Reviews

A strange story of talking dolphins, scientist monkeys, aliens, and cows in the sun.

An entertaining read... But it seems like there was a whole lot of build-up that all just got magically resolved in the last couple of chapters. And it really didn't feel like the idea of "Uplift" was explored nearly as much as it should have been.

keiper7's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

fabian2301's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

mdiffer's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

olityr's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Favorite quote:

"The measure of (mental) health is flexibility (not comparison to some ‘norm’), the freedom to learn from experience … to be influenced by reasonable arguments … and the appeal to the emotions … and especially the freedom to cease when sated. The essence of illness is the freezing of behavior into unalterable and insatiable patterns."

adamgeorgandis's review

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3.0

When I finished John Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society, I decided to read a number of short novels before re-reading Connie Willis's Doomsday Book for an upcoming book club meeting. My first choice was a classic and a personal favorite, Clifford Simak's Way Station, a book I greatly enjoy every time I read it. When I finished Way Station, I browsed my Kobo library, looking for another relatively short novel. I found David Brin's Sundiver, the first of six novels set in the author's Uplift Universe.

I had some previous familiarity with Brin's work. Several years ago, his The Postman was the second book I read as part of my primary book club. I enjoyed The Postman quite a bit, and I looked forward to sampling Brin's Uplift novels at some point in the future.

I am sorry to say I did not enjoy Sundiver very much at all. I found the book cumbersome, at best - and often much worse. The concept of Uplift is fascinating to me, and I suspect Brin uses it to greater effect in later novels. In Sundiver, though, the concept is hampered by an uninteresting cast of characters, and by a plot cluttered with too many moving parts. To me, Sundiver seemed like just what it is: a first novel. I will keep the Uplift Universe in mind - I purchased a copies of Startide Rising and The Uplift War as recent Kobo Daily Deals - but I suspect it will be a while before I give Brin's work another try.

One additional note: the Kobo edition of Sundiver is riddled with typographical errors - in spite of the fact that the edition is described as "a freshly revised re-issue." As I have written in other reviews, I find this kind of sloppiness unacceptable.

topdragon's review against another edition

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3.0

This book kicks off the “Uplift Saga” and I wanted to read it even though I had heard that it isn’t David Brin’s best stuff. Turns out it’s his first novel and based on the critical acclaim for the next two books in the series ([b:Startide Rising|234501|Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2)|David Brin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476445711l/234501._SY75_.jpg|251634] and [b:The Uplift War|234489|The Uplift War (The Uplift Saga, #3)|David Brin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375272637l/234489._SY75_.jpg|98235]), I can only assume that his storytelling vastly improved. As for this one, while there is a story here that is of interest, and an epic concept, I think Mr. Brin lost sight of that story in order to utilize his own background in astrophysics and electrical engineering. This is, indeed, a “hard science” science fiction novel but there was just too much of that here for me to feel fully engaged. It’s a story about taking a space vehicle into the sun, after all, so there has to be a lot of science. But it came at the expense of the characters (especially the aliens which could have been really cool) and the story itself.

I will certainly continue on, however, as book number 2 won the Hugo, The Nebula, and the Locus for best science fiction novel. That will either be amazing…or way over my head.

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