Tommorrow is a wide palate, especially when all we really have to guide us is what we have experienced and what we have seen of or read about others' experiences. Darwin once made the now-famous statement about evolutionary biology and the process (uncovered by both he and Russell Wallace) of natural selection, "there is beauty in this view of life". It is indeed true when seen through the eyes of David Brin. That Dr. Brin, an astrophysicist, imagines biology in a much different way and beyond the speciation of carbon-based, oxygen-breating life forms only amplifies the magnificence of "this view of life". Heaven's Reach culminates the second trilogy of Brin's "Uplift" saga; a fictional universe that he brings to life imagining not the sparseness of sentient life but its ubiquity. In this last chapter, Brin leaves Earth, a human "wolfling" race making its mark within a universe replete with galaxies brimming with so much life--oxygen-breathers, hydrogen-breathers, machine cultures, ancient and present--faring through space among muliple hyperspatial dimensions and so common across eons that it has resulted in galactic libraries of vast stored knowledge bases and "Institutes" that regulate war, commerce, and, even, travel among lanes of hyperspace where "navigation" must be negotiated among old and new sentient cultures. Earth as a relative newcomer, with only a few sentient life forms--neo-chimpanzees and neo-dolphins--becomes a foil for the political intrigues among the grander species so advanced that they can, in fact, "forget" previous methods of weaponry and tactics until they can consult the common "libraries" of the known galaxies. Surviving in such a vast "drama" is always tenuous, always uncertain, and never resolved. In truth, it is a story about evolutionary life seen from the point of view of uni-cellular organisms where ants "be the giants among us" and sentient animalia, "chemicalia", never mind "machinalia" are so beyond comprehension that
I consider David Brin one of the three best genre writers among those who started writing after 1970 (the other two are Lawrence Watt-Evans and Steven Brust; Barry Longyear might be on that list except I think he started writing before 1970, and I haven't seen anything new from him in quite a while. Barry Hughart would be on that list if he hadn't had to give up writing due to his idiotic publishers).I'm a huge fan of a lot of his work. His original Uplift trilogy is a favorite of mine. But I was disappointed by the first two books in his second Uplift trilogy. Heaven's Reach represents a significant improvement on those books.It might get a bit too cosmic (in the same way that his Kiln People did, towards the end), but it's a solid, intelligent, imaginative, and well-written book. Perhaps I like it more because the action takes place out on the space lanes, rather than being cooped up on the sooner planet of Jijo.Many mysteries are explained, and the resolution, while by no means tying up all the threads of the Uplift series, is quite satisfying. I plan to go back to the first two books in the trilogy to see if I like them better in the light of this book.And I'll be re-reading the entire first trilogy before too long, of course.
What do You think about Heaven's Reach (1999)?
(In my best Majel Barrett voice.) Last time, on my review of the Uplift Storm Trilogy…… Alvin et al were rescued from their wrecked diving bell by none other than the submerged crew of the Streaker.… a Jophur starship landed on Jijo, capturing the Rothen ship and promising a slow, painful annihilation if the Jijoans did not divulge the location of the Streaker (if they did, the Jophur promised a swift annihilation).… to combat the Jophur threat and make good its escape, Streaker embarks on what
—Ben Babcock
Brilliant book that wraps up many loose ends (also from Uplift Saga Startide Rising) and shows us the greater goal toward which many unrelated adventures have weaved through trilogy. Saga's ending is not something totally new, but it is unexpected. Through both trilogies author introduces many brilliant alien races, planet and space adventures, so that you want to keep on reading to see what happens next. It is good to see that humans are not demonized for gene manipulation and they are at least given a chance to justify their path to be cosmic race. On the other hand author draws our attention to environmental situation on Earth. One thing which annoyed me during both trilogies is that some facts about universe are taken for granted and not enough background information is provided.
—Elar
THERE'S MORE TO SEE HERE.That's pretty much the takeaway from this. Brin "owes" us one more Uplift book or trilogy... right? I mean, he never got back to the half of the cast he left behind in Startide Rising. Maybe that's just how he rolls but still.HARSH.STILL.That closing paragraph. Grrr. I built this one up a bit too much internally, I think. It couldn't live up to what I what I wanted. That or it wasn't quite as good as it should have been. A little of both, most likely. Most series finales leave me with more than this one did. I mean, we get most of the resolutions... but some of them felt pretty rushed: what the hydros did to some of the oxys (I mean, is it transcendence if it's forced? That doesn't seem right at all) and the Streaker's portion of the finale, for two. I did like how Lark and Ling's portion of the finale kind of puts everything into an even crazier perspective.MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, indeed. Even gods...Brin's (trademark?) habit of having important things happen off panel continues as well. Sometimes it works, but most of the time here it felt off to me (the traitor's capture, the Terran's parallel discovery of Sara's amazing discovery - I get why that would be the case, but... it felt like something was missing still).Oh. and [SPOILER] doesn't die. GRRR. But [SPOILER] does. Which made me a little sad.THREE AND A HALF STARSBecause there was a ton of cool here - big ideas and impossibly big explosions - but it felt like they all needed more room to breath. This probably should have been a quartet instead of a trilogy.
—Onefinemess
