Startide Rising

Paperback, 356 pages

Published May 25, 2021 by Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy.

ISBN:
978-1-5040-6472-9
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3 stars (4 reviews)

David Brin: “Startide Rising” (1983) This is a sci fi story about a Terran (Earth) crew of neo-dolphins and humans on the starship “The Streaker”.
Their mission is to find information about the first Galactic race, which existed billions of yeas ago. The neo-dolphins are dolphins which have gone through the "Uplift" process, which creates through genetic engineering more intelligent sentient beings. For the neo-dolphins, this is also a test of their ability to apply their intelligence, knowledge and skills to Galactic space travel and exploration. The Terrans find an ancient fleet of starships, and on a nearby planet, an ancient (human?) skeleton. There are other Galactic races, who are also keen to find information about the first Galactic civilization. Their hot pursuit of the Terrans forces “The Streaker” to land on the planet Kithrup, whose watery environment and atmosphere are similar to Earth. Above the planet, the starships of …

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Review of 'Startide rising.' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Initial bad prose and slow pace give way to a serviceable space operatic thriller. There's some irony in humanity being portrayed as having left racism behind when the author only mentions the skin colour of one human character. You guessed it - that person is black. This is subtle, unconscious and no doubt would mortify Brin if ever brought to his attention, but it illustrates that our biases are deep-rooted and often hard to identify in oneself. I say "human character" because there are a majority of non-human characters, ranging from genetically enhanced dolphins to numerous aliens.

The humans and other Earth-originating species (there's an enhanced chimp as well as all the dolphins) are considered somehow superior to almost all the alien species despite being upstarts, space-faring for mere centuries rather than hundreds of millenia. The main reasons for this are given as being scientists and not relying solely on …