A review by smithjasont01
Rama II by Gentry Lee, Arthur C. Clarke
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
"It's a shame that we humans are never able to pull in the same direction, not even when confronted by infinity."
Clarke's follow-up to Rendezvous with Rama. It has been 70 odd years since the Rama craft passed through the solar system awhile some things on earth changed most stayed the same. But now a second craft is coming, and second chance to understand our place in the universe compared to the Ramans. Will questions get answered or will newer ones arise.
Clarke spends the first quarter of the book establishing the fallout on earth post the first Rama, from a massive financial boom and bust to mistrust in space agencies, to an expansion of Christianity trying to bring the Ramans into their view. When humanity spots the new craft they are excited but a bit hesitant to visit again. We meet the crew a cast from various countries tasked to explore the spacecraft with the knowledge from the first flyby. They are all geniuses in their fields but some have alternative motives such as fame, money, power, for going.
Once at the craft things are going similar to the first until the lights come on early and the craft makes a course correction putting onto a path with earth. Crew members start to die or go missing and the reminder is tasked with blowing up the craft before it gets to earth. At least until one of the members with the nuclear codes has a moral dilemma and sets off the race to save the craft.
While the first was very hard scifi about first encounters, this book was more humanity's response to that encounter. People plotting on how to best use or make use out of the encounter. It did have the philosophical questions you typically see in scifi, things like just because it is advanced and we don't understand it and its motives should we destroy it. It also had a bit of a horror vibe with crew members dying or going missing.
Overall a decent follow up to the first. And heck with a shout out from playboy on the cover who can argue?
Clarke's follow-up to Rendezvous with Rama. It has been 70 odd years since the Rama craft passed through the solar system awhile some things on earth changed most stayed the same. But now a second craft is coming, and second chance to understand our place in the universe compared to the Ramans. Will questions get answered or will newer ones arise.
Clarke spends the first quarter of the book establishing the fallout on earth post the first Rama, from a massive financial boom and bust to mistrust in space agencies, to an expansion of Christianity trying to bring the Ramans into their view. When humanity spots the new craft they are excited but a bit hesitant to visit again. We meet the crew a cast from various countries tasked to explore the spacecraft with the knowledge from the first flyby. They are all geniuses in their fields but some have alternative motives such as fame, money, power, for going.
Once at the craft things are going similar to the first until the lights come on early and the craft makes a course correction putting onto a path with earth. Crew members start to die or go missing and the reminder is tasked with blowing up the craft before it gets to earth. At least until one of the members with the nuclear codes has a moral dilemma and sets off the race to save the craft.
While the first was very hard scifi about first encounters, this book was more humanity's response to that encounter. People plotting on how to best use or make use out of the encounter. It did have the philosophical questions you typically see in scifi, things like just because it is advanced and we don't understand it and its motives should we destroy it. It also had a bit of a horror vibe with crew members dying or going missing.
Overall a decent follow up to the first. And heck with a shout out from playboy on the cover who can argue?