The Uplift War

When I started reading the Hugo and Nebula Awards, I was enjoying all of the fiction I was reading, but the last few have been quite disappointing. Thank God than, for David Brin and his excellent novel Uplift War.

This is not to say that Brin's book is of a literary quality on par with Fahrenheit 451 or even American Gods, but it is good classic science fiction. Uplift War has good pacing, engaging story and a fantastic setting.

The story itself takes place on a backwater world of large galactic society of the sort you would find in Star Wars or Star Trek. The setting has its own unique wrinkles, of course, and Brin does a good job of making them important to the story. The galactic society of the Five Galaxies is one of ancient oxygen breathing sentient races with unbending codes of conduct. War is brewing, and humans (who are new on the scene and not very well liked) are suffering greatly. None of these are the most important aspects of the setting, however. Sentience in this galaxy is a gift. Few races since the fabled Progenitors have ever achieved it on their own; instead they are uplifted by already sentient races who they then serve as indentured servants for great lengths of time. Humans themselves have already uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins to sentience by the time the story begins.

All of the details about the setting play into the story in a better than average manner, but at the same time there is definitely a sense of vastness and mystery to the galaxy. Hints about other societies that exist parallel to that of the Five Galaxies and other events going in the background make it seem like this is a real living universe, rather than one engineered to suit the story. This is the perfect balance for a science fiction story of this type, and Brin pulls it off masterfully.

The characters who inhabit it are enjoyable company for the reader. None of them are undyingly memorable, but they are also not infuriating. Also, while Uplift War is the third in a series, you don't have to read the others to follow, which is always a plus.

I highly recommend that anyone with an interest in science fiction pick up and read this book.