• The Uplift War

  • The Uplift Saga, Book 3
  • By: David Brin
  • Narrated by: George Wilson
  • Length: 27 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (682 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Uplift War  By  cover art

The Uplift War

By: David Brin
Narrated by: George Wilson
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $30.09

Buy for $30.09

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1988

David Brin's New York Times best-selling novels thrill listeners with their stirring adventures and intriguing speculation about humanity's future. Set in a universe where no species has reached sentience without the "uplifting" help of a patron race, the books delve into the greatest mystery of all: Who uplifted humankind?

Earth has been allowed to colonize the planet Garth only because its previous occupants went berserk and wiped out virtually all life there. But now humans, chimps, and their alien allies on Garth are being held hostage in a conflict that could affect the fate of the entire Five Galaxies. As a ragtag group of freedom fighters wage a desperate guerilla war, their only hope for victory lies in unravelling the elusive truth behind the legend of a hidden native species that could prove a powerful ally.

The Uplift War provides entertainment in the grandest tradition of science fiction, with exotic aliens, visionary action, and universe-encompassing mysteries.

©1987 David Brin (P)2001 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

  • Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1988

"The Uplift books are as compulsive reading as anything ever published in the genre." (The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction)

What listeners say about The Uplift War

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    382
  • 4 Stars
    207
  • 3 Stars
    69
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    333
  • 4 Stars
    149
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    325
  • 4 Stars
    135
  • 3 Stars
    46
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    7

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Uplift War

Excellent book, in my humble opinion at least as good or better than Startide rising his Hugo award winning Novel.
I just wish there were more in the same Universe available here...............................DJ

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

BIG ENTHUSIASTIC WOW

What an awesome trilogy. By the third installment the whole thing is on fire, great writting - marred only by occassional clunky narrative device, outstanding narration and what a story. Inspiring, spellbinding speculative fiction. This lifts Brin into the realm of the great masters: Clarke, Silversberg, Heinlien, Asimov.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very good book. Definitely worth listening to...

A very original sci-fi concept (uplift), very good story and good narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Inteligent

Intelligent & thought provoking - I like his world; A future with altruism and good breeding ;^)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Uplifted chimps against evil aliens

The Uplift War is the final installment of the Uplift Saga trilogy by David Brin. While book 1 dealt with humanity's early contact with the myriad aliens populating the five galaxies along with the mystery of how humanity was uplifted without a patron race as well as their own uplift projects and book 2 dealt mainly with uplifted dolphins, book 3 is focused on uplifted chimps on a formerly abandoned planet that becomes the leverage for an alien race to negotiate for location of the presumed progenitor fleet found in book 2. Following an invasion, the chimps, along with a few humans and a couple of alien allies manage a guerrilla action and eventually overcome the invaders.

Brin continues the theme of a universe, extending back millions of years where every sentient race has been uplifted from pre-sentience by someone else, all the way back to the progenitors who are long gone. The universe is governed by oppressive protocols that makes the European Union look like the wild wild west. Humans again are bending the rules and beginning to uplift gorillas (without permission). The invading race is an odd set of three leaders from the the three branches of their government where competition and success determine eventual procreation rights. There is much emphasis on cultural variation across races as well as significant cultural gaps that lead to much confusion. There's also a bit of dissonance as humanity operates on our time scale, while the rest of the universe behaves as if getting around to something in a couple of centuries is hurried.

The same narrator from previous volumes performs an exceptional job with a good range of characters as well respectable alien accents. Pacing is a bit on the slow side.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Nowhere near startide rising

So incredibly boring. I love brin but my god this was awful. The characters running around from place to place with no purpose, the fetishizing of big dumb war machines, the terribly dialogue... Just no good all around.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of Brin's best.

Great book. I read this book in back in the 1980's and had to add it to my Audible collection. The audio book really brought the characters to life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another different story, but same main story

This one is nice, it has a good story with the same main story going on in the background or foreground whatever its good.

Crazy stuff is going on now that the ship of uplifted Dolphins "Streaker" has stumbled upon something they shouldn't have, a whole planet has come under siege from many races trying to get to the info that they have - they don't even know what it is, they want to turn it over to the "galactic library" but cant figure out who because they get the idea that whoever they give it to isn't going to put it into the public library, they are going to keep it for them self.

There are some cool things here with the planet Garth and the species on it, I wish it was a little longer.

I liked this story a little better than the others but it wasn't perfect, it goes without saying that you don't really need much of a review here if you liked the first 2 you probably will like this one and the others after it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A True Classic Of SF

Amazing writing that has aged very well since it won awards. Buy the whole trilogy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

indivduals

making each individual stand out in the chapters. Attention to the details and making them flow together

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!