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This book has been sitting on my physical bookshelves since 2007. I'm pretty sure I got it from my mother as an example of "classic science fiction." I love the concept of this book--that every intelligent species became intelligent through intervention by a more advanced alien species. There's so many cool ideas floating through this simple idea, many of which aren't especially well executed here in this first book. I've heard that the series improves in the next couple of books. The second book won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. The third book also won the Hugo.
In addition to the clever idea of uplift, this book also plays around with mystery tropes. There's a big reveal scene similar to what you'd find in a Hercule Poirot novel, but it's clearly referential and Brin makes the trope his own. In fact, I might have liked this book better if it had ended with the solving of the mystery instead of continuing on for what felt like two or three more possible endings.
I listened to the audiobook and wasn't overly impressed with the narrator. If it's the same narrator for other books in the series, I may need to switch to print. Overall, this book should have translated well enough to audio format, but I don't recommend this narration.
In addition to the clever idea of uplift, this book also plays around with mystery tropes. There's a big reveal scene similar to what you'd find in a Hercule Poirot novel, but it's clearly referential and Brin makes the trope his own. In fact, I might have liked this book better if it had ended with the solving of the mystery instead of continuing on for what felt like two or three more possible endings.
I listened to the audiobook and wasn't overly impressed with the narrator. If it's the same narrator for other books in the series, I may need to switch to print. Overall, this book should have translated well enough to audio format, but I don't recommend this narration.