The Uplift War
Ratings36
Average rating3.9
David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War--a New York Times bestseller--together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind?As galactic armadas clash in quest of the ancient fleet of the Progenitors, a brutal alien race seizes the dying planet of Garth. The various uplifted inhabitants of Garth must battle their overlords or face ultimate extinction. At stake is the existence of Terran society and Earth, and the fate of the entire Five Galaxies. Sweeping, brilliantly crafted, inventive and dramatic, The Uplift War is an unforgettable story of adventure and wonder from one of today's science fiction greats.From the Paperback edition.
Series
Featured Series
6 primary books7 released booksThe Uplift Saga
The Uplift Saga is a 7-book series with 6 primary works first released in 1980 with contributions by David Brin and Kevin Lenagh.
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The best of the first trilogy, although I either missed something that contributed to the events in the ending, or I'm supposed to chalk it up to the universe's biggest coincidence yet.
This is the third novel in David Brin's Uplift series, the longest so far, and the first one that I actually enjoyed reading. It describes another crisis situation, but this one is set on a pleasant Earthlike planet, and the situation is difficult and dangerous, but not as desperate as in [b:Startide Rising 1059134 Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2) David Brin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1180631095l/1059134.SY75.jpg 251634]. There are plenty of characters of various different species, and a surprising amount of humour in what is primarily a serious story. All this is good, from my point of view.However, I reread books mainly because I enjoy particular scenes, or characters, or the scenario as a whole. In this case, I don't enjoy particular scenes, characters, or the scenario enough to reread it often. I enjoyed reading it this time because I last read it three decades ago, so I'd completely forgotten the story: it was all new to me again. Thus, I can happily give the book three stars, but I try to reserve four stars for books that I reread more often.The story has a rather surprising climax near the end, which works nicely in terms of drama but seems to me implausible and insufficiently explained. Why and how do the gorillas behave as they do in that climax? It's a dramatic surprise because we've seen nothing to suggest that they're capable of it. But that also makes it hard to believe.
Re-reading this for the first time in 20+ years. It was great! Brin has a fantastic way of weaving anthropology into his science fiction in a way that makes for super interesting characters and situations you just don't see elsewhere.
The Uplift War takes place in the timeframe immediately after Startide Rising and details a conflict between (mostly) the Neo-Chimpanzees (and a few individual humans and Tymbrimi) and the Gubru who have laid siege to the planet Garth, which is a new Chimpanzee lease world with a huge recovery effort necessary to redeem it from previous mismanagement and ecologic disaster.
