Rating: 
Summary: It's about time!
Review: Well after six books in the Uplift series, this one finally wraps up a good number of "mysteries" and for this reason alone I really enjoyed this book. It is very well written, very entertaining set of characters and races, AND the story doesn't slow down, not even to the end. Anyhow I really recommend this book, though the first two in the series take a LONG time to get going...
Rating: 
Summary: Maddeningly good - All you have come to expect from Brin
Review: Well, Brin seems to have done it again. The essence of his work is that of the weaver of a fine tapestry -- something beautiful to be hung from the grandest wall. "Heaven's Reach" is certainly enjoyable, and my eternal thanks goes to the man who carried me through finals week. The issues Brin tackles are complex and overwhelming at times. When a reviewer once suggested that the reader might have to put the book down and digest awhile, an idea which I found rediculous at first, would later be found to have some creedence. Sitting back on occasion and just contemplating the novel's meaning will probably help your understanding. The story does come to a satisfying, if ambiguous ending. Something we have have come to expect from the author throughout his work is that he enjoys leaving room for the story to go on, even if we do not have the privilage of reading it. There are some unanswered questions that leave promise for the characters in their future endeavors, but if Brin ended the series here I would not be offended. The events have come to a point, the story has been told. The final words of the book are however maddening, and perhaps promise at future tales. The one question left prominently on the readers mind by this series is "whatever happened to Tom Orley & Co.?" Many readers wish for these characters to return, and perhaps somewhere down the line Brin could explore that in a short story. I for one feel that in order for the author to truly communicate Baskin and the other Streakers' sense of loss and loneliness in their mad dash across the galaxy, these characters could not have returned to the scene. Brin seems to be justified in their exlusion, an affect which helps contribute to the overall tale in "Heaven's Reach" and the other novels, as well as helping the reader -- willing or not -- to better understand the sense of detachment of all that those aboard the Streaker had known and loved. On the whole this tale was a fantastic read and definately on! e to pick up as soon as an oppertune moment presents itself. The overall theme of loss -- by those on the Streaker and regarding Galaxy Four -- as well as renewal --starting over at Terra, Jijo, and indeed throughout all of oxy civilization -- is one that reaches the heart while challenging the mind, a wholly admirable acheivement. I give it a four star rating only because I do not believe I have yet to come across the perfect novel. However, this story, and the Uplift epic as a whole, comes very close.
Rating:
Summary: Wrapup for the Uplift Storm? We want more!
Review: Brin has written a wonderfully complex conclusion to the travails of the Streaker and her crew (at least those that are left aboard). Many plot threads which began as far back as Startide Rising (still the best of the bunch as far as I'm concerned) are woven into the cloth. For the most part it works, and works well. I thought Heaven's Reach dragged a bit, but this book is not nearly as slow a start as Brightness Reef. The momentum of the story builds well--by the time I reached the halfway point, I knew I was going to have to stay up all night and finish it in one draught. I don't want to give away key plot details, but I really liked that Brin brought into play some of the other civilizations of the Five Galaxies, and a lot of critical relationships are revealed. Brin has very definitely left himself room for more books here--Thomas Orley and the crew of the longboat are dealt with not at all throughout this trilogy, and that is a tale well worth telling! I only hope that he does not wait too long to write that tale.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant, fast-paced novel of ideas.
Review: David Brin has written a paradox - a fast-paced adventure that is also a three-part novel of ideas. In the first two installments of this stunning trilogy, "Brightness Reef" and "Infinity's Shore," Brin addressed several complex philosophical questions in the context of a story of ordinary people, human and alien, caught up in extraordinary events. He asks, and we ask with him, "What really constitutes sapience? What is creativity? Progress? When survival demands violating just laws, how can we resolve our responsibilities?" These are just some of the issues addressed - directly and obliquely - by the characters, most of whom are "sooners," illegal settlers on the fallow world Jijo. In the epic's final installment, "Heaven's Reach," the adventure of the sooners and the crew of the Streaker (the ill-fated dolphin ship from "Startide Rising") takes them on a dizzying journey across the Five Galaxies and interactions with every order of sapient life. The journey allows Brin to muse on even more great issues: What is the destiny of sapience? Is there such a destiny? Is there a God, whether it's a transcendant order of life or the more traditional Creator? And, an apt question that is too rarely asked, does it even matter? At the same time, "Heaven's Reach" is also a rollicking good adventure, space operatic in scope but relentlessly coherent and believable nonetheless. David Brin may be the greatest living science fiction novelist, and he's bucking to have the "living" qualification dropped.
Rating: 
Summary: Brin needs better editors
Review: My reaction on finishing this book, and thus the "Uplift Storm" trilogy as well, was "ho-hum". I was unimpressed by any of the characters' actions because they either did what they did via some innate unexplainable talent, or were carried along by forces beyond their control in a cosmic sightseeing tour reminiscent of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (as opposed to _Startide Rising_ which showcased people in a tough situation competently doing their jobs). The "big ideas" remained uninteresting ciphers as not enough detail was given about them for readers to work out their ramifications. New characters are introduced who are completely superfluous. Add in to this the characters' near-uniformly similiar internal dialogues, Brin's excessive use of italics for emphasis, and references to his pet hobbyhorses, and you get a book which left me feeling, after I finished it, that I had completed some chore I had to "get out of the way". I would suggest readers looking for "big ideas" check out Greg Egan's _Diaspora_ instead.
Rating:
Summary: In Heaven's Reach, Brin wraps up the Streaker Saga
Review: The Streaker saga comes to an end in Heaven's Reach and by and large this is a satisfactory wrap up of the events and stories set in motion in Startide Rising. This is a tasty morsel of a novel --- the kind where you roughly know where it is headed but is nevertheless a huge pleasure to read. While Heaven's Reach lacks the startling inventiveness of Startide Rising (and I don't blame Brin for that since it's hard to top "Startide"), it has enough characters, storylines and tangents to leave you musing about the "Uplift Universe" a long time after you're done with the book. For the first time (I think), Brin starts to bring in the other orders of sentient being --- hydro (Zang), machine, retired, mimetic, quantum and transcendent --- in a way that matters to the story. Brin answers some questions regarding the derelict fleet but leaves enough room for another trilogy. In fact, towards the end of the book, there are plenty of hints of more to come. Unlike Infinity's Shore (book 2 in the trilogy), most of Heaven's Reach takes place in space and not on Jijo. However, the hoons, glavers, tytlal, g'kek and humans of Jijo play an important role in the proceedings. Overall, I think Brin could have trimmed the story a great deal and enhanced it in the process. The principal new character, Harry the chimp and his trials and tribulations in E-level hyperspace (a place where your thoughts and reality are not that separate) were not very interesting. I never understood the emphasis on Alvin the hoon especially since he is not very important in the larger scheme of things. In trying to quickly finish reading the book, I didn't pay much attention to the events unfolding within the Jophur ship that's chasing Streaker because I didn't consider it important enough, and that turned out to be a huge mistake --- one that I deeply regret after finishing the book. And, I would have liked some mention of the skiff from Startide Rising. But these are small nits. Enjoy Heaven's Reach and rediscover "! ;Startide". That's what I'm doing right now.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful conclusion to an excellent series
Review: Brin's New Uplift Trilogy started a little slow with "Brightness Reef." With "Infinity's Shore," though, the slow parts from the previous book started tying together with threads of interest, and "Heaven's Reach" brought the series to an exciting, thoughtful conclusion that I could hardly put down once I picked it up. "Heaven's Reach" sweeps the reader along in breathtaking twists and turns, pulling together plot elements introduced as far back as in "Startide Rising," bringing things to an expected and epic conclusion. Anyone who has read any of Brin's work and enjoyed it should read this trilogy, and anyone who hasn't read Brin should start.
Rating:
Summary: Heaven's Reach - Will win Hugo, in my opinion
Review: To non-science fiction reading friends, I sometimes explain that at its best, science fiction is a literature of ideas that is limited only by the author's imagination in creating a self-consistent universe, that captivates and transforms the way the reader views the universe. Unfortunately, there are all too few books that are truly great science fiction. To this short list, I've added Heaven's Reach. The final book of his new Uplift Trilogy, Heaven's Reach is the rare example of the final book in a trilogy being the best of the three. Heaven's Reach moves faster, examines more ideas, and grips the reader, unlike few other novels. It disappoints only in that it ends, with the reader wanting more. Its plot twists and turns in ways that are unpredictable, and captivate the reader with their imagination. While some may characterized the Uplift Trilogy as space opera; I think these same folk would have castrated Wagner's Ring Cycle in his day as well. To these simple minded folk, I only nod my head in sadness, that they simply don't know what they're missing in their ignorance!
Rating:
Summary: Relatively Good Finish
Review: The hunted, mostly dolphin-crewed ship Streaker has finally escaped Jijo, after once again hiding under a planet's ocean to escape the fanatical Galactic clans that are after her secrets. Once again, her hiding place proves insufficient. To escape the mighty Jophur, Streaker flees her hidden enclave under Jijo's waters and once again breaks for the stars...this time picking up some of Jijo's native sooners to take along for the ride. Amongst the stars, Streaker discovers some unusual allies...and enemies, darting from strange alien structure to strange alien structure, to ultimately end up.....read the book and find out.....
Brin's final book in his Uplift saga answered a lot of questions I didn't know I had, and didn't, conclusively, answer several questions I was hoping to learn some answers to. Brin poses a lot of difficult, and very philosophical questions in Heaven's Reach, mostly with regards to a starfaring species senescence. What happens when a technologically advanced civilization becomes old and it's time for other, younger species to continue in its stead. Brin postulates some interesting theories to this concept. Two big questions Brin doesn't answer are who Herbie actually is (though why he's important is answered) and who humanity's lost patrons are. Brin not answering these questions kind of left me a bit irked. But Brin doesn't focus on these questions, and as you're reading the book, the questions he doesn't answer are in the back of your mind. What Brin expertly brings the front of your mind is his continued character development. The hardships the crew of the Streaker face...Gillian, T'sht, Kaa...and Streaker's newest members...Sara and Alvin and his friends. Lark, Dwer and Rety also make it into the story, though their tale is a bit different from the others.
All in all, this book is generally a good conclusion to the story that Brin composed in five previous books. There are certainly failings in the story, but they don't seems to outweigh the interesting characterizations of diverse alien species and even whole other life orders. At the end of the book Brin alludes to a possible continuation of the story of Uplift...I look forward to that day.
Rating:
Summary: Big finale pays off
Review: David Brin picks up the strands of his story and follows his characters off the surface of the planet Jijo and into the cosmos. The crew of the Streaker, pursued relentlessly by a powerful Jophur dreadnought, searches for someone that can be trusted with the terrible secret they have uncovered. This desperate adventure coincides with the prophesied Time of Changes, a suitably cataclysmic event that answers most of the questions raised in the series and leaves a pleasant sense of ambiguity surrounding some.
I do not share many of the misgivings voiced by others about this series. I felt that David Brin wrapped up his various plot threads in a fulfilling manner and provided a satisfying answer to the great mystery that drove this ambitious saga. I admit to being disappointed that Tom Orley and Creideiki never did turn up again in this narrative, but I have hopes of meeting them again in the next Uplift story that Brin has promised.
|
