Rating: 
Summary: While somewhat muddled, an excellent science-fiction story.
Review: The second in the first Uplift trilogy, "Startide Rising" is an immense improvement over the first book in the series, "Sundiver". While overall not terribe, "Sundiver" was only an above-average story set in an incredible universe, and these two factors didn't mix all that well. With "Staride Rising", David Brin takes a wonderful story and places it in that fantastic universe, creating a wonderful science-fiction novel that's only hurt by its own complexity.Unlike "Sundiver", which dealt with more of a murder mystery than anything, "Startide Rising" deals with the key factor that binds the trilogy together: Uplifting. The story mentions the possibility of the Patron race of humans, the legendary race that seeded all races in existence, and how a crew of humans and uplifted dolphins are protecting a vital secret from all the hostile races of the galaxy, just to name a few ideas. David Brin's imagination is unbelievable. It's hard to think how he managed to create such a magnificent world without selling his soul or something. Things in the novel seem so "futuristic" and "sci-fi," and yet we believe them without question. Brin manages to flesh out a world so perfectly we can imagine it, live it, and sympathize with it. Every alien, every technological machine, and every idea has some substance in it. Probably the only problem involves the story itself. While one of the best stories I've ever read in science-fiction, it has one tragic flaw: it's too complex. The story is overloaded with so many characters and so many plot twists that it can be difficult to keep up with everything. Readers will sometimes wonder why something is going on or who this person is, which can get a little frustrating. Thankfully, the story is so engrossing it keeps the readers interested and allows them to catch up to things on their own time. All in all, "Startide Rising" is a marvelous science-fiction story that's only hindered by its own complex story. The ending sets up the third novel in the trilogy perfectly, although it does leave some questions unanswered in the story. Will the third novel answer them? We can only read "The Uplift War" and see...
Rating:
Summary: Exciting and thought-provoking
Review: A starship crewed by dolphins chances upon a discovery that could have enormous repercussions throughout known space, causing it to become the object of a hunt by a number of more powerful races. The ship crashes on a water world and struggles for survival as the "Galactics" battle overhead for the right of capture. I was not so impressed with "Sundiver," the first book in the Uplift series. I'm so glad that I didn't stop there. "Startide Rising" is an exceptional read. David Brin has a unique talent for constructing consistent, plausible alien world-views. When I saw that dolphins were major protagonists in this story, I was half-expecting some kind of new age pseudo-philosophy about the wisdom of the deep and the lessons that we humans need to learn. Brin, however, is nowhere near as simplistic as that. There is wisdom in his dolphins, but there is also avarice, ambition, brutality and other characteristics that are unique to the species. The novel is somewhat more convoluted than necessary, and it seemed to me that several major plots were left unresolved. Perhaps that will be addressed in future books.
Rating: 
Summary: Brin Does It Again.
Review: David Brin never ceases to amaze me. His creations are so detailed that you feel like you are there experiencing them. In "Startide Rising" he creates a breathtaking universe where humans are the bastard sons. It is a universe where every alien race is 'uplifted' to sentience. Humans are the only ones that haven't been. Most of the five galaxies hate us because of it. We have our friends, but they still look at us as if we're the little 'wolfling' children that haven't grown old enough to leave the block. We humans have in turn uplifted Chimpanzees and Dolphins. The book is about a Dolphin commanded starship that discovers a clue to our Terran heritage that any of our enemies would love to get their hands on. The information accidentally leaks and the Streaker goes into hiding with enormous fleets following it's every move. The ship land on the water world of Kithrup. Geological, galactic political, and inter-ship political problems ensue with big fights strewn through out. This is a very informed book that is detailed and entertaining at the same time. You don't have to read "Sundiver" before reading this book, but "Sundiver" does explain the politics a little better. I suggest everyone read this because it is way too good to pass up. It did win both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. I give it five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Great follow up to Sundiver.
Review: In Startide Rising Brin throws us a few decades forward from Sundiver, the first of the Uplift books. In this book we see less of the complexities of the galactics and more of the effects of uplift. The mission is led by uplifted dolphins, with some humans and a chimp on board. We join the mission as they flee competing galactic fleets with a valuable secret on board. What follows is a complex plot of Delphin politics as two factions vie for control of their stricken ship. A new race ready for uplift. A complex ebb and flow of galactic alliances in planetary orbit fighting for control of the "secret". Woven into all of this we have layers of dolphin communication in Whalesong, Primary, Trinary and Anglic, with humans speaking Human anglic and english. Add to that languages from Galactic one to twelve and you begin to glimpse the depth of Brins vision. This is no simple phaser blasting military sci-fi novel. It is a well crafted and complex tale set in a well thought out reality. I now need to move to book number three.
Rating:
Summary: Dont miss this one !!
Review: I was turned on to Startide Rising by a co-worker who said he couldnt put it down. I got a copy the very next day and couldn't put it down either. It was an exhilarating read and I was so excited that I ordered the next book in the series even before it had started shipping. The story is fast paced and very gripping, the universe seems to be a cold and unfriendly place for the wolfling humans who only have their wit and courage to rely on. I liked The Uplift War as well but Sundiver, the first in this Trilogy, is something you ought to read just for completeness sake. I've read 2 of the 3 in the new Uplift Trilogy. Brightness Reef took a long time getting to the point but it has aliens galore. The story is complex with a mesh of plots and sub-plots woven into a totally unique backdrop. Infinity's Shore, the next in the series, picks up in terms of pace and adds new elements to the mix. I like most of the characters and I cant wait for Book 3. I have some other comments about the style of writing and some other technological incongruities but I'll leave that for another forum. All in all, Startide Rising is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Keeps getting better and better as it progresses
Review: David Brin has invented an interesting universe in which to set his "Uplift" (also known as "Earthclan") series. It is a crowded universe - sort of Star Wars-esque in its level of weird and wonderful inhabitants. The variety arises from a tradition of Uplift, wherein a sentient species genetically modifies another species so it can attain sentience as well. The uplifted species' debt: 100,000 years of indentured servitude! The added wrinkle: every species that is currently uplifting others was itself uplifted in the distant past. This is an ancient universe where innovation consists solely of hunting through the galactic library looking for forgotten information. Humanity enters this universe with two distinct differences: an abhorance of slavery, and a skill at innovation that is alarming to the pompous patron races of the galaxy. Mankind has uplifted two species: dolphins and chimps. They have set them free as equals (instead of demanding the 100,000 years of slavery), further appalling the elder races. However, all of this information is background - it's a testament to Brin's skill that he weaves all this background into the story (along with the introduction of numerous extraterrestrial races) without specifically devoting long passages to it. The main plot - a dolphin-crewed ship (along with a few human overseers) has discovered a derelict fleet. As they try to head back to Earth with the info, they are ambushed by many E.T.'s intent on stealing their find. The ship seeks refuge on a water-covered planet as the crew tries to make repairs and escape their pursuers (who battle each other in space overhead). This is just the start of the adventure, however, and Brin's great skill in this book is to take a very complex universe, and keep adding more and more layers of complexity - the refuge planet is not all it seems, for example, nor are all the dolpihin crewmembers, many of whom start to crack under the pressure. It's hard to describe why this book is so good without going into technical details. Therefore, I'll just say it's a great science fiction achievement, and well-deserving of all the awards it's received.
Rating:
Summary: Slow Start...Decent Finish
Review: Hunted by numerous hostile Galactic species for having valuable information regarding the Progenitors (a race of beings who began the process of Uplift billions of years ago), the humans, dolphins and lone chimpanzee aboard the survey ship Streaker must survive while attempting to repair their broken vessel beneath the ocean of the water world Kithrup. This premise leads the crew of the Streaker into confrontations (some hostile, some otherwise) with local species, their fellow crewmates, and ultimately the Galactic species searching for the crew of the Streaker from orbit. Brin does a reasonably good job presenting the several points of view important to the telling of this tale...including about a half-dozen main characters from the Streaker as well as the point of view of several of the Galactic species hunting the Earthlings. Several of the Galactic species portrayed were especially interesting...and horrific. Hopefully Brin will follow up on these species in later books. The biggest hole in the plot concerned an ancient mummy recovered from a derelict fleet before the start of the book. The location of the derelict fleet is the reason the numerous Galactic species are hunting the crew of the Streaker...they believe the fleet to be from the time of the Progenitors. Despite some attempts early in the book to study the mummy -- dubbed Herbie -- it defies study and then..... And then nothing, Brin seemingly drops the Herbie plotline all together. Hopefully Brin returns to the Herbie plotline in the next book. This book was hardly the scifi masterpiece I had been expecting. Overall, this book was only about as good as the previous one, Sundiver was --> Acceptable.
Rating: 
Summary: Someday I'll bother to finish this one...
Review: Halfway through this book I simply lost interest in dolphin "poetry" and the presumably exciting struggles of the crashed crew and put the book down (quite likely never to return to it). The portions of the book dealing with the ET races were quite fun with lots of varied imagery and clever social/racial constructions but when the attention of the story would shift back to the humans/dolphins things ground ever slower and became less colorful and more pedestrian and cliche.
Rating:
Summary: Topnotch escapism, but don't expect anything more
Review: This is the second volume of Brin's Uplift Trilogy. The first volume, Sundiver, is only notable for introducing the concept of the Uplift - the idea that a scientifically advanced race will eventually learn enough about genetic engineering that they'll be able to "uplift" other species to higher levels of intelligence. An entire galactic civilization is presented wherein uplift is a common practice, and a species' status is based on the number of "client" races they have successfully uplifted. Startide Rising features a spaceship crewed primarily by dolphins, although there are some men and a chimpanzee scientist also on board. This particular crew has accidentally stumbled upon an ancient secret that will shake galactic politics to its foundations, although they don't really understand the implications themselves. What is clear is that a wild assortment of alien races are after this ship, and have forced it to land on an out of the way planet in order to take what they want. Unlike Sundiver, which stood pretty much on its own, this book is explicitly part of a larger series. Lots of questions about an overall galactic conflict are never resolved in this novel and while a complete story is told, there is no shortage of loose ends that could be picked up in further sequels, notably volume three, The Uplift War. Perhaps the greatest shortcoming of this installment is that Brin seems satisfied to develop the ideas introduced in Sundiver, rather than present more exciting new concepts. And while Brin's ideas and imagination are exceptional, the same can't be said about his writing, which still shows flaws in this, only his second novel. In particular, his tendency to overcomplicate gets away from him here, causing him to create too many characters and lose focus on the essential pieces of his story. He tries to control this problem through the technique of breaking the novel into over 100 subchapters, each named after the character whose point of view we are seeing. This not only helps us keep track of the different plot threads that each character is pursuing, but also keeps this longish novel engaging even through the long middle section. But the characters themselves are not very memorable - perhaps one should give Brin credit for being able to give a dolphin any personality at all, and never mind a two-dimensional one. And let's be honest, if you want character-driven literature, you're probably not reading sci-fi/fantasy anyway. Still, while this book is recommended as topnotch escapism, don't let its awards fool you into expecting anything more from it.
Rating:
Summary: "Talking dolphins"
Review: Despite the fact that I wasn't terribly impressed with Sundiver, I read the sequel Startide Rising. You could review this book with two words: "talking dolphins." To be fair however, the dolphins were actually pretty interesting. In Startide Rising we return to the universe Brin has created where races "Uplift" promising species by genetically engineering their intelligence. Lo and behold the simple wolfling humans (actually dolphins for the most part in a ship full of water, good grief) have discovered the missing Progenitors, the supposed parent race of everyone else. At any rate, hilarity ensues as the dolphins crash land on a watery planet (lucky) and attempt to hide while the advanced races fight it out for who gets to capture the clever dolphins and learn the secret of the Progenitors.
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