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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
Not a smooth start for this fan-favorite series. The book strikes at least 4 very different tones as it plunges forward in ambitious world-building and bold speculation. I wasn't interested in what I was reading until well beyond 30% of the way in - but I held on b/c the second and third installations both earned Hugos among other accolades.
I'm not the most well-read sci-fi guy I know, but I saw hints of Foundation, Star Trek, and the science-based trappings of Clarke.
Not a book where answers are handed to you on a silver tray - but not a "hard science" labyrinth either. Ultimately a layer murder/political mystery where you can seldom trust your impressions of the characters you come to know.
I couldn't recommend this book to a casual friend - but a I would to a friend that I know would follow through and dig into the books that follow (where there is, I'm all-but-certain, improvement upon some of the ideas introduced in Sundiver).
I'm not the most well-read sci-fi guy I know, but I saw hints of Foundation, Star Trek, and the science-based trappings of Clarke.
Not a book where answers are handed to you on a silver tray - but not a "hard science" labyrinth either. Ultimately a layer murder/political mystery where you can seldom trust your impressions of the characters you come to know.
I couldn't recommend this book to a casual friend - but a I would to a friend that I know would follow through and dig into the books that follow (where there is, I'm all-but-certain, improvement upon some of the ideas introduced in Sundiver).
The book has its problems---particularly a sub-plot regarding our hero's past that is totally inconsequential, and bogs down the main storyline---but I generally enjoyed the novel. The aliens are convincingly alien, there's some fun politicking, and the science was relatively well presented (though I'm not qualified to comment on its accuracy).
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Strangely old fashioned - and I don't mean because it was published in 1980, it is actually redolent of much older scifi, E. E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensman books or perhaps Journey Into Space, especially the clumsy exposition. The prose, dialogue and characters are quite stilted. The hissing speech impediment of one of the aliens was instantly annoying, and just got more so. Framing the whole story in a locked-spaceship murder mystery didn't help.
Not sure if I'll continue with the series.
Not sure if I'll continue with the series.
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
Sundiver is a strange mix of pulp detective novel and space exploration with a good dash of first novel thrown in. It has some interesting concepts, mostly the uplift stuff, but the main plot is a little too manufactured around "twists" to be really enjoyable.
An uneven book where the story feels too small for the world it inhabits. The technological aspects and the descriptions of a spaceship travelling through the sun's photosphere were the best parts. The characters were somewhat flat, and the story devolved into a kind of half-baked Scooby Doo mystery.
The scale of the book is somewhat space-opera-y with a universe teeming with multiple alien species arranged in an extremely old and complex hierarchy. Evolved species have developed the ability to evolve non-sentient species into sentient species, creating a web of patron-client relationships stretching back two billion years to the Progenitors. Relative status is based on a species' evolutionary lineage. Earth is newly initiated into this group as a bit of an outlier, as they are one of a very few known species to have possibly achieved sentience without the help of a patron. They have to carefully balance the benefits of access to amazing technological advances with the threat of becoming overly dependent on or controlled by alien cultures. This is complicated by competing social factions that either completely revere alien societies and believe that Earth's alien patron is as yet unknown or believe that Earth achieved sentience alone and generally eschew alien technology or interference.
Earth has had a number of global shakeups, with the former government system, known as the "Bureaucracy" being overthrown in favor of the new "Confederacy." It's honestly not all that clear what the differences between these two governments are, as the most controversial aspect of the former, a system of identifying and restricting the rights and movement of potentially violent or deviant citizens, was carried over into the latter.
If the contents of the last two paragraphs had been more important to the plot of the novel, I would have been much happier. Instead, it served largely as backdrop for a rather simple space adventure/mystery. Some of the characters were interesting, particularly Kanten Fagin, but overall I found their interactions to be frustratingly simple. There was also a frustrating amount of sexual objectification regarding Jacob's interaction with Helene. The romantic subplot between the two had me groaning and rolling my eyes more than once.
The sequel to this book won pretty much every major SF award, so I guess I will give it a try. But it's going to need to a whole lot better than this book, or I might have to permanently sideline Brin from my reading list.
The scale of the book is somewhat space-opera-y with a universe teeming with multiple alien species arranged in an extremely old and complex hierarchy. Evolved species have developed the ability to evolve non-sentient species into sentient species, creating a web of patron-client relationships stretching back two billion years to the Progenitors. Relative status is based on a species' evolutionary lineage. Earth is newly initiated into this group as a bit of an outlier, as they are one of a very few known species to have possibly achieved sentience without the help of a patron. They have to carefully balance the benefits of access to amazing technological advances with the threat of becoming overly dependent on or controlled by alien cultures. This is complicated by competing social factions that either completely revere alien societies and believe that Earth's alien patron is as yet unknown or believe that Earth achieved sentience alone and generally eschew alien technology or interference.
Earth has had a number of global shakeups, with the former government system, known as the "Bureaucracy" being overthrown in favor of the new "Confederacy." It's honestly not all that clear what the differences between these two governments are, as the most controversial aspect of the former, a system of identifying and restricting the rights and movement of potentially violent or deviant citizens, was carried over into the latter.
If the contents of the last two paragraphs had been more important to the plot of the novel, I would have been much happier. Instead, it served largely as backdrop for a rather simple space adventure/mystery. Some of the characters were interesting, particularly Kanten Fagin, but overall I found their interactions to be frustratingly simple.
Spoiler
Especially disappointing was the main characters "split personality" disorder, which largely seemed to serve as a convenient plot device to allow him to perform needed actions. It became even more disappointing at the end when it was posited that, hey, maybe he didn't have a split personality after all, just an overactive imagination(!)The sequel to this book won pretty much every major SF award, so I guess I will give it a try. But it's going to need to a whole lot better than this book, or I might have to permanently sideline Brin from my reading list.
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The ideas are interesting and well-written but the old-timie sci-fi misogeny lost this book two whole stars.
This is a classic that I have been meaning to read for a very long time now. I finally got around to it and was not disappointed. It did feel like the never-ending story towards the end though, because it kept ending, but then aha! It's not the end! There's another twist! But it was all very interesting, so forgiven. I will listen to the sequel right away, because I'm afraid I will forget the details and who knows if it's important to sweat the details for the sequel. Anyway, the 2nd book is the one that won the Hugo/Nebula (or whatever) and the one I really wanted to read.