The Uplift War [Mass Market Paperback]

The novel is set in Brin's Uplift universe, introduced in his novel Sundiver and fleshed out in his Hugo winning Startide Rising. Uplift War won the Hugo as well, a considerable achievement . . . and while it is not quite as good as the book that preceded it, it is still a thoroughly excellent novel, which benefits from being both part of a great series of books, and being a novel that can be read as a stand-alone.

Anyone interested enough in Brin and the Uplift universe should know something about it by now; for those who don't, they can glean all they need to know from other reviews of this book or any of the other Uplift books. The simple explanation is that every species in the Five Galaxies as been uplifted or raised to sentience by another race, except for the "wolfling" human race. As a result, humans' place in the galactic political structure is uncertain at best. And humans, aided by their own uplifted clients, chimpanzees and dolphins, have a knack for stirring up trouble.

In the case of The Uplift War, the Five Galaxies are in turmoil because of an important find made by the dolphin ship Streaker-a mummified corpse nicknamed Herbie that may be one of the fabled Progenitors, the race that first uplifted a client species billions of years ago, and the location of the derelict fleet where Herbie was found. (All this is dealt with in far more detail in Startide Rising, and though it isn't necessary to read that book to enjoy this one, you may want to do so anyway because it's just as good.) Streaker and its dolphins never make an appearance in Uplift War except by mention, but the repercussions of their discovery are a chief motivator for everything that happens.

The novel is set on Garth, a planet nearly destroyed by its last owners, a client race that reverted to feral status and ravaged it. It was given over to Humans mostly as a cruel joke by the other Galactics-the planet is on the verge of dying, and if it fails, it will be a Human failure, furthering the arguments of those who want to reduce Men to clients. But because war is erupting across the Galaxies, Garth has gained strategic importance-especially if it can be seized from the Humans, and its large population of uplifted chimpanzees can be made to forsake their Human patrons in favor of another race. This is the plot of the Gubru, birdlike beings that invade Garth near the beginning of the novel, plunging the planet into chaos and putting its residents under martial law.

Among those residents are Robert Oneagle, a captain in the Planetary Defense force and son of the Planetary Coordinator; Fiben Bolger, a chimpanzee ecologist and lieutenant in the militia; Uthacalthing, the practical-joke-loving Tymbrimi ambassador; his spirited daughter Athaclena; Kault, the newly-arrived Thenannin ambassador; Gailet Jones, a chimpanzee sociologist; and Sylvie, a chimpanzee who becomes one of Fiben's companions. They are thrown together in various interesting combinations as Humans and chimpanzees fight a guerilla war to free Garth, and uncover the Gubru's plot to replace Men as chimpanzees' patrons. A secondary plot is the race to discover and adopt a mysterious, unseen race known as Garthlings. There's also a developing relationship between Robert Oneagle and Athaclena, an intricate jest planned by Uthacalthing, explorations of the various aliens on Garth, action galore, and more mysteries than you can shake a banana at.

Brin handles it all with aplomb and intelligence. He lets the story develop at its own pace-something I find far preferable to the forced pace of most SF. Along the way develops his characters, and their stories, in truly masterful fashion. Most impressive, aside from his adept handling of the Tymbrimi and Gubru characters, is what he does with the chimpanzees. As he did with the dolphins in Startide Rising, Brin takes animals we have unconsciously anthropomorphized for decades, and creates for them an intelligence similar to, yet wholly independent from, what we think of as human. Brin makes an entirely new species out of his "chims," and the more you read about them the more fascinating, and enjoyable, they become. Of course, the same can be said of all the characters in the book, but the chims are the heart of this novel, much as the dolphins were in Startide. They make the book what it is.

One of the things the book is, is long. At over six hundred pages it's pretty darned big, and there's a little fat here and there that Brin might have been able to safely cut-but this is a minor fault, in the end. The Uplift War is an excellent, intelligent novel, an exhilarating page-turner that exemplifies so much of what is great about science fiction. Just writing about it has made me want to read it all over again, and higher praise than that I cannot give.

It probably isn't necessary to read the two previous volumes of this trilogy to enjoy this novel; Sundiver is a rambling jumble of a book, and only provides the most general type of background for the next two, and while Startide Rising opens a lot of the issues that are being pursued here, the focus is on a completely different battle in the greater war, and tends to get bogged down by the trinary poetry that is spoken by the uplifted dolphin race. But after all, if you're a fan of Brin's particular brand of galactic intrigue, you may as well begin at the beginning, since sooner or later you'll probably want to read these books anyway.

For the more discriminating reader, this novel is a little more tightly controlled than Startide, managing to keep its twists and turns within the context of the immediate story, instead spending most of its pages setting up larger issues for future volumes. There are plenty of surprises, but again, some editing could have made this a tighter and more thoroughly enjoyable book. Also, a warning: for the concluding book of a trilogy, this volume provides very little in the way of answers to the broader questions presented in Startide Rising. One hopes that the Second Uplift trilogy will provide some closure on these bigger issues.

The Uplift War focuses around the Terran colony world of Garth. Due to events that take place in the previous book -- Startide Rising -- Garth is besieged by the Gubru, a fanatical, bird-like race. Most of the humans on Garth are placed in isolation camps after the Gubru overrun the colony. It's up to the few who escape internment (including several friendly aliens), along with a lot of chimpanzees, to try and repel the invasion.

I'd like to get it out here at the beginning that this book does occassionally have its slow parts...but then, what book doesn't? That being said, the book certainly has lots of action and enough twists and turns to easily keep the reader interested. The book also gives us our first look at the Tymbrimi...one of the few Galactic species friendly to those claiming an Earthly heritage. I also thought the Tymbrimi corona was a great idea. The corona is a kind of psychic antenna that not only allows the Tymbrimi to sense others' feelings, but also allows the Tymbrimi to craft emotion "glyphs" -- a kind of psychic artform that can influence others in a multitude of ways.

All but one of the main characters in this book is a non-human. Brin did a great job of not only telling his tale from the perspective of Tymbrimi and chimpanzees, but also did an excellent job in really defining the similarities and differences of Tymbrimi and chimpanzees with regards to humans. I've seen other reviewers proclaim that Brin is truly an expert at creating and then elaborating on aliens he has constructed with his pen...I enthusiastically add my voice to this chorus.

Overall, this book is far-and-away the best of the first three Uplift books. The first three books in the Uplift Series happen to be the first three books I've read of Brin's. I'd say that with The Uplift War he's finally living up to his stellar reputation for great scifi.