Brilliant book that wraps up many loose ends (also from Uplift Saga Startide Rising) and shows us the greater goal toward which many unrelated adventures have weaved through trilogy. Saga's ending is not something totally new, but it is unexpected. Through both trilogies author introduces many brilliant alien races, planet and space adventures, so that you want to keep on reading to see what happens next. It is good to see that humans are not demonized for gene manipulation and they are at least...

David Brin picks up the strands of his story and follows his characters off the surface of the planet Jijo and into the cosmos. The crew of the Streaker, pursued relentlessly by a powerful Jophur dreadnought, searches for someone that can be trusted with the terrible secret they have uncovered. This desperate adventure coincides with the prophesied Time of Changes, a suitably cataclysmic event that answers most of the questions raised in the series and leaves a pleasant sense of ambiguity surrou...

David Brin picks up the strands of his story and follows his characters off the surface of the planet Jijo and into the cosmos. The crew of the Streaker, pursued relentlessly by a powerful Jophur dreadnought, searches for someone that can be trusted with the terrible secret they have uncovered. This desperate adventure coincides with the prophesied Time of Changes, a suitably cataclysmic event that answers most of the questions raised in the series and leaves a pleasant sense of ambiguity surrou...

I have to admit I gave up on Brin at this point - after following the Streaker and its crew through six books and never finding out what they had discovered, I threw up my hands in disgust and moved on to more rewarding reading.

The six book series finally comes to an end. The Streaker has made a desperate bid to escape Jijo, drawing the Jophur ship away from the hidden world, hoping to destroy it and themselves in the new transfer point opening in space, taking Sara of Jijo with them. However, ships already there give them another chance to flee and attempt once more to get their information out to the galaxies. Trapped aboard the Jophur ship, Lark finds unlikely allies, while Dwer has to use his hunters skills in the

I consider David Brin one of the three best genre writers among those who started writing after 1970 (the other two are Lawrence Watt-Evans and Steven Brust; Barry Longyear might be on that list except I think he started writing before 1970, and I haven't seen anything new from him in quite a while. Barry Hughart would be on that list if he hadn't had to give up writing due to his idiotic publishers).I'm a huge fan of a lot of his work. His original Uplift trilogy is a favorite of mine. But I wa...

(In my best Majel Barrett voice.) Last time, on my review of the Uplift Storm Trilogy…… Alvin et al were rescued from their wrecked diving bell by none other than the submerged crew of the Streaker.… a Jophur starship landed on Jijo, capturing the Rothen ship and promising a slow, painful annihilation if the Jijoans did not divulge the location of the Streaker (if they did, the Jophur promised a swift annihilation).… to combat the Jophur threat and make good its escape, Streaker embarks on what

This is part of a grand trilogy that started with the Uplift War, Startide Rising and Sundiver, and while they share the same universe, they aren't required reaqding.This Trilogy about the world Jijo on the otherhand are all tied together and they weave a grand tapestry together about all of the loose ends from the previous three novels.In the end Brin makes his case for greatness and leaves you wanting more...

A good conclusion to an entertaining trilogy. Brin has created a wonderfully inventive universe, complete with multiple levels of reality and a whole panoply of fantastic species. There were even hydrogen breathing eatees, reminding me strongly of E.E. “Doc" Smith's Lensman series. There were also overtones of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, as the Old Ones approach black holes to pass on to the next level of “spiritual" development. The reluctance of some Old Ones to move along to make room...

The whole second "uplift" series by Brin, and especially this book, showcases both the inspiration and disappointment of sci fi. The imagination here is staggering -- he's actually created a whole Galactic sociology that kind of makes sense, a technically realistic way the universe could be full of life that all talks and interacts. I've read this book time and again for its scope -- hydrogen breathers, "transcendent" beings diving into black holes, etc.But the way it's written is a big disappoi...

Pretty awful. There are some good bits interspersed in a vast desert of boring thoughts and made-up metaphysical "explanations". Brin says that the "Uplift Storm" wasn't originally intended to be a trilogy, but he found that he had a lot to say. I beg to differ: it seems that he only had enough material for one and a half books, and he stretched it out across a trilogy by adding lots of boring filler. Most of the filler went into this book, and some into the second book. Only the first one was g...

Gah. I admittedly skipped from Book 3 of the Uplift War to this one because I wanted to find out what happened to the Streaker and it's crew and I didn't care about the new world of Jijo.Way to drag readers on for SIX BOOKS and not reveal what they found at the end. The only reason I'm not one-star'ing it is because the universe he's crafted is wonderful and this book continues that line.

The final book in this 6 book story is epic. Like most long space epics, the plot and ramifications grow and grow. The expectation for the eventual resolution grows in parallel. Usually this all deflates with a whimper instead of a good resolution. Heaven's reach does a great job of bringing the main plot to a truly epic conclusion with implications not just for one galaxy but for lots of them. Great book.

Storyline: 2/5Characters: 3/5Writing Style: 2/5World: 3/5In the author's afterward at the end of Heaven's Reach, Brin shares that "the Uplift Universe gives me a chance to experiment with all sorts of notions about starfaring civilization. And since it is unapologetic space opera, those notions can be stacked together and piled high!" (Exclamation in the original.). No, David Brin. Not at all. Stacking is the beginner's way of of constructing. Experts build. They integrate components, tie to fou...

THERE'S MORE TO SEE HERE.That's pretty much the takeaway from this. Brin "owes" us one more Uplift book or trilogy... right? I mean, he never got back to the half of the cast he left behind in Startide Rising. Maybe that's just how he rolls but still.HARSH.STILL.That closing paragraph. Grrr. I built this one up a bit too much internally, I think. It couldn't live up to what I what I wanted. That or it wasn't quite as good as it should have been. A little of both, most likely. Most series finales...

"Heaven's Reach", and in fact the entire "Uplift Storm" trilogy, is a shining example of just how devastating scope creep can be. There are so, so many interesting things in this book that frankly nothing really hangs together. And you can just forget getting any kind of closure with regard to the Egg, the Buyer, or really any of the events that occurred on Jijo. If you were holding out hope that you might find out what happened to Tom, Creideiki, and Hikahi, well your optimism is adorable. I ca...

Brin throws in a zoo of alien civilizations, many as the initial narrators. I was fascinated by the questions of environmental ethics throughout the series and they really take front stage in the second trilogy. In total, a top-notch work of modern sci-fi: if the Grand Masters were about physics (rocketships and space), Uplift is about biology and ecology, with smatterings of quantum, probability, and psychology.

David Brin delivers in this last novel of the Uplift Storm Trilogy. The hard science of Brin's world is much more in affect in this novel than in the previous two, and we're introduced to a few new characters. But it picks up exactly where Infinity's Shore dropped off. Though each subplot is tied off nicely, we never spend any time on Jijo, which was my favorite part of the novels. That's the main reason behind my 4-star rating, that little bit of disappointment.

After reading all 6 novels and the follow-up story from Brins Uplift universe "temptation" (All in a row!), I've come to the conclusion that Brin is not that great of a SF author as some people claim he is. The only thing that kept me reading his Uplift books was his creation of this fantastic universe. His notion of clans, uplifting species and the terran ("wolfling")clan surrounded by hostility had so much potential to begin with ... but alas, it was never meant to be.((WARNING some SPOILERS))...

Even better on a re-read. I picked up lots of detail that I either had forgotten or hadn't noticed on the first read. David Brin really let his imagination run loose. (view spoiler)[Earthclan triumphant against incredible odds! (With quite a lot of help from some seriously advanced entities.) (hide spoiler)]Solid 4 stars.Note: This trilogy is all one story. Start with the first book.Spoiler for an earlier book: (view spoiler)[I do wish David Brin would return to the planet Kithrup (Startide Risi...