I’ve just finished the third of David Brin’s Uplift books.

They’re extremely good.

Sundiver concerns humankind, with the nascent sapient races of neo-chimpanzees and neo-dolphins at its side, ‘cooperating’ with a range of extraterrestrials on a research project into Earth’s sun. (Don’t let me oversell the presence of Earthling clients in this title, which mainly concentrates on the Galactics and humans, but it’s definitely worth starting here to set the scene.)

Startide Rising deals with the first mission of a spaceship crewed almost entirely by dolphins—still a very young work-in-progress client species and completely unequipped to deal with the thing they stumble upon.

And The Uplift War is set in a colony of humans and chimps, slapped with the military repercussions of events half a galaxy away while there are secrets of their own they’d rather like to protect from Earth and the other Galactics.

‘Biological uplift‘ is a new phrase to me, but the concept’s dear to my teeth… after all, ‘talking animals’ have lived comfortably in this mostly-chimp’s thoughts long before I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardbrobe. Despite the obvious attraction of having a swim with a friendly talking dolphin, genetically engineering fellow species for intelligence and other traits valuable to humans is never going to be a bowl of blueberries. Brin’s books have an excellent way of winkling out all the meaty ethical puzzles, while the politics and general argy-bargy is all too believable… probability drives, hyperspace and bureaucratic birds notwithstanding.

Although there are plenty of aliens to enjoy (special mention to Kanten and Pila, because really, who could fail to enjoy jangling broccoli-beasts and teddy bears?), much of the charm comes from the characterisation of races closer to home. The dolphins’ way of expressing themselves through trinary ‘haikus’ is apt to get stuck in the head, and if I hadn’t been won over long before the third book, hearing a chimp swear “for Goodall’s sake” would’ve clinched it.

In terms of the overall tone, there are no long passages of boring exposition to plough through; you can jump right into the story. Any new vocabulary is naturally extrapolated from English (except certain alien and dolphin concepts), and is introduced in context. You’re not talked down to, over-explained at or bored with incongruous dollops of aren’t-I-so-clever worldbuilding, which works for me. (Book two does have a glossary at the end, which I didn’t notice until I got there, but didn’t need.)

Especially nice is the general tenor of the universe, which is both environmentalist and ultimately optimistic. I feel I have to give it a rest before starting the next three books, or I won’t get anything else done at all.

Meanwhile, here on this bit of Earth, it’s snowing!