dub@CSvax:Pucc-H:pur-phy.UUCP (08/19/83)
David Brin's newest (second) book is called Startide Rising and
the only word I have for it is stunning. It is set in the same universe
as Sundiver (his 1st book) only a couple of hundred years in the future.
All of the strange aliens that we only get a glimpse of in Sundiver
are back in force and we see a lot more of their personalities (?)
as well as understanding more of Brin's galactic history.
For those of you who haven't read Sundiver, the galaxy is filled
with intelligent races; some old and some new. The way of the universe
is that older races find pre-sentient races and lend them a hand
on the road to becoming a spacefaring race. Of course, it is only
fitting that the "patron" race should expect a few hundred thousand years
of servitude from the "client" race. If fact, the galactic races are
so enthralled with this method of "uplift" that they can't imagine
intelligence arising any other way.
Enter humans. A race that actually evolved intelligence!!!
To beat that, before the Galactics contact them they've already got
client races of their own (certain Earth mammals). Humans run against
almost every grain of galactic logic (don't they always.) So into an
incredibly advanced and jealous universe comes the Human race. O.k.,
that sets the universe and both Sundiver and Startide involve how
Humans go around screwing up the Galactics.
Sundiver set the stage for Startide, but they are both very
separate books and the thing that I really enjoyed about Startide
was the humor it has. The aliens appear very, very deadly but some
of the things they do are so bizzaire. From the start of the book
it is made clear to the gentle reader that somewhere in the most
thrilling parts of the book suddenly a funny sentence will appear.
This might appear a rather silly thing for an author to do but Brin's
characters set the pace by making wise-cracks and teasing all the
way through the story (there is even a sarcastic computer.)
The technology presented in the book is also very rich. The
reader is not bombarded with heavy science talk, but the multitude
of little comments the author makes about gravitonics or probability
drives or about beings able to ripe the fabric of the universe apart
are intriguing and satisfying.
The bottom line is "read this book". It's going to a serious
contender for a Hugo.
D. Bartholomewromkey@MIT-CSR@sri-unix.UUCP (08/25/83)
From: John L. Romkey <romkey@MIT-CSR> Recently I was wandering around trying to find "White Gold Wielder" in paperback because someone mentioned that it was out. I never found it (which is just as well because I didn't really want to get depressed again), but I did find "Startide Rising" by David Brin, which had also been mentioned recently. "Startide Rising" takes place hundreds of years in the future. Mankind has "uplifted" dolphins and chimpanzees into sentience, and has found (or been found by) other races in the galaxy. These races are called the "Galactics", and some have been around for billions of years. Galactics have a habit of uplifting presentient species, genetically modifying them to suit their (the Galactics') own needs, and then indenturing them for millions of years to pay back the favor. The race which does the uplifting is the "patron" and the uplifted race the "client". There is a considerable amount of tension over the fact that humans seem to have no patron, and a number of Galactics would like to change that. Of course, we have other ideas. Unlike Galactics, we did not indenture dolphins or chimpanzees. Instead, they have become a part of the culture, though at times there is still some amount of "racism". The starship Streaker has a crew of ~150 dolphins, 7 humans and 1 chimpanzee, and made a most fascinating discovery. In fact, the Galactics are so interested in it that zillions of them come trying to wrest the secrets of the discovery away from Streaker, and it detours to the world of Kithrup for repairs while trying to avoid the Galactics. And I think that much more information would constitute a spoiler. I thought "Startide Rising" was one of the freshest books I've read in ages. It's great! The characterization and plot were both very well done, and all of the characters seemed quite real, even human. There were several sources of tension throughout the book, and they were well handled. The contrast between Galactics and humans (and humans' clients (and "current" humans, though not mentioned explicitly)) was interesting and well handled. I recommend it. It was a more than ample replacement for WGW (which I still haven't found). And anyone who thinks that SF name space is exhausted should take a look at the book. - John Romkey romkey@mit-csr
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (09/09/83)
#R:pur-phy:-86900:zinfandel:10800017:000:1125 zinfandel!berry Aug 30 11:04:00 1983 I second the positive review for David Brin's "Startide Rising". He should have a new story in next month's Analog, by the way. I would just like to add a few points about "Startide Rising": 1) I got the impression that it is not certain whether humans eveolved intelligence on their own, or their patrons abandonded them (or were wiped out, or forgot...) 2) The humans and dolphins have a colony world called "Calafia". Calafia is an ancient name for the "Island" off the west coast of North America more commonly called "California" (17th-18th century). It is also the name of the San Diego "chapter" of the Society for Creative Anachronism. David Brin teaches at Cal State San Diego. Get it? 3) The common term for a dolphin is "fin", as in "I need a fin to volunteer...". The plural is (I'm serious, so help me!) "fen". These types of humorous incidentals in no way detract from this excellent book. It is not cutesy like "Another FIne Myth" or "The flying sorcerers". It is just GOOD. Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (decvax!sytek!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900
Martin@YALE.ARPA (11/02/83)
From: Charles Martin <Martin@YALE.ARPA> I know there've already been too many messages about this book, but I can't resist. In the face of books like "Son of Foundation," "Son of 2001," and "The Nth Offspring of Lazarus Long," it's good to see a great new novel by a (relatively) new author. Startide Rising is without a doubt better than all of the preceeding. I thought those three were pretty hackneyed. Sure, it's great to curl up with a Heinlein--just put the brain on automatic, call up the Salty_Survivor_Type semantic analyzer, and turn the pages. Startide Rising, while not as smooth as the others, has much more in the way of ideas, new methods of characterization, etc...definitely the more interesting book. Anyway, get it. This would've had my vote for the Hugo last year, had it been in the running.