- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Black Swan; New edition edition (1 Jun 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0552771422
- ISBN-13: 978-0552771429
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 401,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Cradle Song (Song Cycle Trilogy 1)
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Product Description
Review
" It will be mystifying if, 50 years hence, Edric isn't taught in schools." -- "Sunday Times"
"From the Hardcover edition."
Sunday Telegraph
'Fine, skilfully written ... sensitive and disturbing.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When you pick up "Cradle Song" (the first of Robert Edric's "Song Cycle Trilogy" which leads through "Siren Song" to "Swan Song"), you instantly know that you are walking through a land of deception.
The first few pages report the critics from almost every major UK newspaper and periodical telling you that here is a master of the sleight of hand, of the intricately woven plot, one of the best and most under-rated writers in the English language.
So you start reading, and there is an unnerving dissonance between the text and the plaudits. For the first four hundred pages, you are presented with an entertaining US TV-style crime procedural import, skilfully adapted to the climate of the North-East coast of England, driven by massed high voltage dialogue where people would rather swear at each other than greet each other, and with moments where the sun really breaks through as he describes abandoned individuals, such as the retired DCI Sullivan beached in his shadow disgrace, and the pathetic child pornographer, Martin Roper, recapturing his summer play among the flats of a bleak Spurn Point.
Then, after four hundred pages (perhaps a little long to wait), you are in the hands of the author who in "The Book of the Heathen" made Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" infinitely darker. The pace picks up, and the details hit you from rock-solid foundations in the culmination of a brutal, seedy tale.
This is why Robert Edric is considered a master. Like a Cistercian monk, he sees the world and he doesn't blink.
The first few pages report the critics from almost every major UK newspaper and periodical telling you that here is a master of the sleight of hand, of the intricately woven plot, one of the best and most under-rated writers in the English language.
So you start reading, and there is an unnerving dissonance between the text and the plaudits. For the first four hundred pages, you are presented with an entertaining US TV-style crime procedural import, skilfully adapted to the climate of the North-East coast of England, driven by massed high voltage dialogue where people would rather swear at each other than greet each other, and with moments where the sun really breaks through as he describes abandoned individuals, such as the retired DCI Sullivan beached in his shadow disgrace, and the pathetic child pornographer, Martin Roper, recapturing his summer play among the flats of a bleak Spurn Point.
Then, after four hundred pages (perhaps a little long to wait), you are in the hands of the author who in "The Book of the Heathen" made Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" infinitely darker. The pace picks up, and the details hit you from rock-solid foundations in the culmination of a brutal, seedy tale.
This is why Robert Edric is considered a master. Like a Cistercian monk, he sees the world and he doesn't blink.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The standard of writing here is a cut above the standard detective novel, but Mr Edric doesn't overcomplicate an excellent PI/police procedural, set in Hull. Leo Rivers, the PI is a low key and realistic creation, not the stereotypical Marlowe figure transported to Yorkshire. The police and the criminals are subtly divided in character, not "white hats and black hats". Apparently this is the first of a series of three, I'm looking forward to the next one.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bought as a gift. Couldn't resist reading it myself. A bit of uncorrupt fantasy that takes you back to your youth, brilliant read. Arrived promptly, well packaged and in excellent condition.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
In the Stieg Larsson Zone
This is one of my favourite books of the last 5 years. Having just finished Stieg Larsson's trilogy, I was compelled to look again at Cradle Song, Robert Edric's masterpiece, for... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2010 by Ed
Brilliant, dark and different
Had previously only read Edric's 'Book of the Heathen' and 'Gathering the Water', and clearly he is a high class literary act. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2009 by Michael Brown
A great disappointment
This is the first of Edric's books I have read, and almost certainly the last. It came very well recommended, both by Amazon reviewers and by reviewers for major papers and... Read more
Published on 27 July 2008 by amantedofado
convincing and well worth reading
I turned to this after having read a few of Edric's other novels and his writing did not disappoint me on this occasion either, maybe surprise me with the apparent ease and success... Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2008 by maple tree
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