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 Post subject: The "Uplift Series"
PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2002 9:46 pm 
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Aside from Neverness, Dune and a few others, no book in the Sci-fi genre may has engrossed me more than Startide Rising. Since it was the 1st David Brin book I'd ever read it was more than a pleasure 2 find out I had 2 back up 2 Sundiver if I was ever going 2 get this Uplift concept down. In all Brin, so far, has written 6 "Uplift" books, and the diverse alien cultures, concepts and universe crafting in all of them is astonishing. Brin is probably best known 4 The Postman but he has authored many a fantastic book, such as; Glory Season, Earth, The Practice Effect, the classic Heart of the Comet, with Gregory Benford and 2 great short story collections, Otherness & The River of Time. Brin's newest book is The Kiln People and he has been busy writting (part) and editing the Second Foundation trilogy. Like Robert L. Forward, Brin is an Astro-Physicist by trade and if any1 knows his techincal stuff--u better believe it's him!

A Brief Brin Bibliography:
Sundiver 1980*
Startide Rising 1983*
The Practice Effect 1984
The Postman 1985
River of Time (Anthology) 1986
Heart of the Comet (w/ Gregory Benford) 1986
The Uplift War 1987*
Earth 1990
Glory Season 1993
Otherness (Anthology)1994
Brightness Reef 1995*
Infinity's Shore 1996*
Heaven's Reach 1998*
Foundation's Triumph^ 1999
Secret Foundations 1999
The Klin People 2002
*The Uplift series ^3rd book of the Second Foundation trilogy

Fall Far and Well Pilots!<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 2/9/03 8:31:14 am
</i>


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 Post subject: An Independant Review of Sundiver
PostPosted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 11:24 pm 
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Better Than I Remembered, January 27, 2002
Reviewer: phrodoe (see more about me)
I first encountered Sundiver years ago, and I recall that when I first read it I didn't think much of it. I almost didn't move on to the other novels in the Uplift saga because of this, but on a friend's reccommendation I did, and I'm glad of it. I hadn't read Sundiver in years, preferring to reread the other Uplift novels instead. Recently, though, I decided to give the first novel another chance -- and I'm glad I did that, too. I don't know if it's the benefit of hindsight or simply seeing Sundiver in the context of the other Uplift novels or both, but it turns out that Sundiver was better the second time around.

Sundiver's pages are spent in the company of Jacob Demwa, a special operative working in a more-or-less unofficial capacity for the Terragens Council. We first encounter him working with a newly-uplifted dolphin (uplift being the process of genetically enhancing a near-sentient species to full sentience) -- but he is called away from this job to join the Sundiver project, a Mercury-based expedition to explore the sun -- and it turns out life has been discovered there. What follows are a series of mysteries, interspersed with Brin's vivid evocations of what it might be like to actually be inside a stellar atmosphere. Brin does a very good job all around -- as other reviewers have noted, his training as a physicist serves him well from a "hard science" viewpoint. His description of the sundiver ship is both poetic and believable, and he also does a great job with the mysteries Demwa must solve, which include: a murder, what the solar life forms may (or may not) be, why the "shepherds" of these life forms are so hostile towards the sundivers, and what the motivations of the various human and alien characters are.

Speaking of which, Brin does a great job with character in this novel. Jake Demwa, being the focus of the narrative, is the best-defined of them all, but others -- Dr. Shriver, for instance, and Kanten Fagin, are well-written and believable. But it is Jake Demwa who is the heart of Sundiver, and I wish Brin would do something more with him, another novel or a short story or something! Jake D. is equal parts special operative, private investigator, criminal, and psychological case history -- recovering from the death of his wife, he has hypnotized himself into a split personality -- the "normal" Demwa and "Mr. Hyde," who contains all of Jake's antisocial tendencies, and who takes over from time to time in unpredictable and unsettling ways. Demwa is unusual and engaging, and it is largely because of him that Sundiver is such a great read.

Of course, Sundiver is the first part of Brin's ongoing Uplift series, and as such does a lot of establishing -- introducing aliens like the Kanten, and the Pila, and mentioning aliens that will grow to play major roles in later Uplift novels, like the Soro and the prankish Tymbrimi. Brin also introduces the Uplift concept here, and the esential dichotomy of the Uplift universe: Every sentient species in the Five Galaxies has been uplifted by a patron species -- or so it is believed until mankind comes along. Humanity is a so-called "wolfling" race, a race with no known patrons...or if those patrons do exist, they abandoned humanity millenna ago, and will not admit to the crime of client abandonment. Humans might have been adopted as someone else's clients -- but for the fact that they have uplifted clients of their own, chimpanzees and dolphins, with talk of dogs soon to follow (an intriguing thread Brin unfortunately never returns to). This automatically gives them the status of a patron race -- which angers the Soro, the Pila, and others no end. Much of the outcome of Sundiver, as well as the other Uplift novels, hinges on whether or not men will keep their patron status, or whether the Galactcs' political maneuvering will reduce them to client status.

A crowded universe is Brin's great concept here -- a univese literally stuffed end-to-end with species that have existed for thousands of centuries...and in which humans may have no place, where our very existence as free people is in jeapoardy. Brin returns to this "free existence" theme in other guises in many of his novels, such as The Postman and Glory Season, but nowhere is it as crisp and as immediate as it is in Sundiver. It serves as a great introduction to the Uplift saga (currently at six books; it's unclear whether Brin will write more); but it also works very well indeed as a stand-alone novel of mystery and science, of one man and his mental health, and of humanity's place in the cosmos. I liked it better the second time around, and I give Sundiver four stars as a result.

The true human being is the meaning of the universe. He is a dancing star. He is the exploding singularity with infinite possibilities. <i></i>


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 Post subject: Startide Rising-2nd book of the Uplift Series
PostPosted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 11:25 pm 
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<b><i>Quote:</i></b> Set about a century after Sundiver, Startide Rising details the adventures of the beleagured ship Seeker. Seeker is a dolphin-crewed ship (dolphins have been more or less completely Uplifted at this point) with several humans and an ape on board. The ship was supposed to explore, and happened upon the biggest discovery of the millenium - and now half the alien races of the galaxy are chasing them. Startide Rising is set in Brin's complex world of many, many aliens in a civilization much older than Earth's.


--Sundiver, Startide Rising and the Uplift War form a much more technically advanced, action-packed and complex trilogy than this short review (That I stole from All Sci-Fi.com) would indicate. 4 xample a multitude of "more advanced" alien civilizations in Brin's universe have already "uplifted" (or raised 2 a higher intellectual, evolutionary cultural status) hundreds of "sentient" species long b4 man came out of his cave. But since Earth in situated in such a "backwater" burg of this particular galaxy it was ignored--and what really amazes and pisses off many of the advanced alien cultures is that man has almost uplifted himself--and with no help! This has never been done b4 that any race knows of. So in addition 2 what the reviewer said above--the mere xistence of this upstart "wolfing" race of man is thought 2 b a disease, by many, which should b erradicated from the face of the universe at all costs--b4 it gets any further and causes even more trubbl...So yes Streaker is in a hell of a lot of trouble 4 from the get go. Startide Rising is the first David Brin book I ever read and now (except 4 his new book: The Kiln People) I've read everything he's written. While it always helps 2 read Sundiver 1st, Startide Rising IS 1 of the best books ever written winning both the Hugo and Nebula Award. The true human being is the meaning of the universe. He is a dancing star. He is the exploding singularity with infinite possibilities. <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 9/11/02 4:30:32 pm
</i>


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 Post subject: Re: Startide Rising-2nd book of the Uplift Series
PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2002 8:34 pm 
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Sounds interesting! Maybe Ill read this Brin after Im done with Lewis... Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape<i></i>


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 Post subject: A cool quote from Brightness Reef
PostPosted: Tue Nov 05, 2002 2:53 pm 
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"a mind that's afraid to toy with the ridiculous will never come up with the brillantly original..."
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.
Lyall Watson
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 Post subject: Re: A cool quote from Brightness Reef
PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2002 4:27 am 
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Mhoram, Startide Rising is a truly wonderful book, and Brin's aliens are the coolest bunch of baddies this side of the Amnion.
I like that book the best of all of the Uplift books, I just love the dolphins.
The Captain of the Streaker (I can't remember how to spell his name -- Crideke? something like that, anyway) - is one of my favorite starship captains in all of science fiction. my sister, o my sister! There's the cause on 't. Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust -- John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi", first performed in England in 1614<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: A cool quote from Brightness Reef
PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2003 5:08 am 
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Ah one of my all-time favorite space operas! The Uplift Series!

I use these books as an example of why its such a marvelous thing when scientists are also poets. The whole idea of dolphins crewing a starship is just lovely, and "The Uplift War" highlighted one of my fave alien species--the avian Gubru, with their three castes/genders.

Honestly, this latest trilogy does have so many different narrative threads I got lost sometimes. But the blending of science fiction and myth is splendid. "GOD created Man in his own image. Man, being a gentleman, returned the courtesy." -Voltaire<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: A cool quote from Brightness Reef
PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2003 4:41 pm 
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Very well written, very imaginative!
And the dolphins are absolutely wonderful!!
Ankh-Morpork people considered that spelling was a sort of optional extra. They believed in it the same way they believed in punctuation; it didn't matter where you put it, so long as it was there.~Terry Pratchett<i></i>


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 Post subject: Athaclena and the Uplift War
PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2003 3:25 pm 
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(One of the most interesting females characters in Sci-Fi isn't human at all, in her own way Fannie Mae in Frank Herbert's Whipping Star is beautiful, but she is a star!) Also, as I remember Athaclena (1 of the coolest female names in Sci-Fi!!) in the Uplift War was described by Brin as not particullarly beautiful but rather long and lanky--handsome in a kinda "male" way, but not beautiful...2cents...) Here's ur trivia question: what race did Athaclena belong 2? Her father had a very cool name 2..what was it? And now Danlo looked in that direction, too. He remembered that snowy owls mate in the darkest part of deep winter, and so along with this beautiful white bird perched in a tree a hundred feet away, he turned to face the sea as he watched and waited.

Ahira, Ahira, he called out silently to the sky. Ahira, Ahira<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 2/9/03 6:33:41 pm
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 Post subject: Re: A cool quote from Brightness Reef
PostPosted: Fri Feb 14, 2003 10:35 pm 
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The Uplift War is one of the books which has not been unearthed yet from our move -- I think I am missing one or two boxes of books someplace out in the garage -- but to the best of my recollection she is a Tymbrini, one of the few galactic races that has allied itself with Earthclan. I can't remember her father's name, but remember him being a very likable fellow, and that he travels around with a Thenanin, who was also likeable.
The Uplift War follows Startide Rising and the events centered around that book's starship Streaker. It takes place on the planet Garth and centers around "uplifted" chimps rather than dolphins. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell<i></i>


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