Cradle

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not the best work from this pair
Review: This novel is definitely not the best work out of the collaboritive efforts of Gentry Lee and Arthur Clarke, but it's still a pretty good novel. The story is almost a mystery with some aspects of military intrigue thrown in for good measure, and as you would always expect aliens. The story is about a group of zoo-keeping aliens that crashland a ship filled with animals they are trying to return to their native habitat. I actually found the aliens story more interesting than the story being told from the perspective of the humans on earth. However we are only given small snippets of what the aliens are doing every now and then. I think a full length novel could be written about these zoo-keeping aliens that Clarke begins to describe but never fully finishes talking about. I think Clarke has done one of his best efforts yet at polishing his characters and making you truly feel a connection with them. From the general who moonlights as an actor, to the female journalist who is searching for a person to connect with, to the software guy who is afraid his girlfriend is showing him up. That being said, the characters still feel somewhat one-sided and the story as a whole seems to be extremely rough and unfinished. There are several plot elements that get introduced and somewhat resolved but never get tied in to the main plot. The only rationale I can concieve of for this is that they are meant to be viewed as a parallel story to one of the vignettes about the alien ocean animals that try to mate across a large barrier. Many of the stories in this novel could be viewed as explanations of how humans often try to do the same thing and fail. However that seems to be stretching the intent fairly thin. Overall this is still an okay story in its own right and the vignettes are interesting even if they never lead us anywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not the best work from this pair
Review: This novel is definitely not the best work out of the collaboritive efforts of Gentry Lee and Arthur Clarke, but it's still a pretty good novel. The story is almost a mystery with some aspects of military intrigue thrown in for good measure, and as you would always expect aliens. The story is about a group of zoo-keeping aliens that crashland a ship filled with animals they are trying to return to their native habitat. I actually found the aliens story more interesting than the story being told from the perspective of the humans on earth. However we are only given small snippets of what the aliens are doing every now and then. I think a full length novel could be written about these zoo-keeping aliens that Clarke begins to describe but never fully finishes talking about. I think Clarke has done one of his best efforts yet at polishing his characters and making you truly feel a connection with them. From the general who moonlights as an actor, to the female journalist who is searching for a person to connect with, to the software guy who is afraid his girlfriend is showing him up. That being said, the characters still feel somewhat one-sided and the story as a whole seems to be extremely rough and unfinished. There are several plot elements that get introduced and somewhat resolved but never get tied in to the main plot. The only rationale I can concieve of for this is that they are meant to be viewed as a parallel story to one of the vignettes about the alien ocean animals that try to mate across a large barrier. Many of the stories in this novel could be viewed as explanations of how humans often try to do the same thing and fail. However that seems to be stretching the intent fairly thin. Overall this is still an okay story in its own right and the vignettes are interesting even if they never lead us anywhere.

Rating:
Summary: "The Most momentous encounter in the history of humanity"
Review: Two gods of science fiction - Arthur C. Clark, and ex-Director of NASA's Mars Viking Expeditions in 1977 Lee Gentry - have come together to write a novel of "the most momentous encounter in the history of the human race."

With the help of a tip-off from a high ranked officer, respected photo-journalist Carol Dawson investigates a US Navy missile that has gone off course and into the Gulf of Mexico during a test run. On the pretext of investigating several whale pods that have wound up in the Gulf she recruits Captain Nick and his easy-to-like first officer Troy. Out in the Gulf, the trio discover a small group of three large whales circling the sea floor. When they go down to investigate they discover tank tracks descending into an underwater canyon - and a strange golden artefact.

Like many other Arthur C. Clark novels this was long, involving, and thoroughly interesting book that successfully transports the reader into the lives of the three protagonists.

Rating:
Summary: Like Tom Swift with [intercourse] thrown in
Review: Weirdly juvenile, sitcom-like 'humor', incoherent plot, conversations, descriptions - I kept thinking, "Maybe it's some kind of parody," but in the end I decided it was just plain bad.

Rating:
Summary: Oddly Disappointing
Review: Years ago I eagerly purchased a copy of CRADLE by Arthur C. Clark and Gentry Lee. I had really enjoyed the books Clarke wrote just before CRADLE. I also enjoyed the books written later. But somehow I didn't get around to reading CRADLE until now. I must say that I was disappointed. I had been expecting Clarke's style as I had read in such books as THE HAMMER OF GOD and GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS. But the Clarke-Gentry mix just didn't do it for me.

The book could be easily described as RAMA doing the work of the Overlords from CHILDHOOD'S END. An unmanned probe comes to Earth to elevate the human species and restore a number of others. This plan is stumbled across by a reporter looking into the alleged disappearance of a secret Navy missile. The probe is making a journey to a dozen planet. At each planet it will assemble life forms based on specimens collected on an earlier visit. In CRADLE, a couple of humans get a chance to tell the aliens that we don't want humans to be elevated. That's pretty much it.

I had a hard time getting through this book. I normally fly through Clarke's books but this one was just bogged down in unnecessary details. This book also contained a large number of sexual scenes that I have to assume were the work of Lee as I have not encountered their like in Clarke's work. I really cannot recommend this book to anyone, so if you haven't read it and were considering it I have to give you fair warning.

Rating:
Summary: Oddly Disappointing
Review: Years ago I eagerly purchased a copy of CRADLE by Arthur C. Clark and Gentry Lee. I had really enjoyed the books Clarke wrote just before CRADLE. I also enjoyed the books written later. But somehow I didn't get around to reading CRADLE until now. I must say that I was disappointed. I had been expecting Clarke's style as I had read in such books as THE HAMMER OF GOD and GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS. But the Clarke-Gentry mix just didn't do it for me.

The book could be easily described as RAMA doing the work of the Overlords from CHILDHOOD'S END. An unmanned probe comes to Earth to elevate the human species and restore a number of others. This plan is stumbled across by a reporter looking into the alleged disappearance of a secret Navy missile. The probe is making a journey to a dozen planet. At each planet it will assemble life forms based on specimens collected on an earlier visit. In CRADLE, a couple of humans get a chance to tell the aliens that we don't want humans to be elevated. That's pretty much it.

I had a hard time getting through this book. I normally fly through Clarke's books but this one was just bogged down in unnecessary details. This book also contained a large number of sexual scenes that I have to assume were the work of Lee as I have not encountered their like in Clarke's work. I really cannot recommend this book to anyone, so if you haven't read it and were considering it I have to give you fair warning.