Storyline: 2/5 
 Characters: 3/5 
 Writing Style: 3/5 
 World: 4/5 
 The Uplift universe is one of my favorite far future, alien abundant, military science fiction realms. Granted, the list of qualifying series might be small, thus this might be more of a backhanded compliment than I intended. I do, however, really like the scope and powers, timelines and actors that make up the background for the Uplift Saga. Brin as a storyteller I'm still not so sure about. 
 If Brin had used a different pen name for each of the Uplift books, I would have been tricked into thinking they were all written by different authors. Sundiver was simply out of control but still both creative and engaging. Startide Rising was chaotic and undisciplined but full of fun and luring promises of wonder. The Uplift War differs more from the second in the series than even the second did from the first. Here we get a Brin much more in control of the present story but a Brin that also loses momentum with the bigger Uplift Universe. The storytelling, while in many ways more focused than the previous two volumes, was often too obvious in direction and progression. When it wasn't obvious though it was preposterous or bewildering. I'm still not sure which of the Brin storytellers I like the most. 
 There are worse mistakes to make with a middle volume of a medium-length (six books) series. At least he didn't start a new and unrelated adventure with the sole purpose of extending the series. This was a reasonable - if slightly unsatisfying - worldbuilding novel. In truth, I liked a lot of what was here. The balances, though, tilted down on the side of fantasy, leaving the story a little too science fiction-light. A lot of the large scale - both temporally and spatially - elements that I'd come to look forward to were overlooked or held off as well. I just didn't get enough on the Uplift War from the book entitled "The Uplift War." That coupled with Brin's inability to bring the story to a meaningful ending left me with an average regard for this book.