Rating: 
Summary: ACC readers should join together and take down Lee!!
Review: I thought the book would have been wonderful except for the sex scenes! They didn't do anything for the book! Like Troy's stupid computer game, Gretta swimsuit, and that young man's problems with controlling his urges. How did that add to the plot?
The whole plott seemed juvenile. Like a child's book.
I don't think Clarke and Lee are compatable. They don't produce good quality books!
DON'T BUY A BOOK WITH GENTRY LEE'S NAME ON IT!!
Rating: 
Summary: Compared to the RAMA series, CRADLE redifines 'dull'...
Review: After having read the stunning RAMA series I aquired this... And what a let down it was... With the exception of the RAMA series, it seems that Clarke works best on his own. Not one of his memorable works by a longshot... There are occasional flashes of Clarke's ususal brilliance but otherwise it's really rather dull. Shame.
Rating:
Summary: Not one of Clarke's best works...
Review: Despite what many of the other reviewers said, I don't think Gentry Lee was the reason this book wasn't very good. He worked with Clarke on most of the Rama series, too, and those were some of the best books I've ever read. It seems to me that this book was a fluke. It was full of factual errors, which surprised me, since I've never found errors in any of Clarke's other works. This novel was basically a soap opera.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Gave up after 220 pages. Hidden plot, cardboard characters, disjointed storyline. Clarke must have had little to do with this yawner.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Gave up after 220 pages. Hidden plot, cardboard characters, disjointed storyline. Clarke must have had little to do with this yawner.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Concept, but Lee a Weak Link
Review: Having thoroughly enjoyed Clarke's solo works, especially Rendezvous with Rama, I thought I would give Cradle a shot as that story idea looked interesting. I would soon be disappointed however as I began sinking in the quicksand that is Gentry Lee. If you are looking for a really good science fiction book, you should pass on this one and continue your search. The first few hundred pages are filled with more-or-less pointless character development, clearly written by Lee, that would be perfectly at home in a Harlequin romance novel. A few pages of sci-fi, clearly written by Clarke, are interspersed so that the reader may be reminded that they paid $6 for a Clarke novel and not $2 for a grocery store romance tome. To be fair, I will admit that the general character interaction and background does come into play later on. But it just drags on and on and is littered with unnecessary sex scenes. I fail to understand Lee's obsession with writing about sex in the middle of a science fiction novel. Once would be OK, but after about the 4th time I found myself dropping the book and thinking "again?!" In addition, Lee's obsession with race, with each character being introduced as being black, white, Arab, Mexican, etc. is very annoying. The way that the race is then portrayed in the most cliché way is increasingly so. Lee may be an able and accomplished scientist, but his writing does not belong on the same pages with that of Arthur C. Clarke. For some reason, probably because I had paid 900 yen for the book, I decided to stick with it and see the story through to the end. Around page 250 (of 408 total) the book got interesting. From that point forward I found myself wanting to continue to see what would happen next. But 250 pages is a lot to plod through before hitting something worth reading. In the end, the book wasn't that bad. The story could have been rather good had Clarke gone at it alone and focused the book on the sci-fi. As is stands, the bulk of this novel has very little to do with! sci-fi. So all-in-all, Cradle disappoints. The back cover says basically that something terrifying lies at the bottom of the ocean and could mean the extinction of the human race. This whole concept lasts maybe a dozen or so pages at the end of the novel and is never terrifying. The "scary" part is introduced and resolved so quickly that there is hardly time to assimilate it. And as the final words were read, I found myself wondering if the duo had just grown tired of the story as it seemed to suddenly end with several issues unresolved.
Rating: 
Summary: Kept me interested
Review: I found it difficult to put this book down because I kept thinking that very soon I would read the information that would make the story crystal clear to me. That never happened but it was still an interesting story. What really kept pulling my attention away from the flow of the story were the references to Troy's color (black) and his touching and/or kissing Carol. What for? Also, Carol's constant assertiveness became boring and overdone. The aliens were the only characters who were 'normal.'
Rating:
Summary: Kept me interested
Review: I found it difficult to put this book down because I kept thinking that very soon I would read the information that would make the story crystal clear to me. That never happened but it was still an interesting story. What really kept pulling my attention away from the flow of the story were the references to Troy's color (black) and his touching and/or kissing Carol. What for? Also, Carol's constant assertiveness became boring and overdone. The aliens were the only characters who were 'normal.'
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I found this book to be enthralling. I had many other things to do but found myself completely absorbed by the characters and the story. I think the other reviewers are too into hardcore sci-fi to appreciate a good, well-rounded novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Weak Effort!
Review: I generally love Arthur C. Clarke, but I have never felt a book I paid for was so worthless. This book is far more about character development poorly done than the normal Clarke modus operandus of sci-fi well done. Spend your dollars elsewhere.
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