A review by peter_xxx
The Uplift War by David Brin

3.0

This is a 3.5 book actually. The Uplift war is a very classic SF book in the sense that the ideas and themes explored are more important than the characters and the story. All characters and all happenings in this book are means for the author to explore questions about nature, nurture and influence of biology on societal and cultural norms. Some very good ideas are explored here and this exploration also makes for very interesting aliens and alien cultures. But the focus of the story suffered from it a bit. Although I make it sound like there is no story, but that is also not true. It is just like in old fashioned SF that most characters react in a very controlled scientific way. They are very much creatures of reason. And most of the ones that are not meet a disastrous fate.

That being said Fiben is a character that I will probably remember for quite some time. This one was the best book in the Uplift saga so far for me. Not sure I want to continue since I heard that after this the series takes a turn for the worse.