked in the mix.

Sundiver is a totally stand-alone SF novel. It's set about 240 years before the other books and features no ongoing storylines or characters. Readers are in fact often encouraged to start with the superb second volume and disregard this one (there are also a few minor continuity issues between Sundiver and the other books), which is a bit of a shame. Though Sundiver is the weakest book in the series and the most forgettable, it's still a reasonably entertaining SF mystery novel.

Our primary POV in the novel is the conflicted character of Jacob. Jacob is suffering severe PTSD after saving one of Earth's space elevators from destruction through various feats of derring-do, which has led to various mental problems that he has to deal with through conditioning. This makes for a highly unreliable narrator, who often pauses to wonder if his own psyche is undermining his efforts to solve the mystery. This introduces an element of uncertainty into the story which is effective at being unsettling and forcing the reader to re-examine everything that's going on. On the other hand, Brin isn't as good at doing this kind of thing as Gene Wolfe or Christopher Priest and eventually it turns out that the amount of misdirection going on is rather slight compared to the potential. Still, it's a nice idea.

The mystery itself is at the centre of the book: what is going on with these newly-discovered lifeforms floating above the Sun? There are your usual assortment of false leads, red herrings, enemies turning out to be good guys and vice versa, but the reader is not given sufficient information to solve the mystery by themselves (always a slight problem with a mystery-based narrative). The mystery is solved through the application of scientific principles, which is quite enjoyable, but the way Jacob gathers everyone around to reveal the secrets in a scene straight out of Columbo is a little bit cheesy. Luckily, the characters other than Jacob are a colourful and interesting bunch (though the annoying journalist with the outrageous French accent borders on caricature), and Brin is already doing his signature trick of giving us really bizarre and 'different' aliens but also making them relatable as individual characters, something that will come out much more strongly in the later books.

Sundiver (***½) is a reasonably solid SF mystery novel, though the solution is a little bit too neat and the story's full potential is not realised. The book's biggest problem is that its sequels are so vastly superior they tend to outshine it, which I suppose isn't the worst problem in the world to have. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

[krisbslick]

is it me, or hasn't this series been around since the mid 80s - early 90's?

[Werthead]

is it me, or hasn't this series been around since the mid 80s - early 90's?

1980, as I point out in the review. The latest book came out in 1998.

[krisbslick]

1980, as I point out in the review. The latest book came out in 1998.

So, why are we getting a review now, and why is it "now available in the US and UK"?

are they getting re-released?

[Werthead]

So, why are we getting a review now, and why is it "now available in the US and UK"?

are they getting re-released?

They've been in print continuously, which is surprising especially for the UK edition, where books usually go out of print in a few years unless they're constant bestsellers.

I sometimes review books that have been out for a while because it generates more discussion than reviewing books that have only just come out or won't be on general release for several more months.

[Hobbit]

So, why are we getting a review now, and why is it "now available in the US and UK"?

Kris: It's something we all do, I think. Certainly at SFFWorld we try to cover not only new releases but some old favourites or books that are perhaps forgotten.

Recently reviews have been for On Basilisk Station by David Weber, City by Clifford Simak and Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn, for example.

Mark

[krisbslick]

oh okay, fair enough, I was just a little confused.

[Hobbit]

No problem: easily done, especially if you're fairly new around here.

Mark

[psikeyhackr]

UW 3/3

War for the Genetic Future of the GALAXY!

http://www.lunch.com/forbidden_plane...e_GALAXY_.html

David Brin's Uplift universe is definitely a BIG CONCEPT paradigm. Primitive Earthlings stumble upon advanced civilizations that haven't just existed for millions of years but BILLIONS of years. Not only that but they have been engaged in genetic engineering to create more intelligent species all of that time. But humans had already started doing that with chimpanzees and dolphins before the encounter with the advanced aliens so they are upset about primitive Wolflings aping their culture without being taught.

The Uplift War is the third and best book of a trilogy. The first book Sundiver takes place on Earth and a special ship diving into the Sun, hence the name. But that story takes place 200 years before The Uplift War and Startide Rising. The last two books occur at pretty much the same times but it is events shortly preceding the action in Startide Rising that cause all of the troubles in both tales. SR is a tale of uplifted dolphins. Apparently they discover something on a mission of exploration, that being what missions of exploration are for. But when this discovery gets reported the old Galactic clans get their feathers all in a ruff, even those that don't have feathers and proceed to chase the dolphins across the galaxy. That chase is what happens in SR.

But some alien birds try a different strategy and poke their beaks into a human colony world called Garth and there hangs our tale with flying feathers and roasted bird. Garth has been colonized by humans and chimpanzees but the Galactics only allowed this because it is a Holocaust World. A supposedly uplifted carnivorous species was settled on Garth thousands of years earlier and went mad destroying the ecosystem and higher life forms. Humans were given the job of trying to repair the damage. The avian alien invaders want to hold the humans on Garth hostage to force the cheeky dolphins to give up their treasure, whatever it is. But the people on Garth hardly know anything about it, they are just caught in the crossfire. Crazy Birds!

Although The Uplift War is the third book in the series I think it is fine if it is the first or only book from the series that is read. I found the beginning of Sundiver quite confusing in terms of comprehending the galactic politics and humans place in it. This book makes that quite clear even though it is 200 years later. But this story has more breadth of environment and depth of character in presenting the power politics of the galaxy. But it does show that primates come through when the chimps are down.

Although this is not really a first contact novel the aliens come across as "realistic", interesting and different. What are realistic aliens? Hey, I am from another planet. I'm an expert. The only comparable work I know of is Nor Crystal Tears by Allen Dean Foster. The dumb birds are not just stereotypical Evil Aliens. They have their own "rational" objective from their perspective of reality and their place in it. Who do these upstart humans think they are? But the humans do have a couple of alien allies both animal and vegetable. There is even a little time for some interspecies sex. Where is Commander Ryker when you really need him?

This is a somewhat convoluted plot with war, crimes more war and more crimes but the crimes make it possible to bribe an enemy into changing sides in the end. Never let a good crime go to waste.

The significance of this story to the REAL WORLD is the genetic engineering aspect. There is the human genome project and there is no reason that it can only be done with humans. Beware of Super Mice!

psik

[Werthead]

Psikey, you know we're not allowed to post links to reviews published elsewhere. You're supposed to repost the entire review here (unless the rules have changed again whilst I'm not looking).

Book 2: Startide Rising

The abandoned and fallow ocean world of Kithrup, AD 2489. The predominantly dolphin-crewed starship Streaker has sought refuge deep underwater whilst pursuing armadas belonging to dozens of major Galactic races clash in the skies overhead, each fighting for the right to capture Streaker and the secrets she possesses. Streaker has found a fleet of abandoned starships in a globular cluster that date back to the time of the fabled Progenitors, and there are races willing to commit murder and genocide to learn more about the birth of intergalactic civilisation. The crew of the Streaker will have to call upon all their resources and cleverness if they are to escape from Kithrup, but the crew itself is divided over the course of action to take, and the planet itself harbours dark secrets of its own.

Startide Rising was first published in 1983 and is one of the rare SF novels to 'win the double', securing both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for Best Novel, a feat also achieved by Dune, Neuromancer, Doomsday Book, Rendezvous with Rama and Ender's Game. It's one of the best space opera novels published in the last thirty years and is probably the most advisable starting point for reading Brin's Uplift Saga (the first book, Sundiver, is the weakest in the series and has little to nothing to do with the other five books, though still a reasonably entertaining novel on its own merits).

The book is notable for being a space opera where most of the action takes place deep underwater, and where humans are in the minority as characters. Most of the cast are neo-dolphins, 'uplifted' from animals into sentient beings. They are mostly at home in the water, but have cybernetic walkers to allow them to interact with humans on dry land. Because dolphins are a new addition to the ranks of uplifted races they are also a tad of the flaky side, and several subplots in the books follow the problems caused when some of the dolphins' conditioning fails in the face of stress and they revert into mindless animals (especially dangerous for the ones that have elements of more hostile aquatic species spliced into their genetic code). Brin puts a lot of work into the dolphin society, organisation and language (the dolphins have a haiku-like way of speaking which bridges their primal language of squeaks, clicks and sonar and the human language, Anglic) and it's extremely convincing. The premise - talking space dolphins! - could veer into silliness very easily, but Brin overcomes this by simply taking the subject seriously, though injecting a lightness of tone into proceedings to reflect the playful nature of the species.

The character-building is strong. The neo-dolphin captain, Creideiki, is developed as a philosophical warrior who has developed a personal code of combining the best traits of his pre-sentient ancestors with things they have learned from humanity, rather than valuing one above the other as some of his other crewmembers do. Similarly, many of the other dolphins are painted distinctly with their own personalities, goals and motivations, some of them in conflict with one another. The other crewmembers of Streaker - seven humans and a neo-chimp - also come across well, though they fall into broader archetypes than the dolphins: the befuddled professor, the morally ambiguous and ambitious scientist, the hotheaded young kid who discovers responsibility and maturity and so on. Still entertaining, but it is interesting that the human characters come across as slightly broader than the dolphin ones. I was also surprised that some characters who play major roles in later books barely even appear in this one.

The book is broken up by interludes focusing on the various alien races battling for control of the planet: the humourless but honourable Thennanin, the avian Gubru, the rapacious Tandu, the cruel Soro, the weird Jophur (a race of hostile stacked donuts!) and so on. Brin doesn't have much time to do more than characterise these races in the quickest of strokes and they lack real depth, something I suspect Brin realised as subsequent books flesh out various of these races in more detail (the Gubru and Thennanin in The Uplift War, the Jophur in Infinity's Shore and so on). However, they are in the book primarily to provide an impetus for the Streaker to get away, and the regular switches away to their POVs keep us updated on the course of the battle and how much time the Earthlings have before one of the alien races triumphs and is able to pursue the Streaker. It's an effective way of building tension, especially as the novel moves into is climactic stages and the author puts his foot down in the run-up to the finale.

Essentially, Startide Rising is a big, brash, colourful and fun space opera. He addresses some interesting and real scientific issues and concerns (the need for the Galactics to be ecologically aware to avoid 'burning out' their galaxies of habitable planets in just a few tens of millennia is touched on, though lightly enough not to get preachy), but his main objective is to entertain, and he does that in spades. The structure of the series means that a number of storylines are left hanging at the end of Startide Rising which aren't revisited until the fifth book, which isn't a problem now but was a bit more unusual at the time (especially as the fifth book wasn't published until fifteen years after the second), but these hanging elements are more, "What adventures will they have next?" rather than cliffhangers. The book does a good job of standing alone, whilst the subsequent book, The Uplift War, shows the fall-out of events in this novel on Earth and her colonies, but also works more or less as a stand-alone.

Startide Rising (****½) is a tremendously readable, entertaining and smart novel that takes a wild premise and runs with it. The novel is available now in the USA, though is currently not in print in the UK (Amazon has some second-hand copies).

[Hobbit]

One of my favourites: started in my first 'proper' copy (ie: bought on a regular basis rather than secondhand or when I could find it) of Analog.



Still got it!

And psik: quite right, so I've copied your review into the thread. Your link's still there but we've found most SFFWorlders prefer, where possible, to read on site rather than multiple links and windows.

Mark

[nquixote]

Uplift was a popular series in its day, but now it seems largely (and unfairly) forgotten. It posits a slow, steady technological advance rather than a Singularity, and it has more of the upbeat feel of classic space opera than the grittiness of more recent cyberpunk-influenced stuff. But even though it's out of fashion now, it's still awesome. The questions it poses about evolution and sentience, and the humanistic philosophy it espouses, still stand out in my mind. In terms of answering big questions about the meaning of life, Uplift does way better than most of my other favorite space operas (Vinge, Simmons, Daniel, etc.). Plus it's really fun.

And yes, I realize the irony of using the term "humanistic" in this case.

[Hobbit]

Remember the fuss at the time: both with Startide Rising and The Uplift War.

Must admit, I couldn't get on with the last trilogy; but I remember there are/were some who love/d it.

Mark

[Werthead]

The 'newer' trilogy is great. I thought it worked very well, because each of the three books had a different feel and structure to it. Brin talked in the afterword about being worried about expanding 1 book to 3, but you really couldn't tell (maybe there was some filler stuff in Book 2, but it wasn't particularly notable).

If you enjoyed Startide Rising and Uplift War, I really recommend the latter trilogy as it picks up a lot of dangling plot threads and characters from the former and also expands on what happened at the end of the latter.

[suciul]

I am one of those who liked Startide Rising (the crazy dolphin who believes himself an orca is still one of the characters I remember after almost 20 years since i last opened the book) but did not care about the follow up trilogy; I cannot say precisely why but I remember how disappointed I was when I opened Brightness Reef on publication and found it unreadable