This has to be one of my all-time favourite books. Well-written from many viewpoints (both alien and 'earth origin', incredible depth to the story, tense, at the edge of your seat with action for action junkies (myself included!). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the previous, Startide Rising, and would recommend it to any readers. ( )

The Uplift War - David Brin

The senior races which make up Galactic civilization are engaged in a dangerous struggle for power, which is accumulated by becoming patrons of client races, uplifting them to sentience and thereafter binding them in servitude for many thousands of years before permitting them to exist in their own right. Some of these senior patron races are highly displeased when human 'wolflings' appear on the scene and in no time at all acquire two clients of their own, dolphins and chimpanzees. To make matters worse, these upstart humans apparently bootstrapped themselves into sentience, something which is considered impossible by all Galactic races.

The title of the book may lead some to imagine that this is a work of military science fiction, but that would be an incorrect assumption. So, what war is referred to here? Firstly, there is the general warring between the Galactics for status and the right to uplift other races, and then there is the specific war which becomes the focus of this story. This is the conflict between the avian Gubru and humans who have been granted a charter to care for the ecology of a backwater planet named Garth. The Gubru intend to employ superior military force and their detailed knowledge of Galactic Law to demonstrate that humans are not qualified to serve as a patron race to the sentient chimps, and they are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to take those clients and the planet Garth away from mankind. So, while it is true that certain battles are described in some detail, the overall emphasis is always on the process and implications of Uplift rather than on military technology and strategy.

One of the strengths of Startide Rising and its sequel The Uplift War is the outstanding quality of David Brin’s world-building. Each alien race has its own rich culture, thought patterns and foibles. They all find it almost impossible to comprehend one another. One of the few alien civilizations which is openly friendly to humanity is that of the Tymbrimi, who are known for their highly-developed and rather wicked sense of humor. And since the narrative alternates between several protagonists, we get to view what is happening through alien eyes, as well as through those of humans and uplifted chimps.

A reader expecting this book to answer the questions raised in Startide Rising regarding the Dolphin starship Streaker and the ancient derelict fleet it discovered may well feel somewhat disappointed. I think it is natural to hope that a sequel would provide more information on the mythical progenitors, which patron race originally uplifted humanity, and why they disappeared. However, David Brin fails to do the obvious by satisfying the reader's curiosity on those points, and perhaps this in a sense makes the story more realistic.

There is a lot of science in this book, and some of the fields drawn on include linguistics, biology, chemistry, and environmental science. Although it certainly contains many fantastic elements, The Uplift War can still be considered hard science fiction because many of the plot drivers involve plausible scientific and technological developments.

One main theme seems to be this: In the same way that humans consider themselves vastly superior to animals, the Galactic patron races consider themselves infinitely more advanced than humans and client races. However, throughout The Uplift War, we see that all walk a fine line between rational behavior on the one hand and purely instinctive responses to situations on the other. In Startide Rising, we saw how the senior patron races of the Soro and the Tandu frequently act in vicious and animalistic ways, and how many of these Galactics are tainted by religious fanaticism. Now, in the sequel we see how the Gubru are almost completely bound by convention, ritual and genetic programming. Readers can draw their own conclusions from this, but what the author intended is hinted at in a postscript at the end of the book.







( )

This is my review of David Brin’s ‘The Uplift War’, the third entry in his Uplift Universe series. The story itself is also copyrighted 1987 as well. Although it didn’t quite manage the triple crown winning streak of its predecessor, ‘Startide Rising’, being nominated for, but not winning, the 1987 Nebula award, it did win the 1988 Hugo and Locus Awards, and slightly less importantly, is my favourite book in the series. In terms of genre, like its immediate predecessor, Startide Rising, this is military science fiction, and unlike the earlier book, it doesn’t have as much of the philosophical musings, and there is more active combat. Still, quite a lot of the combat still takes place off screen – and particularly the bloodshed.
Like ‘Startide Rising’, this book is broken down into various sections, and told from multiple points of view. Unlike the earlier book, though, this book actually has chapters from the Gubru and other alien points of view, including our first Tymbrimi, the father/daughter combination Uthacalthing and Athaclena. The various sections are broken down into the Prelude, which is entirely told from the Gubru’s point of view and gives us a brief introduction to both the reasons behind the invasion and the Gubru themselves. The official part one is subtitled Invasion and introduces us to some of the leading characters on the Earth Clan side of the invasion including one of the leading chims, Fiben Bolger who is a member of the planetary defence forces and Ambassador Uthacalthing, who is considered rather a joker by the more sober members of the diplomatic representatives on Garth, most of whom are running away from the soon to be invested planet. As the title of the section suggests, it deals with the initial arrival of the Gubru and their landing on the planet, plus a bit of exploration of the interaction between Athaclena and Robert Oneagle, the son of the planetary administrator, at this stage, a rather tentative ‘getting to know you, oh my, how strange they are!’ kind of interaction and this has the potential of all sorts of misunderstandings to liven things up. We also learn that the rather abortive attempts of Earth Clan to defend their colony forces the head of the priestly faction of the Gubru occupation forces to maintain a nominal separation from the planet’s surface – it had vowed not to touch Garth’s surface until opposition had come to an end.
As Part 2, Patriots, opens, the Gubru are more-or-less in charge of the planet and they reckon they’ve taken the planet, but they’re not versed in wolfling psychology, being more used to dealing with the highly stylised undertakings of the galactic Great Clans, so fail to take into account the growing guerrilla operations in the countryside, though it’s quite amusing to read the passages where those guerrillas work out why the Gubru military forces are able to track the guerrillas when they make their strikes, and the understanding of the time scales on which their opponents have been operating – although it’s clear that Garth has been designated a target in the prelude, we don’t have any idea how long before the opening shots this is.
Part 3. Garthlings, focuses quite often on both Uthacalthing, and his companion in exile, Kraut, who’s a Thennanin, supposedly one oh Earth Clan’s enemies, as they track through the swampy wastes. Thanks to a bodged colonisation attempt many eons previously by a supposedly properly Uplifted species, Garth has no lifeforms bigger than domestic cats, and Uthacalthing has planned a jest on Kault to pretend that a larger, near-sentient species had survived this winnowing. Thennanin are known as one of the more serious races in the Five Galaxies, though, and Kault is proving resistant to these carefully planted clues. The Gubru prove more credulous and launch mission after mission to hunt down this mythical species – all patron races are driven by the need for more clients, after all. Except Earth Clan, who are barred from uplifting more proto-sapients from Earth. Both Athaclena and Robert begin growing up and find that a form of love can cross species boundaries.
Throughout the book, much gets made of the problems raised by the process of uplift, that leave a lot of chims that miss out on the benefits of Uplift by what they see as marginal points, in a position to be exploited by the occupation forces. Fiben and the leader of the urban guerrillas find this out first-hand as they are treated to the probies’ ideas of hospitality after the urban operations were completely routed. Poor old Fiben is treated as the character who gets most of the bad stuff dumped on him,, and as a rather comedic character, but he does get to come good at the end of the story. Part 4, Traitors covers much of Fiben and Gailet’s imprisonment, but Robert and Athaclena also find they have some decisions to make that wouldn’t necessarily find favour with their supposed superiors. Throughout the various sections, there is trouble in the Gubru high command. Always a balancing of power and policies between the three leaders, an emerging consensus was broken when the original Suzerain of Cost and Caution – effectively the accountants and bureaucrats boss – was killed in a terrorist attack. For a while Beam and Talon gained the ascendancy, but the balance gradually tips towards Propriety, though this ascendancy may not give answers to the questions the Gubru wanted answering. It’s also in this section, we get to see the power of the Institute of Uplift as they enforce a ceasefire on the warring groups.
Parts 5 and 6 see things coming to a head in both the Gubru and guerrilla camps and, as is often the case when a society is willing to pay the cost, the high tech Gubru roll up the guerrilla forces until Athaclena, now in firm command of the guerrillas, decides that a principled Last Stand is their best option, and it looks bleak for Earth clan until the madness of the Suzerain of Beam and Talon led to his execution by his Second in Command saving the insurgents. Back in the capital, the Gubru Uplift ceremony for the chimps led to an explosive climax as the Gubru backed Irongrip fights for his position against our hero Fiben. However, in probably the most mystical part of the book, the partially uplifted gorillas sense something going on and make their own march on Port Helena and the Uplift Mound to bring an unexpected ally to Earth Clan and their Tymbrimi allies.
The final parts of the book do get a bit airy fairy, but it’s basically well grounded in the physical realities of its universe. This is probably the place to wonder, as well, whether this desire to fiddle with the genetics of a species is something that will ever come to pass or is just something that was part of Brin’s hopes for the future. Certainly, even basic genetic modification of food crops is something that’s not thought of as A Good Thing currently so I can’t see messing about with the genetics of other species considerably ‘cuddlier’ than wheat or maize ever being acceptable. ( )

(see "Startide Rising")

David Brin just keeps becoming a better and better writer.

The Uplift War is the third novel of the first Uplift trilogy. It follows the invasion of the planet Garth by the avian Gubru, who seek to hold humans hostage to find more information about the NeoFins and the discovery of the Streaker

The plot is solid. Told from multiple perspectives, both antagonists and protagonists alive, the story unfolds as a wonderful web of relationships and politics. There are multiple twists and surprises. The only issue I had with it was pacing: the middle dragged a bit and the climax came and went very fast, which I felt lessened the impact of it.

Like with the other books, the non-human characters are the most fleshed out, layered, and compelling. The NeoChimps were a blast to read, particularly Fiben, and had full arcs in the story. The enigmatic Tymbrimi, fox-like humanoids with psychic face tentacles, felt a little flat. The Gubru were the most alien of the Galactics. The bits of the story from their perspective were a bit challenging as they used no names, just long, similar titles. Their politics, relationships, and viewpoints shifted a lot over the course of the novel, and working out how this impacted the Garth invasion (and the character's gender development) was a bit like a Sudoku puzzle.

This novel does not stand alone as well as Sundiver and Startide Rising. This is not bad, it just means one needs to commit a little to the series before diving into this novel. Overall, this felt like a solid installment for the series.

TL;DR: Despite some pacing issues, this book is a solid installment of the series, a worthy use of time for Uplift fans, and evidence that Brin's writing chops continue to improve. ( )

3.5 stars....

I went back and forth with this one. I didn't read the first two stories in this saga. It isn't necessary to do so, but I think reading them would give more perspective to the story with the dolphins. I did not enjoy the story, but I did enjoy some of the story elements. The concept of one race "uplifting" another to being sentience was intriguing. I also enjoyed the light injection of humor at regular intervals, especially the prankster, Uthacaling.

I struggled with one notable aspect of Brin's writing style. Often i rewound the audiobook because I thought I missed something. He has a way of jumping into a new topic or setting, then later explaining what's happening. I felt lost several times until I caught on to his style.

The interplay between the races in this book was most interesting to me. There was much that was reflective of our own world.

I would very much want to know more about the Progenitors and the discovery that the dolphins made. Perhaps these answers come I subsequent books, but the story did not grab me enough to want to continue with the series. ( )

aliens, humans & human client races dolphins and neo-chimps vie for place in billions yr old galactic civilization over ravaged planet Garth & new client race Very good

[a:David Brin|21475|Pat Frank|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224662677p2/21475.jpg] is an excellent storyteller and this was quite a fun read. Most interesting are the bits and pieces about the greater workings of Brin's Galactic society, wherein sentience is gained through patron races "uplifting" species into sapientcy (after which they are indentured to the patron race for milliena as part of a billions year-old caste system). Humans (and their pre-alien contact client races, dolphins and chimps) are the only exceptions, having seemlying uplifted ourselves.

The Uplift War leaves unresolved most of the plot from the previous novel [b:Startide Rising|234501|Startide Rising (Uplift Saga, Book 2)|David Brin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172970140s/234501.jpg|251634], taking place on a separate planet with totally new characters. Hopefully, Brin's later books in the universe address some of the epic-scale narrative set in motion there- I'm certainly interested in reading more of it. ( )

Read as part of Uplift: The Complete Trilogy. ( )

Chimps and Gorillas and Humans, Oh My!

A half decent story intermixed with Brin's own evolutionistic life outlook.

I suspect this is how an atheist might feel while reading C.S. Lewis... ( )

I preferred _Startide Rising_ or even _Sundiver_ to this book, but still Brin is a great one for capturing how different species of beings might react - thrown in midst of the story he manages to dream up for them. ( )

The Uplift War is another fantastic entry in the space opera genre by David Brin, even if the parts of the book that actually occur in space is limited. The author presents a wide variety of interesting and likable characters, from the human, alien, and (intelligent) chimpanzee populations. The nonhuman characters feel strange, but relatable, and Brin avoids the trap of making some of his characters too potent, as was the case to some extent in his previous books. The plot is large in scope (even without the occasional mentions of greater galactic politics), but all parts of it are interesting and easy to follow. I even enjoyed when he cut to the enemy Gubru, as it often occurred just as I was wondering what their reaction to events would be. The book is well tied together at the end, but there are plenty of open questions that can be explored in future books. An excellent read. ( )

This is one of my favorite books of all time. Let me just mention some of the topics touched on in this book: relations between humans and chimps and other species; relations between humans and their alien allies; alien invasion; warfare technology; the Galactic Library; interstellar travel; blockading and breaking blockades in space; romantic desire between non-physically compatible species; ecology of alien planets; deception of allies and allies; how communication is difficult between alien species; primitive armaments versus futuristic technology; and how telling a lie can sometimes lead to truth.

This book has the feature I most often appreciate in sci-fi, the intercultural relations between alien species. The main characters are: Fiben Bolger, the neo-chimp who has been uplifted and is a space pilot and colonial fighter; a Tymbrimi young female named Athaclena; her father, Uthacalthing, Kault the Thennanin; the human Robert. As the Gubru invade the human/neo-chim colony planet of Garth, the main characters must take to the hills and organize an armed resistance to the invaders.

This book has that rare feature of containing sex that is essential to the plot. We have heard so much of the argument that sex in art should be justified by importance to story. This is actually the only book or other piece of art, I can think of, where the sex portrayed is actually important to the storyline of uplift of neo-chims.

Now, who will enjoy this story. Readers who are interested in military fiction. But, the warfare is very high level and strategic, without much physical fighting on the page. The fact and facts about Galactic aliens is the largest component of this book. So, if you don't enjoy vast amounts of information about alien races, stay away from this book. For me, this is Brin's best book, and I most enjoy his books. ( )

This is the third book in David Brin's Uplift series. In this book, a Human-Chimp outpost faces invasion by a superior species, the Gubru. The Gubru are after the location of a lost battle fleet found by a dolphin ship (book 2). After discovering that the dolphin ship is lost to the humans, they try to salvage their invasion to find some gain. Their efforts are hampered by a Tymbrimi ambassador and his daughter.

The fight takes a bit of an underground war flair, the Gubru are an occupational force. Some of the Chimps play a major role, as David Brin uses the events to explore their social structure. He shows us some interesting personalities in these chimpanzees.

The book also explores the Tymbrimi, one of the Humans few allies in the galactic confederation of bizarre species. The Tymbrimi have an odd culture that places great value in practical jokes. They use this skill in support of the Human position in the occupation.

Generally, the book is good, but not strong. It should be read as part of the series, but would probably not stand well on its own. ( )

http://onefinemess.rhinopanda.net/2013/06/14/book-review-the-uplift-war/ ( )

Against all common sense, I love this book to death. It's a comfort re-read. ( )

http://tpi-reads.blogspot.fi/2012/12/the-uplift-war-uplift-saga-book-3-by.html ( )

Fiben had often wondered how much of the popularity of the thunder dance came from innate, inherited feelings of brontophilia and how much from the well-known fact that fallow, unmodified chimps in the jungles of Earth were observed to “dance” in some crude fashion during lightning storms. He suspected that a lot of neo-chimpanzee “tradition” came from elaborating on the publicized behavior of their unmodified cousins.
Like many college-trained chims, Fiben liked to think he was too sophisticated for such simple-minded ancestor worship. And generally he did prefer Bach or whale songs to simulated thunder.
And yet there were times, alone in his apartment, when he would pull a tape by the Fulminates out of a drawer, put on the headphones, and try to see how much pounding his skull could take without splitting open. Here, under the driving amplifiers, he couldn’t help feeling a thrill” run up his spine as “lightning” bolted across the room and the beating drums rocked patrons, furniture, and fixtures alike.

"Startide Rising" ended with the dolphin-crewed spaceship Streaker on the run from various warring Galactic races who are all desperate to win possession of the ship and its discoveries. As this book opens, the human and neo-chimpanzee inhabitants of Garth are expecting to be invaded at any moment, as one of the Galactic species has decided to take Garth hostage in an attempt to force the Terragen Council to hand over Streaker's discoveries. With diplomats and other visiting aliens fleeing the planet in droves, the Tymbrini ambassador Uthacalthing and his daughter Athaclena have decided to stay. The Tymbrini are the Terrans closest allies, and are known for their capricious sense of humour and Ambassador Uthacalthing seems to have some devious ploy in mind when he sets off into the wilds of Garth with the ambassador of a species less friendly to Terra in tow.

Garth is a planet that suffered ecological disaster when a newly uplifted predator species who had been granted a lease on the planet reverted to savagery and ran amok, wiping out all the larger native wildlife (although old legends say that some of the mysterious Garthlings may survive in out of the way areas). Now the Galactic Civilisation has leased Garth to the Terrans, who are trying to rebuild the shattered ecology, introducing Terran plants and animals to fill empty ecological niches. The Galactics chose the Terrans for this because of the unusual amount of biodiversity on Earth compared to other planets, but the amount of biodiversity also worries the Galactics, who got the humans to sign an agreement saying that they won't start uplifting any other species.

The uplift of chimpanzees is an on-going process and although humans govern their client species with a light hand compared to the other Galactics, breeding rights are tightly controlled. Only the coveted white card allows unlimited breeding and an unofficial class system has developed among the chimpanzees based on which colour card they have been allocated, and the ethics of uplift are one of the major themes of this novel. ( )

An intriguing world where life forms are raised to sentience over eons of time under the direction of patron races. Although Brin has created an interesting world, the Uplift War can be plodding at times. The story, which was very good, after could have been written in about 300 fewer pages. It seemed also to there were many odd tangents built in to the story. ( )

I have a sneaky suspicion that this Uplift Saga will be better than the sum of it's parts, like the old Shannara books. This was another long story about neo-chimpanzees trying to survive in an isolated mountain region against overwhelming odds. The Gubru birdlike aliens were a great and well thought out enemy and I really enjoyed the guerilla/gorilla pun aspect. The Tymbrimi aliens are one of the few 'eatees' that are allied with the 'wolfling' humans and their clan, and the Tymbrimi enjoy a good joke. As in Startide Rising, the characters are very well developed and the situations are pretty reasonable. Brin does a great job showing the reader human actions and thoughts through very alien minds, which is nice. All in all, these have been great stories with incredible but yet realistic characters so far, and trying to describe the thoughts and feelings of a fully sentient dolphin or chimp can't be easy. Although, what can you compare his story against in reality. I bet there is more of the same in the second trilogy. Oh yeah-his Earth book is one of the most outstanding SF books ever and predicted many technologies we have today. If you are a visiting NASA lecturer you might have an inside track on new ideas, but I think the SF author 'predicting the future of technology' idea is more like 'the techs that go into engineering fields all read SF novels' and that's where they get their ideas. But hey, as long as William Shatner has a flip open cell phone that plays the old Star Trek chime as Denny Crain (!) on Boston Legal, I don't care which way that argument goes. Now back to the very emotionally involved Flags of our Fathers... ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1383307.html

One of Brin's novels of the future universe where humanity has become part of a galactic culture of species Uplifting each other from pre-sapience to civilisation, homo sapiens being unique in that we achieved that status without external intervention.

The book is fun in a lot of ways - smart humans and chimps, and their allies, manage to overcome the prejudices and wishful thinking of the more nasty aliens. The most sympathetic male characters get to have sex (more or less) with the most sympathetic female characters. There is a lovely plot twist involving gorillas.

But I have to say the book is not one I can recommend. Partly it is that the humans (and their allies) rarely lose a battle or an argument; we are rather compelled to cheer for our boys. But more seriously, I think the novel's take on race issues is naïve and complacent. The intelligent chimpanzee characters are not allowed to rebel from the human agenda, yet disply no resentment of the control exerted over them, including their reproductive rights. Those who do make common cause with humanity's enemies get their come-uppance. (The only Bad Human who displays racial and gender prejudice is explicitly South Asian.) I think I would have been happier if the book had explored colonialism and race a little more profoundly. ( )

One of my favorites. Read it in high school the first time. Have read it at least six times. The book has a savory taste for me.

The most recent reading, finishing it off tonight, I had just completed a course in Latin American history, and was associating the content of the book to the neocolonial patterns some historians use to interpret Latin American history. The book is always stimulating.

Comparing works by Che Guevarra to the client/patron elements in the book on this read. Considering the ideas of national sovereignity and social contract, as depicted in Brin's Uplift universe Galatic Civilization. Just a good read every couple years, always associable with something fresh. ( )

The whole universe has been following the same pattern for quite some time - be Uplifted to sentient intelligence by your parent race, find yourself in debt to them for untold years to pay off an unimaginable sum, and then set about Uplifting your own race so that somebody can owe you that same favor.

Well nobody told the humans that was how it worked, so when Man evolves itself into an intelligent species without any knowledge or assistance, quite a few alien races are more than a bit put off. The existence of a powerful new civilization without the burden of debt throws the universe into an uproar, and there are some who are determined to put the cheeky, upstart Humans in their place.

An exciting book with a plot that moves on an interstellar scale. Be prepared to follow up with Brin's other Uplift Series novels. ( )

I enjoyed this book very much. Like Startide Rising, it offers an ambitious plot that develops several related storylines that are ultimately brought together to reach a satisfying conclusion. The best things about the book are the well developed non-human characters: the neo-chimps, the invading bird-like Gubru aliens, and the two important Tymbrimi alien characters. Brin does a very good job of making the aliens profoundly different from humans in interesting yet reasonably plausible ways.

As in Startide Rising, I found the human characters to be less compelling and less sympathetic. The romance between Robert O'Neagle and the Tymbrimi Athaclena didn't really work for me, and the gung-ho "shoot 'em up, blow 'em up" human marine major felt like a caricature. Still, I give this an 8//10 enjoyability rating and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any scifi fan. I would also point out that this story is only loosely related to the Sundiver story told in the first Uplift book; it certainly can be read out of series order. ( )

Link to a review on my personal website (might be in Swedish). ( )