Cradle of Splendor [Hardcover]

Patricia Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

In a near-future world, a freak spaceship launching accident in Brazil ends in the ship's narrow and inexplicable escape into space, and baffled space scientists throughout the world race to discover what really happened.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like her Cold Allies, which won Locus's Best First Novel award, Anthony's breakneck fifth book is set in a near-future roiling with intrigue and rumors of UFO activity. When the first Brazilian space shot manages to achieve orbit without booster rockets, the world is stunned, then pushed to the brink of cataclysm as the U.S. accuses Brazil of launching nuclear weapons into orbit. The escalating crisis plays out against a background of erupting brutality and sexual depravity, instigated mostly by industrial, political and military spies, and against convincing TV news reports presented in transcript form. In the face of technological achievement that has possibly been bought by selling Brazil's national soul to an extraterrestrial demon, Anthony's sharply realized characters undergo abrupt changes (the women generally take nobler paths than the men). Former CIA agent Dolores Sims and her (somewhat estranged) friend, Brazilian president Ana Maria Bonfim, give until nothing remains of themselves, while young NASA scientist Roger Lintenberg, Japanese industrial spy Hiroshi Sato, Brazilian general Fernando Machado and jaded Brazilian security chief Edson Carvalho take until they relinquish their humanity. Dramatic shifts of scene and point of view enhance the sense of social fragmentation. Anthony adds to her reputation through a briskly involving narrative that offers disturbing glimpses into the black holes of the human heart.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Anthony's novels have garnered widespread acclaim for their complex, speculative portrayals of the clash between human and alien cultures. In her latest, the alien presence takes the form of a mysterious benefactor who bestows assorted technological marvels on the citizenry of a near-future Brazil. Following the introduction of cheap nuclear fusion, groundbreaking new drugs, and the transformation of Brasilia into a major metropolis, Brazil surprises the world with the launching of a spacecraft propelled by antigravity. Naturally, this arouses suspicions in the U.S., which, accusing Brazil of deploying space weapons, invades and eventually seizes the new technology. Caught up in the ensuing international political turmoil are a NASA UFO expert, Brazil's own black woman president, her lifelong friend (an undercover CIA spy), and an enigmatic Brazilian presidential adviser with inexplicable, otherworldly powers. In her finest work to date, Anthony seamlessly interweaves politics, UFOs, and speculation on other-dimensional space into a tautly written futuristic spy thriller that echoes the best le Carre. Carl Hays

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 310 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1st edition (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044100301X
• ISBN-13: 978-0441003013
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,803,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative SF, June 22, 2002

By 

albemuth - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cradle of Splendor (Paperback)

Patricia Anthony has written this novel with obviously extensive understanding of politics, gender relations, the UFO subculture and the craft of writing. It is a tragic, sad tale, filled with absurd moments and startling beauty. Her characters are vivid and surprisingly believable in their eccentricities and obsessions. Her canvas is wide and it contains a full spectrum of people whose lives (and deaths) are woven into an intricate and subtle mosaic of mystery and tragedy.

The novel is provocative science fiction, compact and quite as readable as her previous books. It is a bit eccentric, as perhaps expected, and eminently comparable to a Phil Dick novel. But you wouldn't mistake hers for his. As he was, she is. An original.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, April 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cradle of Splendor (Hardcover)

... Patricia Anthony is an incredibly talented writer, andCradle of Splendor is probably her best book. Yes, it's full of darksexual violence, but that *is* the point - or, at least it's one ofthem. This is a complicated work, written with a sort of eerie lyricism that's compelling and beautiful. I hope more people will give this book a chance.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An utter waste of my time and my money, November 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cradle of Splendor (Paperback)

Dark Fantasy better describes this bitterly sexist diatribe. Science Fiction it is not! I enjoyed Patricia's Cold Allies and Brother Termite. Those two titles amused my mind and stimulated my thoughts. However this book left me with nothing. If you get your kicks reading about violent homosexual conquest, bloody incest, and indulgent female self-torment then knock yourself out. If you want Science Fiction you will be frustrated at the lack of answers, the lack in fact of any extrapolation of what promised to be a fascinating exploration of anti-gravity and its effect on society after the first chapter, and the overwhelming anger against males that this book portrays. I place this in the same category as those hack-n-slash horror films that are advertised as so-called Science Fiction.