Mass Market Paperback, 243 pages
English language
Published Aug. 13, 1990 by Bantam Books.
"At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge. It weighs more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system as inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for man's first encounter with alien intelligence." P. [4] of cover.
Very little sci fi is still talked about decades later. And often, that which is, how the author was a huge asshole/sexist/etc. is a part of that conversation.
I haven't heard any of that about Arthur C. Clarke. And the book is still solid both in it's sci fi and its politics. If anything, it's more optimistic than more modern fair.
I really enjoyed it, albeit that it took a bit to get though.
I used to love all the Rama books, but as I've gotten older I've gone off them all in different ways. This book doesn't tell much of a story by 21st century standards. Big Dumb Object turns up, unexplained. Humans fail to explain it. It leaves. Unlike the later Rama books it's not unremittingly miserable from start to finish though.
I think hard SF is harder to write. It's easy to fall in the trap of cardboard characters and too much science. This book has far too many mysteries and not much character development.
I was expecting better, but considering it took me more than an year to finish this short book, I think I'll stick with The Martian in the future.
Not that I don't like hard SF. I loved the Coyote series by Allen Steele, primarily because it has humans rather than science as the center piece.
This was probably just a bit too much for me.
Big Dumb Object.
A dead extra-terrestrial race.
Immense world building.
Arthur C Clarke takes the above and still manages to find room to add plenty of human emotion and exploration. Rama has arrived in our solar system, a giant object initially mistaken for a comet, soon determined to be a ship. The crew of the Endeavour only have a limited time to explore Rama, before she alters her course and escapes the solar system.
The story is driven by scientific exploration, and each chapter deals with a new discovery. The story says fresh, and yet does not go to town on over-the-top scientific explanation. Plenty is left unexplained, as you would expect when meeting alien technology. The crew have the privilege of watching Rama change, as it clearly develops for a purpose, which only makes itself remotely clear at the end of the novel.
This is not a novel asking …
Big Dumb Object.
A dead extra-terrestrial race.
Immense world building.
Arthur C Clarke takes the above and still manages to find room to add plenty of human emotion and exploration. Rama has arrived in our solar system, a giant object initially mistaken for a comet, soon determined to be a ship. The crew of the Endeavour only have a limited time to explore Rama, before she alters her course and escapes the solar system.
The story is driven by scientific exploration, and each chapter deals with a new discovery. The story says fresh, and yet does not go to town on over-the-top scientific explanation. Plenty is left unexplained, as you would expect when meeting alien technology. The crew have the privilege of watching Rama change, as it clearly develops for a purpose, which only makes itself remotely clear at the end of the novel.
This is not a novel asking a lot of direct, beard-stroking philosophical questions. The themes are observation and curiosity. The crew don't have time to deal with the big questions, those will come later. They have to get in, find what they can and get out.
Clever, hard sci-fi, easy reading, plenty to enjoy.
