Sundiver by David Brin, 1857233700, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Thrilling narrative with well-developed characters

David Brin's "Sundiver" stands out through taking an established idea -that of older, sentient, often alien races fostering the development of emerging sentient races- and constructing a thrilling narrative with well-developed characters around it. Not all his aliens and anthropomorphic - some are truly alien in novel and interesting ways and it's a pleasure to observe the differences in their thinking.
Jacob Demwa is not into politics, but a little persuasion by a good friend entices him to join an expedition to Mercury, where Earth's first sundives are taking place with both human and uplifted chimpanzee pilots and crews involving both humans and aliens. Political tensions run high, because humans are a wolfling race, having achieved spaceflight and considerable technological and scientific advance without the help of alien sponsors; humans an aliens are still negotiation terms of technological aid as well as humans' standing in the galaxy. Humans want to prove their science while some alien factions may turn out to have different agendas.
"Sundiver" is the first of the "Uplift" series and it's certainly made me want to buy the next one some time soon.

Another SF novel ruined by poor writing

The ideas in this book are interesting, but the writing is so very poor that you may find it impossible to appreciate their development.
I like SF, and am often affronted by the disdain it garners in the 'literary' press, but I'm afraid that this book satisfies every negative preconception going. Here's an example:
"At ten years of age, he recalled, he had wondered if 'eatee' implied that someone else was to be designated 'eaten'."
The first time I read this sentence, I tossed the book aside, laughing. How was this not picked up in the editing process? The antonym of 'eatee' (in the sense Brin seeks to give it) is 'eater'; 'eatee' and 'eaten' are synonyms! All that we can conclude is that this author has only the most tenuous grip on the English language, and cares little about it.
I recently picked it up again, determined to give it another try. On almost every page there were really basic errors, to the extent that I grew increasingly incredulous that this garbage was even published.
There is good SF out there, and I would suggest that you seek out Iain M Banks as an example of good writing in the genre. As for David Brin, perhaps he should stick to his scientific work, because he is most certainly not a writer.

A Phenomenal Read - Try this book

Sundiver is the best book I've read in the last 10 years.

If the premise of the book is at all interesting, I recommend trying the book.

This is my favourite book in recent memory because of the individual quality and interplay of many factors.

First, David Brin creates a very interesting story with entertaining and plausible twists.

Second, the universe David Brin creates is a complex, dense, and consistent society that is intriguing even for well read SF readers, yet this context does not supercede or overwhelm the story.

Third, Brin manages to to develop likeable (and detestable), full and rounded characters unlike almost all SF writers.

Fourth, the book effectively can be read as commentary on scientific development and cultural evolution, which is interesting in its content and expertly expressed in the detailed exposition. (I must admit I generally care nothing for this stuff, bur Brin does it so well, I became intered in it for this series. Also, this side of things only interested me after I had fully enjoyed what a great story it is with great characters in such a weird universe)

Fifth, the interplay of the above as well as Brin's creative approach give the book an overall richness and depth that is reminiscent of the best works of Tolstoy, Doestoyevsky, and Solzhenitsyn.

So far, I have only read the first three books in the series, since the books are so good that I want to space them out for as long as possible though I'm always very eager to read the next book.

I hope you enjoy these books as well. They are a very fun read.

INTRODUCTION TO UPLIFT

I have read the first three books of the UPLIFT Series so far. This book made me to read the other two. I was hoping to continue with the same characters but what i met was nearly totally different and much more better than the first book in the next two books of the series. YET, to understand the next books you need to read this. It is like "Introduction to UPLIFT THEORY" or "Elemantary UPLIFT THEORY". It is a prerequisite for the others.

A great introduction to the Uplift universe.

This book is the first of the universe of Uplift of David Brin. The story is located a couple of centuries before the facts of the other five books, and it shows the first steps of Earth in the difficult Universe of the Uplift. The wolfling human race and their clients begin to endure the hard task of surviving in the five galaxies without a patron.

Nice book, well written as anything I read from Brin till now. A complex story with lot of suspence and surprises, and a brilliant final solution. It is a must in every science-fiction fan bookshelf. After this, you would not hesitate to buy the other books of the Five Galaxies serie.

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