Cradle
by Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee
science fiction
copyright 1988
read in April 2020
rated 5/10: readable but only if there's nothing else
I guess that I have to label this book as "science fiction". Given the authors I have little choice. However, I'm tempted to label it as " fantasy".
Yes, it's full of science. Good for its time. It's the characters who are straight from fantasyland. They are ridiculous. There's a lot of backstory -- and that is also ridiculous. And pointless. I mean, what does it add to know that two -- yes two -- of the characters are warped due to earlier -- very similar -- sexual misadventures?
There is some good social commentary. Some of which, I believe, is still valid.
Okay, so the book is full of deep and meaningful -- that is, ridiculous and pointless -- backstory, motivation and interaction. There is still plenty of science.
Early in the book, the main characters sail over a pod of whales. The whales have been there a while, they stay a while. Do the authors not know that whales are mammals? That whales breathe air? That after a few hours, even a whale must surface to breathe?
Oh well. The alien science is fine. There is, for example, a long chapter in which alien tech is set up. Fascinating. Imaginative. Adds nothing to the story.
In the final chapter, the main characters discover the weak point in the alien plans. It was obvious as soon as the plans were made clear. What is really surprising is that the aliens themselves had not noticed the flaw. The aliens have been repeating their master plan many times, over many millennia. Yet they have never stopped to think, Hang on, perhaps that's not a good plan...
Aliens, eh. Who can understand them. And humans, eh. Who can understand them. Not these authors, that's for sure.
This book is easy enough to read. It's lightly entertaining. And it's a little bit embarrassing.
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