The Uplift War

Background: The Uplift War is the third in David Brin's Uplift Saga series, which currently spans 6 books. Each of the first three books stands on its own; I have not read the remaining books because I haven't bought them yet.

Synopsis: In the not-to-distant future (think several hundreds of years) mankind has joined the Galactic civilization as a junior race. Recently "uplifted" chimpanzees and dolphins have reached sentience and intelligence through the controlled genetic manipulation by humans, and have joined the Galactic civilization as so-called "clients" of humans. Humans, while low on the social totem pole, are envied by many races because of their possession of two client races--such recently civilized races such as humans are rarely allowed to uplift client species, and other, more senior races, wish to punish mankind. (Are you following this? This is just the background material.) So anyway, the setting is the planet Garth, which is jointly owned by humans and chimpanzees. But the evil Gubru decide to attack and quarantine Garth--will the humans prevail? Not likely. But will the Gubru be able to turn the situation to their longterm advantage and steal the chimpanzees away from their human patrons? You know, I really can't do this book justice in such a short review. Mr. Brin has created a rich and intriguing culture, and this book gives a glimpse of that culture through the eyes of humans and chimpanzees who must come to terms with and play by the rules of the Galactic civilization. Or perhaps not *quite* by the rules.

I recommend this book. You could read it on its own, but you'll probably understand it better if you read Sundiver and Startide Rising first. They give a little background information that really sets the stage for The Uplift War. And they are enjoyable books in their own right.