hedyharper's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Drug use, Ableism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Gun violence, and Incest
mfeezell's review against another edition
1.0
The best part about this book is that it gets so bad in such a short amount of time that I don't feel the urge to waste any more of my time on it. The second book was clearly a downgrade but the characters and sci-fi were decent enough on a surface level that I hoped the questions raised in Rama II would get answered in an interesting way in this book. Be careful what you wish for I guess.
I also fail to understand why continuing the human race was important enough to condone incest and child marriage when Earth and humanity still exist??? and are perfectly fine??? Feels like shoving these topics in without any narrative or thematic need really says a lot about the authors more than anything, especially considering the final theme of half of humanity being irredeemably evil. Suppose I would think humanity is evil too if I had the moral compass to write this book unprompted and impose it upon the world.
Spoiler
Nicole certainly wasn't the best female character I've ever seen, but you can tell an attempt was made to do better by women in sci-fi, albeit poorly executed. That idea was completely thrown out the window within 50 pages of this book, and luckily I stopped reading before they had the bright idea to let the 13 year old girl get married to her 70-something year old uncle? Stepfather? Who knows with this family tree!I also fail to understand why continuing the human race was important enough to condone incest and child marriage when Earth and humanity still exist??? and are perfectly fine??? Feels like shoving these topics in without any narrative or thematic need really says a lot about the authors more than anything, especially considering the final theme of half of humanity being irredeemably evil. Suppose I would think humanity is evil too if I had the moral compass to write this book unprompted and impose it upon the world.
yoshimaster's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I still enjoy the scifi elements but the whole colony thing and marriages and such feel so rushed in a book over fourhundred pages long with a sequel..
joshebarry's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rubooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The book and the series has gone in directions I never expected, but it is a great read.
lkmreads's review against another edition
2.0
Sooo, disappointing. Enjoyed reading about the parts about Rama, totally disliked the whole human parts of it and specially towards the end.
Nevermind at the point they still could have explored a lot more of Rama's secrets, or minded their survival even more than they did, or even tried to interact more with other species, etc. No no, lets propagate our species first.
Also totally miffed about insertion of typical human reaction ("shoot first, ask later"). Since we're doing sci-fi, can we 'fictionize' it a bit more and pretend humans actually think?
Spoiler
And hated how suddenly when people are found alone on strange lands/ships/planets where they might never see another living person, they immediately think "Oh my, how are we EVER gonna populate this place? Lets get it on!"Nevermind at the point they still could have explored a lot more of Rama's secrets, or minded their survival even more than they did, or even tried to interact more with other species, etc. No no, lets propagate our species first.
Also totally miffed about insertion of typical human reaction ("shoot first, ask later"). Since we're doing sci-fi, can we 'fictionize' it a bit more and pretend humans actually think?
mido_vodella's review against another edition
1.0
The first two books were really enjoyable. They center around the mystery and exploration of a strange alien vessel. This book however completely gets rid of the mystery, and expands things far too fast before defaulting to allot of needless padding. There's also a fair bit of sexism that creeps into the book that makes it more uncomfortable to read. Granted this existed in the first two books, but it feels ramped up by this book. And unlike the second book, it's shift in narrative tone doesn't really work in its favor at all.
wildflowerz76's review against another edition
2.0
I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish this one. And by the end, I didn't much care. The first part, Nicole's diary, read more like a dry history text book. Once I got past that, it improved. I'm not sure if the authors just suck as writing from a woman's POV or what, but it wasn't good.
The overall story, I liked. It was interesting. But I felt that the last part, especially the VERY last part, but mostly all the part with the Mars humans, was very rushed. We got page after page after page of the main characters alone on Rama, not doing a lot of anything. I'm not even sure if there are more in this series, but I'm done.
The overall story, I liked. It was interesting. But I felt that the last part, especially the VERY last part, but mostly all the part with the Mars humans, was very rushed. We got page after page after page of the main characters alone on Rama, not doing a lot of anything. I'm not even sure if there are more in this series, but I'm done.