I read Sundiver after hearing so much about Brin's Uplift trilogies. This is the first of these trilogies so I went in expecting so very ground breaking good science fiction. I must admit I was sorely disappointed. The basic premise is interesting enough. Brin creates a galaxy where no race has ever reached the stars (colonized beyond their own system) without the help of another species, Earth being the only possible exception to this. He uses this to set up a fairly interesting galactic political environment. Species aspiring to reach the stars have more of a servant class to those patron races that are helping them. Earth meanwhile has a freak/elite status being the only race to have done this on their own. They are the source of jealousy and envy at the same time from various other species.
The backdrop for this novel is probably the only thing that saved this book from being a complete disaster. The plot was a fairly weak mystery set within the setting of a ship making a historic expedition into the Sun. The characters were terrible and very cookie cutter. Brin does a terrific job of creating a totally intergalactic cast of characters full of a wide range of species (including even monkeys and dolphins who are mankind's attempt to sponsor a race) and then ruins it by more or less promoting the humans and human morales as the superior race and rules. Reading it, I felt like I was reading a doctrine of how great the human race is and how evil all other beliefs are except for those that agree with mankind. While I realize it is tough to create truly unique races and beliefs, to think outside of our own reality, Brin, just is horrible at it. Throw in a weak plot, and to be honest not that great of writing, to go with it and I barely made it through the book.
I personally wouldn't suggest this one to anyone, but from what I've heard it is the weakest of the series and the remaining books are very good. I haven't read them, but may eventually. However after reading this one I'm skeptical.
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