Yes, I too am a David Brin fan from way back, although my first exposure to his writing was through the second book in what became The Uplift Series, (I won't explain the concept of Uplift anymore, as Alan has talked about it). But, for my tastes, I wouuld actually recommend to new users the second in the series of six books, called "Startide Rising," over and above Sundiver.
The series is currently made up of six books: Sundiver (1980), Startide Rising (1983), The Uplift War, Brightness Reef (1995), Infinity's Shore (1996), and Heaven's Reach (1998). (I myself have only read up to the fourth book.)
And, though many may not like this suggestion, I suggest that the newbie read the second book first, as it is the best in the series (it won the Huga and Nebula awards), and carries the notions of space opera to its expected apex. I myself think of Startide rising as an underwater version of Star Wars, with dolphins.
Sounds kinda hokey, right? But you better read it first, and I'm sure you'll get hooked. And, after reading Startide, THEN you read Sundiver.
I guess the reason I like the series is because of the ideas put forth. The most revolutionary of these concepts is of course the concept Uplift itself. The idea that a race gains stature by "uplifting" another race into intelligence through a centuries-long process of genetic manipulation is unique to say the least. And that the uplifted race may actually resent their "patron race" who may not actually be doing them a favor by making them thinking beings: is the price of sapience worth the millenia-long indenture (a more PC way of saying slavery, I suppose)?
Another is the concept of three galaxies - that is to say, that within the galaxy, there are three distinct "branches" of life that live apart from each other - the "oxygen breathers" (humans, etc.), the "hydrogen breathers" (the "ghosts" of Sol, etc.), and the robots. That these branches of life are so unlike each other, and that they live in different rates of time, that they rarely meet, or if there's a chance they'll bump into each other, they take enormous steps to NOT meet.
Third is the concept of a galaxy-wide belief in what they call the "Progenitors," which is a legendary race of beings that was the first to start the tradition of Uplifting, and the concept has become what amounts to a religion.
Fourth is the concept of "wolflings": In the traditions of the galaxy, all sentient beings trace their sapiency to a "patron" race that uplifted them, and that there are no intelligent races that came into their sapiency by their own merit, or through the heretical concept of natural selection or evolution. The fact that the Humans were the first intelligent race to be discovered who did not owe allegiance to any patron shakes the galactics' belief in the Progenitors. Furthermore, in Brin's universe, Humans are considered an uppity kind of race, because they had the arrogance and the bad taste to actually uplift races of their own! (Humans had two client races already even before they were discoverd by Galactic society - the chimpanzees and the dolphins, which is more than most.)
Though the concepts are indeed novel, the story itself is a potboiler page-turner in the best traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Alfred Bester. It cannot be read as a classic of the age, as a William Gibson book, but should be read as a Pournelle-Nivens or a Joe Haldeman yarn. In this way, I have to agree with Alan that Brin's style has a touch too much science over the fiction, but it is still emminently readable. Most of my favorite writers are academics like Brin: For example - Larry Niven is a scientist, Michael Chricton is a doctor. But far from detracting from his prose style, Brin's grounding in real science gives a more solid bedrock for his ideas than an Alfred Bester of the 1950's. At least, he doesn't go overboard with the theory as a Chricton, an Asimov or an Arthur C. Clarke would, for Ghu's sake!
Anyway... Getting back to the subject at hand. It's a cool book. Imagine: you are in a spherical-shaped ship that reflects all radiation so well that it looks like a gigantic crystal ball. Imagine: you're on a trip to the sun to observe herds of humungous gaseous hydrogen-based animals grazing in the sun's solar winds, ths solar storms reflecting on your ship's curve crystalline flanks. Imagine: a large white alien with large bug-like eyes and prehensile lips whose best friend is a little chimpanzee who can speak only with the aid of a keyboard and portable screen. Imagine: the heroes being a descendant of the American Indians and a sexy blonde as the pilot of your ship, and the enemy is a creature that looks like a teddy-bear.
Read it! you won't regret it!
