Rating: 
Summary: Time's up! Put your pencils down.
Review: This book is deeply flawed. Most importantly, I got the feeling that about halfway through, David Brin looked up at his clock and said, "Oh my God, I have to FINISH this!" As a result, where Brin devoted the first 5/6 of the series developing plots and full-bodied characters, sometimes in aggravating detail, he spends the last 1/6 hacking off plot lines with abandon. In many cases, key events take place outside of the narrative, and we learn what happened in another character's often colorless retrospective. Some characters just disappear. Others are transformed from full-bodied characters to author-surrogates whose sole function is to spout descriptions of what's going on around them. And even with this mad rush for the finish line, Brin doesn't manage to tie up all the loose ends. In general, this all reminded me of some of my less successful answers to college essay exams -- slow and thoughtful at the beginning, but frantic and incomplete at the end as I struggled to finish by the deadline.The characters in Heaven's Reach are also much flatter than in the earlier books. Their reactions are generally predictable and Brin omits the little touches that previously made them aggravating, endearing, or inspiring, and, in the process, made them more real. The books is partially redeemed by Brin's facility with ideas and plot development. Even though the characters are plastic and the pace is uneven, the book is stuffed with new ideas and plot twists. Those kept me interested. I'm glad I read this book, but I am sorry that it doesn't come close to the author's normally high standards
Rating:
Summary: Am I Missing Something?
Review: First, I haven't finished the book....but I will. I just want to know one thing. In what novel or short story did the escape from Kithrup appear. Did I miss a book that had the Streaker in the Fractal World? I buy trilogies in their entirety because it's hard to keep up with plot lines over time. Here, and in Infinity's Shore, there is exposition that refers to what happened after Streaker escaped Kithrup. I feel like I missed an entire novel. Where is it? And if it doesn't exist, it should. Having vented, I would say that so far (page 206) this story is a long way from the riveting character development in Startide Rising and Brightness Reef. I'll finish it because I have to. But I still feel cheated because there is something out there I feel I missed.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good, but not absolutely terrible either
Review: I was disappointed by Heaven's Reach. Brightness Reef moved quite slowly, and I rather enjoyed Infinity's Shore, but this book was definitely the worst of the trilogy. If you have read the other two, I suppose it is worth reading this one as well. This novel doesn't give any new depth to any of the characters, and none of them seem to suffer from any real internal conflict other than generic indecisiveness (except perhaps Asx). New technologies (E-space) are introduced which I found unconvincing. I have in the past liked Brin's occasional device of having events be described after the fact by characters as opposed to while they are happening (e.g. Alvin's journal), but he did it a bit too often in this book to make it seem natural. There were also moments which were reminiscent of the pathetic X-Files device of having a character A who knows something that everyone wants to know, particularly character B, and A has a lot of motivation and opportunity to tell B, but either doesn't for no apparent reason or does and what is told isn't revealed to the reader. Loose ends are tied up, but you may feel like you have just watched an epsiode of the A-Team or some other adventure-oriented TV serial afterwards.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but with loose enidngs
Review: I really liked the book, just like the whole series. However, I think he flitted past a lot of really intersting ideas, such as the large dyson sphere or whatever it is. Also, I think he left too many loose strings- what happened to the survivors on Kithrup? And if he's going to do another Uplift book, he should just tell us.
Rating:
Summary: Galaxies Lost and so was I
Review: This tangled mess went from bad to worse. Brin wasted all of the character interpersonal play to set up this grandiose galaxy lost/exploding crystal sphere finale. The Sooners kids & Streaker crew sure didnt receive great endings. And after all that, Earth didn't get to cash in on Streaker's discovery
Rating:
Summary: I loved it! But...
Review: I always look forward to anything David Brin puts out...but has he ever learned to finish a story and tie up all the subplots? I'm still hanging to find out what happens to the folks back on Kithrup for crying out loud.
Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing conclusion to well setup storyline
Review: Perhaps I didn't want the story to leave Jijo - but I felt cheated that Jijo's mysteries were never resolved (egg etc..) E-Space was an inventive idea - but I think that Mr Brin deviated too far from his initial story and plot lines. Loved Brightness and Infinity - would have been 2 Stars except the writing is again excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good Story
Review: Most of you seem to rate this low because you think he hurried it, and tried to get it out too quickly. This is because you feel he leaves too much open, as to "What happens next". I guess you dont expect him to make another in this universe, or you are all to ignorant to even bother understanding the hard work it takes to continue in one particular setting, you must keep the reader wanting more And I, for one, believe his next book (In the Uplift Universe) will be the best by far.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read, But NOT One Of Brin's Best
Review: Brin's end to the Uplift series, like his other novels, contains intriguing ideas and concepts. Unfortunately, unlike most of his previous works, this one works too hard to wrap-up every past story line while simultaneously introducing new characters. The new characters seemed to be introduced in order to cover new conceptual ground, but such ideas probably would have been better left to another work. I really enjoyed Brin's early style of writing which posed many questions, and answered few directly. Most of his stories have only provided the reader with as much information as the characters would have, leaving much to our imagination. Previous books have also been a bit more gritty -- key characters are killed off or left behind -- which also made the stories more real. The characters in Heaven's Reach all survive some of the most outrageous events yet detailed with little more than ego bruising. The book strays far from Brin's previous works and ends up being somewhat formulaic and predictable.
Rating:
Summary: A satisfying finnish
Review: After re-reading all 6 uplift books, I can see why the books (starting with Startide Rising) have been optioned by a studio. This series is RIPE material for a movie. Watch out Star Wars, there is a new Space Opera in town! :-)
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