Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding sci-fi
Review: If you read any of the Uplift Triology David Brin has recently released and not Startide Rising, get yourself a copy now. One of the few authors I have read that is more than capable of truly thinking like an alien. The different species have very unique behaviors, personalities, etc. Exactly what you'd expect. The story of the trapped Earth ship was engrossing enough, but the epic struggle going on above there ship just adds to the fun. Brin comes up with great tactics and strategies unique to the races fighting in what is a truly enjoyable power struggle. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best ever
Review: Ok. lets get this out of the way right now. this is one of the best books ever written in this genre. Brin's writing is inspired and always appropriate. this is good of course but it is not the books greatest strength. That would be the characters. They are all well written and three dimentional. Many of their actions seem to be irrational to someone not paying attention, but to someone who does, they only become more real. In closing, to the person who apparently quit the book after fifty pages because some of the characters are dolphins: It is because of people like you who rejet books out of hand that some consider science fiction a joke Zech Blough, age 14 Kalamazoo michigan.
Rating:
Summary: Startide Rising :-)
Review: Startide rising was one of the best books i have ever read. And usually it takes a really good book to please me. It had plenty of excitement, suspense and edge of your seat reading. It does end strange but in the sequels it will end. If your in high school i would recomend this book to you if not i still believe you would enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Overated
Review: The story may be considered strong, but there is one truly annoying element: most of the characters are DOLPHINS. DOLPHINS speak English, travel in and command starships, and seem to be superior to humans. This is the kind of novel that influences many to pass off sci-fi as a joke. I couldn't make it through 50 pages before I stopped in disgust. The fact that the novel won the hugo and nebula is rediculous.
Rating:
Summary: he kept me waiting, but it was worth it
Review: sundiver was my first book from david brin, and I loved it. the story was exeptional but very long and somtimes went into so much detail that it became boring and I almost quit. this is definetly not a problem with startide rising. the plot was fantastic and the caracters perfectly described as to still leave some details to imagination. the only thing that dissapoints me is that I still wonder what happend to toshio iwashika, dennie sudman, charels dart,and thomas orley. did they ever make it home? mabe it's in a later novel I haven't read yet, but I still wonder. any way this book is the greatest and I recamend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Startide Rises above others!
Review: Talking dolphins and chimpanzees. Bug eyed monsters from all over the galaxy. A star ship.Take these elements and throw them all together, and you'd not be expecting much. At least, I wasn't; after all, I scored my copy in the Bargain bin of my University's market. Imagine my shock, then, when I found out that I loved this book! The characters are brilliant. It seems incredible, yet Brin's masterpiece has managed to make the idea of superintelligent, talking dolphins completely believable. The use of Haiku to represent the Dolphin language is a wonderful device, and very well-used. Best of all, each of the races has its own unique style of writing, as though each chapter is produced by a different type of mind. The plot! My gosh, what a plot. Brin has a unique way of weaving different threads into one beautiful storyline. This leads me to one of the few flaws with this book - namely, that it takes a good two or three reads before you are completely clear on what is happening. The scene may shift from the Dolphin space craft Streaker, to the fleets in orbit around the planet, to a dolphin in the sea, to humans on the islands, all within the space of two or three pages. In other words, don't ever read this book when you're half asleep. You'll miss something. Finally, Brin's universe is spectacular. At first, it's mindboggling to think of a culture spanning entire galaxies that has existed for billions of years; after you've completed the book, you begin to feel as though a million years is a mere heartbeat. It really does feel just that natural. If the book has a fault, it's that it leaves too many of its multiple plot lines unresolved. This is highly frustrating. It's also a testimony to Brin's skills as a writer that you can't wait to rush out and buy the next installment. So I guess I'm not going to complain too loudly . . .
Rating: 
Summary: Smart and Fun
Review: Startide Rising is smart AND fun, a combination in scifi books that comes along rarely. The technology is very believable, as is the idea of "uplift" (making certain animals as smart as humans.) This book also has a very original layout that frequently shifts from one character's point of view to the other. I really like new ideas in books, but this idea was a little confusing, and made a lot of events seem trivial. But as I said, this book is smart, and yet entertaining to read. I wouldn't call it a classic, but it IS worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh!
Review: Boy, was this book a disappointment. 300 pages of characterization and situational development! Why did it take so long! It could have been done in half that many pages! And then the resolution was way too short! I would have loved to see what happened beyond Mr. Brin's ending. He should have taken those 150 pages he didn't need for setup and used them to expand the resolution. For pages and pages, I was like, "Ugh, enough with the dolphin-speak and the reiteration that there's something strange about the planet! Get on with the story!" It was so frustrating. Now I'm wary of picking up the next book in the series, The Uplift War. If it's as slow as this one, I'm not looking forward to it.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking and playful... and a bit overrated
Review: The second of Brin's Uplift books, _Startide Rising_ is good book, maybe even a great book. At the same time, it's also a flawed book, and I think it's a bit overrated by those who sing its unqualified praises. The basic premise of _Startide Rising_ is outstanding. The _Streaker_, a spaceship crewed by humans and dolphins who have been uplifted to full sapience through genetic engineering is sent out on a mission with two simple goals: (1) to check the accuracy of the Galactic Library's reports on certain star systms and (2) to test the viability of the newly-uplifted dolphins as spacefarers (they use tools by means of cybernetic strap-ons). In the course of this mission, however, Streaker comes across a secret about the Progenitors, the mythical species believed to have started sapient life in the galaxy and beliefs about whom form the basis of most Galactic religions. This secret proves to be deadly, however, for dozens of the most dangerous, most fanatical, and most earthling-hostile species in the galaxy want it for themselves! Rather than being hailed as great discovers, the poor dolphins and humans of the _Streaker_ become like hunted outlaws, pursued throughout the galaxy by armadas of alien vessels, each wishing to claim the knowledge now aboard the vessel for themselves. As the novel begins, the damaged _Streaker_ has taken refuge under the poisonous seas of the planet Kithrup, while dozens of alien vessels fight overhead for the right to claim her... It's a great set-up. Brin's invented Uplift Universe is clever and thought-provoking, and there *is* some good action in this. (Also, Brin really seems to have done his homework on dolphin behaviour and has done a good job at making these sapient fins still act very 'dolphin-like'. His invented ideas like the poetic trinary language dolphins use among themselves and their memories of the presentient 'whale-dream' are quite original as well). The problem, though, is this. Brin can't seem to restrain himself to just a few key characters. There must be at least 20-25 characters from whose perspective the story is told here-- and each chapter jumps to a new character who is usually doing something quite unconnected to the action/perspective of the previous chapter. Seeing so many perspectives may be nice, but it comes at the cost of giving the narrative a scattered, disconnected feel. it also results in weak and shallow characterization. Brin would have been much better off just sticking with 5-6 main characters (at most) for telling the story. Doing that, furthermore, would also have done much to improve the 'feel' of the story as well. The stress and tension aboard the damaged ship of untested dolphins, hidden underwater while enemies hunt them, has the potential for great tension, psychological development, and the like. But the scattered nature of the story, including huge jumps from someone on board streaker, to someone on an away mission on the other side of the planet, to one of the aliens on board their ships, to this, to that, before one comes back to the same character and place-- well, it tends to break up those feelings of stress and tension, or at least it prevents Brin from really *showing* them to the reader, and as such he can only *tell* the reader that they're taking place. There are also a couple of kooky bits that Brin's thrown in here and there that he probably shouldn't have-- like 'probability drives' (how can anyone seriously use that idea after Douglas Adams!) and the Episiarch and Acceptor, aliens genetically bred so as to embody the ontological positions of negation and acceptance and who can, purely by will, either change reality around them or know the ultimate truth of it. Metaphysics and genetic engineering are each fine subjects for a sci-fi book, but they don't mix well-- at least not here. Yet, in spite of all these failings _Startide Rising_ is *still* a very good book-- being thought-provoking as well as a delightful read. And for anyone who wants to explore Brin's Uplift books, it is undoubtedly the best place to start.
Rating:
Summary: This is what science fiction is all about
Review: Startide Rising is the second novel in Uplift Series. The Uplifted dolphins and a dozen humans go on the first dolphin-human expedition with a dolphin captain. Somehow, their spaceship"Streaker" gets into some uncharted part of the universe where they find relics that can change the Galaxy. Now, pressed on some world by religious alien races they must fight for not only their own survival, but for survival of the Human Species and their two client races, all generally known as Earthlings. Brin did a great job in portraying the genetically uplifted dolphins. Of course, the idea of genetic engineering is not knew, H.G. Wells first introduced the idea in his "Island of Dr. Moreau", but Brin's combination of science and story in this book is just unbelievable. Must read for any Sci-Fi fan.
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