Brightness Reef (Uplift Storm Trilogy #1 aka The Uplift Saga Book 4) [B2177]

1995 HCDJ in very nice clean condition in a mylar-protected DJ. Hugo Award Finalist. Centuries ago, the Buyur race abandoned Jijo for the sake of restoring ecological balance. Now off-limits to settlers, it's warded by guardian machines who will protect the planet until the Institutes of the Five Galaxies declare Jijo ready-in another million years-for new civilization. But mere laws and guardians can't keep out the desperate. Clandestine bands of "sooners" have sneaked down to the lonely planet. Six intelligent races-all refugees-have bickered . . . then built a new society in the wilds of Jijo, hidden beneath forest canopies. Together they live in harmony-and in fear of the day their illegal colony will be discovered and judgment from the Five Galaxies will rain down upon them.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "So good! Slow start but worth it for sure, definitely the best Brin book I've read so far. He takes the Uplift idea and turns it on its head. I like the strangeness of the alien cultures and physiology, but most of all I love the way they learn to set aside their differences and work towards a common goal."; "Whilst I don't think it's necessary to have read the previous trilogy to understand the story going on here, there is an added level of context for those who have read the previous uplift stories."; "Brin is brilliant. Nobody can world-build as well as he can, and Brightness Reef, and the whole of the Uplift series for that matter, is no exception. Brightness Reef is long and at times ponderous and plodding, but full with invention and creativity. The storyline plods at first, suddenly picks up speed as it nears the end, and concludes with no real conclusion, which is a bit frustrating."; "An ambitious and intellectually rich novel with a dense, multilayered story, multiple point-of-view characters, intricate politics, interspecies alliances, and hidden motives. It's a book that asks a lot of the reader, especially early on, but rewards patience with a world teeming with linguistic invention, ethical dilemmas, and unexpected bursts of beauty and tension."