Sundiver

As a huge fan of the novel Startide Rising and a big fan of the sequel The Uplift War, I thought it was important to track down the first book in the series. So I settled in with Sundiver.

But it isn't exactly the first book in the series. It is a prequel, written after the fact. Not that it should be particularly important, whether a novel is a prequel. I'm sure that there are prequels that are good. Well - pretty sure, maybe. I would think it would be very rare indeed to find a prequel that was actually as good as the original work.

Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov comes to mind. But it's very hard for me to judge, because I really really wanted it to be good, or at least okay. After many decades of following the chronicles of Hari Seldon, it was almost unimaginable that this book wouildn't be good. I was definitely not an unbiased observer. I was right there in the box with Schrodinger's cat when they opened the box.

To sum up - I would recommend giving Sundiver a miss. I read the first 2 novels, plus the second trilogy, plus even the sequel novella that David Brin wrote later on for Robert Silverberg's Far Horizons anthology. So - do yourself a favour - give it a miss.

My rating system: I begin with one star being equivalent to a rating of "C -". Progressing upwards, I add ½ star for each step, up to the maximum 5 stars, which is equivalent to a rating of "A"+. I reserve ½ star for BOMBS, there being no option of zero or negative stars.