Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, Book 2) - The Library of the Uncommons

mass market paperback, 496 pages

English language

Published March 1, 1984 by Spectra.

ISBN:: 978-0-553-27418-9
OCLC Number:: 29410988

(7 reviews)

David Brin: “Startide Rising” (1983) This is a sci fi story about a Terran (Earth) crew of neo-dolphins and humans on the starship “The Streaker”.
Their mission is to find information about the first Galactic race, which existed billions of yeas ago. The neo-dolphins are dolphins which have gone through the "Uplift" process, which creates through genetic engineering more intelligent sentient beings. For the neo-dolphins, this is also a test of their ability to apply their intelligence, knowledge and skills to Galactic space travel and exploration. The Terrans find an ancient fleet of starships, and on a nearby planet, an ancient (human)? skeleton. There are other Galactic races, who are also keen to find information about the first Galactic civilization. Their hot pursuit of the Terrans forces “The Streaker” to land on the planet Kithrup, whose watery environment and atmosphere are similar to Earth. Above the planet, the starships of …

David Brin: “Startide Rising” (1983) This is a sci fi story about a Terran (Earth) crew of neo-dolphins and humans on the starship “The Streaker”.
Their mission is to find information about the first Galactic race, which existed billions of yeas ago. The neo-dolphins are dolphins which have gone through the "Uplift" process, which creates through genetic engineering more intelligent sentient beings. For the neo-dolphins, this is also a test of their ability to apply their intelligence, knowledge and skills to Galactic space travel and exploration. The Terrans find an ancient fleet of starships, and on a nearby planet, an ancient (human)? skeleton. There are other Galactic races, who are also keen to find information about the first Galactic civilization. Their hot pursuit of the Terrans forces “The Streaker” to land on the planet Kithrup, whose watery environment and atmosphere are similar to Earth. Above the planet, the starships of the other Galactic races fight each other.
On Kithrup, the dolphins and humans begin repairs to the Streaker, and to explore the ocean, and the inland area of their landing site. They discover an aboriginal species living amongst the trees and lakes inland. There is evidence that there has been another Galactic race on the planet in the very distant past.

Within the crew of the Streaker, tensions and conflicts develop on how to escape from Kithrup. The story centers on individual human and dolphin characters, and their struggle to survive and eventually to return to Earth with their very important findings. The story becomes one about courage, determination, friendship, love, and betrayal, both for the humans and the dolphins. Main human characters: Gillian Baskin, Tom Orley, Ignazio Metz. Main neo-dolphins: Captain Creideiki; Hikahi; Keepiru; Makanee; Takkata-Jim.

14 editions

Conbini reviewed Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, Book 2) by David Brin

Review of 'Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, Book 2)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

second book set in the Uplift universe...

short plot description: the surveyship Streaker, manned by a mostly uplifted-dolphin crew (with one uplift-chimpanzee and a handful of humans) makes an important discovery which may well change galactic history. Unfortunately some other factions begrudge the humans this discovery and after an ambush which damages the ship the crew takes refuge on the planet Kithrup, trying to repair their damaged ship and find a way to escape the aliens. But the dangers are not only external, some members (both human and uplifted) have their own agenda and the planet itself also has some surprises in store...

my thoughts: actually quite good,the Uplift universe gets some further fleshing out with both more insights into the alien races (patrons and clients) and the human-uplifted species.

Minor gripes: the plot felt in places weighed down with too many subplots, some parts could have been cut out …

second book set in the Uplift universe...

short plot description: the surveyship Streaker, manned by a mostly uplifted-dolphin crew (with one uplift-chimpanzee and a handful of humans) makes an important discovery which may well change galactic history. Unfortunately some other factions begrudge the humans this discovery and after an ambush which damages the ship the crew takes refuge on the planet Kithrup, trying to repair their damaged ship and find a way to escape the aliens. But the dangers are not only external, some members (both human and uplifted) have their own agenda and the planet itself also has some surprises in store...

my thoughts: actually quite good,the Uplift universe gets some further fleshing out with both more insights into the alien races (patrons and clients) and the human-uplifted species.

Minor gripes: the plot felt in places weighed down with too many subplots, some parts could have been cut out (maybe published as short stories ?), also the plot felt in places overly complicated and the permanent point-of-view jumping was sometimes getting on my nerves, especially when we jump, get 5 lines of text and then jump again.
The characters felt mostly believable but some felt flat and the "ultracompetent" cliche is also found.