Science Fiction Book Review Podcast · Luke Burrage

SFBRP #578 – David Brin – Startide Rising – Uplift Saga #2

·32 min·2 clips

Luke says David Brin's Startide Rising is “just boring” and he couldn’t get through it.

1. Science Fiction Book Review Podcast #578 focuses on David Brin's Startide Rising and its place on the SFBRP must-reads list. 2. Luke Burridge hosts the episode as a solo recording while he is away on a five-week work trip, and Juliana is back at home. 3. The episode asks whether Startide Rising still deserves a spot on the SFBRP must-reads list after a reread. 4. Luke says the book won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Locus Award, which is why he expected it to qualify. 5. He explains that the list is built from science fiction novels he has already reviewed and rated highly on SFBRP. 6. He compares Startide Rising with earlier rereads such as The Hunger Games, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Inversions, and Anathem. 7. He also says he re-listened to his 2014 SFBRP episode 238 about Startide Rising before recording this update. 8. Luke says Startide Rising begins with almost no explanation of Uplift, despite his expectation that it would explain the Uplift system. 9. He describes Uplift as a process where a species is genetically and culturally pushed toward intelligence and tool use. 10. He connects that idea to other books and authors he mentions, including Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time and its intelligent spiders, ants, crows, and octopuses. 11. Luke says the novel starts in the middle of a space adventure involving the spaceship Streaker, ancient ships, and other aliens already chasing the crew. 12. He argues that the opening action is mostly told rather than shown, and that the book then shifts into dolphins, humans, and an ape before much happens. 13. Luke repeatedly calls the structure a side story of a side story, saying even individual scenes feel detached from the main action. 14. He says the book's scale makes it hard to care, because events are framed across millions of years rather than the time span humans usually use for stories. 15. Luke says the book's treatment of races and species feels uneasy to him, especially when he maps it onto modern ideas about race. 16. He also says the women characters are described in terms of attractiveness and body parts more often than the men, which he finds rough to read in a 1983 novel. 17. Luke says the episode is a solo meta-review, so he can move quickly through his notes without stopping for follow-up questions. 18. He describes the pacing of the audiobook as slow enough that he was checking how many hours remained and deciding not to continue. 19. People interested in SFBRP's must-reads list and Uplift Saga debates would probably like this episode. 20. People wanting a straightforward praise review of Startide Rising should probably skip it.

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