A review by topdragon
Sundiver by David Brin

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.