When book hunting at Green Hand, I wanted to find a book that was good in the sense that it had been awarded something or came highly recommended. After some digging, I came across US author David Brin’s Startide Rising which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (according to its cover). It is a sci-fi epic about a human expedition, led by dolphins that have been uplifted to human intelligence (there is also an uplifted chimpanzee scientist), that has uncovered secrets to the origins of life in the universe, a secret many alien empires are persuing and are fighting over in the space above the downed ship. On a water planet (conveniently for a crew of dolphins), the humans and company must survive and escape to Earth without getting captured with plenty of politics and competing philosophies at play. It is the typical “trapped with time running out” story that includes clear-cut heroes loved by all trying to do the best in the world they can. There are also comments on the process of uplifting and echoes of the consequences of playing God with nature that veer quite close to social commentary. That is what makes the book great with enough backstory to make Tolkien jealous and personal politics and strategizing to give Game of Thrones a run for its money with an interesting story. The downside, as the title suggests, is the weird moments of over-sexualization. I could’ve enjoyed the book just as much without the dolphin-human romance and the perspective of horny dolphin thoughts.

Overall, I’d recommend the book if you’re willing to take it with a grain of salt; it can be cringe-inducing at moments, but it does do a good job of making an entertaining sci-fi epic with some deeper thought if you want to go that far.

Citation: Brin, David. Startide Rising. New York: Bantam Books Inc., 1983.

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