Cradle

I felt the writing was subpar,especially for an Arthur C Clarke novel (co-written by Gentry Lee).
However, this was an entertaining tale with suprising subject matter, plot and characters. It certainly presents and interesting premise.
I felt the characters were well crafted, though I felt Greta (German amazon) was a bit overdrawn.
Though the novel was long, when I came to the end, I wanted a bit more. I think another chapter to show us how the world/characters were impacted by this great story would have benefited this story significantly. ( )

Unfortunately, while this book has an interesting premise, the characterisation is pathetic. The way people in this book talk and think is totally unbelievable.

I gave up on it well before the 100 page point. ( )

A bit disjointed. Some good ideas but the thriller part wasn't handled that well. Some of it seemed a bit Rama-like. I didn't find the characters very believable. ( )

http://www.saltmanz.com/blog/2006/11/book-read-cradle.html

Yesterday (11/02/06) during lunch, I finished my most recent book: Cradle, by Arthur C. Clarke and Genry Lee.

This is same team that wrote the last 3/4 of the Rama series (following Clarke's standalone classic, Rendevous With Rama). Those were good books. Cradle, which was written a couple of years before the Rama sequels, is not.

Not that it's a terribly bad book. I was entertained for almost all of the 408 pages. But I'd never read it again. The book is basically a character study on the 3 protagonists, with the odd chapter of sci-fi alien stuff thrown in every hundred pages or so. Contrary to most reviews I've read, I actually found the characters engaging, and the sci-fi bits to be clunky and confusing. What little plot there is involves Carol (a reporter) hunting down a lost Navy missile somewhere off the Florida Keys. To do this, she charters a boat run by Nick and Troy. They go diving and find something odd, butt heads with some rival treasure hunters, and try to avoid the Navy. It's not as exciting as it sounds.

Every main character has had one emotionally-traumatic experience in their past, and the authors take a chapter or two out of the story to replay this. Most maddening is the Navy Commander: his personal life and problems are dwelt on perhaps more so than any of the protagonists, and yet he has almost zero impact on the story. At first, the dialogue felt forced an unnatural, but either it got better, or I just grew accustomed to it.

The aliens' side of the story is told in 3 or so single-chapter chunks, spaced out regularly throughout the book. But they're confusing, written in terms that manage to sound advanced yet wholly generic at the same time, and go on far too long for the scant information they provide. Eventually, near the end of the book, there's interaction between the aliens and the main characters, but you can already tell that there's not enough book left for anything to really happen. And it doesn't. The book even manages to end abruptly, after dragging on and on, plot-wise. No resolution or denouement; just the climax, and then "The End". Heck, my copy ends on the back of the last page, which means I hit the last sentence in the book, and then: back cover. Rather jarring, to tell the truth.

Like I mentioned earlier, though, the characters were decent. Even if they were annoying or artificial-feeling to begin with, I got wrapped up in their adventures and cared about what happened to them, even if their stories didn't actually go anywhere.

I won't likely ever read this again, and I can't in good conscience recommend it. I'll give it 1.5 out of 5 stars. ( )

A great romp with a filmic quality to it - which was obviously understood by the authors as there were "Credits" at the end! Not as good as A Fall of Moondust which I read immediately before and started me off on a sci-fi binge, but it entertained, kept me guessing and had some interseting ideas. ( )