I read Startide Rising about 30 years ago, back when it was first translated into Finnish. I remember it being a bit confusing and tedious to read. I did like it, later bought the first three books of the Uplift Saga in English and decided to reread it when I have time.

It took several years, and I'm happy to say it was a much more entertaining read than I anticipated.

Brin's Uplift world is full of ideas. The basis of sentient galactic species being part of a big happy family living on what past generations stored in the Library is an interesting concept, and it creates a conflict that makes strange bedfellows.

In case of Startide Rising, that conflict rises up as the first spaceship with a dolphin crew happens to find an armada of spaceships that is at least two billion years old. They get into trouble and then run into hiding in Kithrup, a forgotten waterworld.

I'll avoid spoilers here, but let's say the whole book is a study on the morality and effects of uplifting - genetically altering species into sentient and/or otherwise suitable form. The story is told from multiple points of view, where some of the characters and interesting and some... well, not so much.

The book is 35 years old, and sometimes it shows. Particularly the way men and women - or mels and fems - behave in the book: in addition to being a skilled, psi-wielding genius, Gillian is also described as being beautiful, occasionally getting naked and otherwise swimming around in bikinis. She's genetically matched to his man, Tom Orley, who's naturally even more magnificent.

That's another thing: Tom Orley, as Jacob Demwa in [b:Sundiver|96472|Sundiver (The Uplift Saga, #1)|David Brin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388176548s/96472.jpg|461555], is a true renaissance man who's assertive, invents things like MacGyver and is guaranteed to save the day, no matter what the problem is.

30 years ago this was the only book translated into Finnish. This time, I'm happy to immediately continue with the next book in the series.