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  • Rendezvous with Rama
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
4,476 global ratings
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4 star
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3 star
7%
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Rendezvous with Rama

Rendezvous with Rama

byArthur C. Clarke
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Top positive review

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Chris
4.0 out of 5 starsGood science based scifi
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018
I very much enjoy the author’s style of explaining events trough hard science. Of course I can only assume he is accurate as I’m no scientist myself. I’ve only read (and seen) 2001 before reading this one and if you liked the film or the book you are likely to enjoy this one too.

There’s something to note about the author’s style which is at the same time his greatest strength, but for some less sci-fi inclined could be problematic. Everything and everyone in the storie is subject to a rigid framework of something. For example, if not laws of physics then military rank. There are no characters that act in surprising ways, because all characters are able to use a scientific mind to make decisions in any situation they face. There are no elaborate relationships between characters, because their military rank or role in the team dictates their relationship to everyone else. If you want deep characters you need to look elsewhere. If you want to read an intellectually intriguing story about life in space, this is your book.

Clarke’s stories are surprisingly easy to read and keep at least myself glued to the story like few other authors can. Whether you are a scifi enthusiast or just scifi curious, I’d give this author’s books a try.
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38 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Edgar
3.0 out of 5 starsNot Clarke's best but still read-worthy -forgot to add a plot, characters, a theme...
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2019
[No spoilers] I went into reading Rendezvous with Rama thinking, judging from the positive reviews, that I had somehow missed reading a great Sci-Fi novel back when I was a kid. Unfortunately this is not Clarke's "2001". It's not even on a par with his memorable, ever re-readable short stories like "Rescue Party".

The whole novel is excellent as scientific speculation, pretty much as described in the book summary before you buy. Unfortunately, Clarke goes overboard on the scientific speculation. It's not that there's no nuance or metaphor. Lots of recent Sci-Fi seems to be too much metaphor to an extent it's really more like No-Sci vs. Sci-Fi. But Clarke wrote a story here where his hard Sci-Fi forgot to include other story elements - like a main plot, character development, or themes.

Still, it's a short read and a good addition to the category of "first contact" novels (like Sagan's "Contact", Cixin Liu's "Three Body" trilogy, Nevins/Pournelle's "Mote" and others). Three-stars for drilling into a very specific alien spaceship scenario so well, if not much else.
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31 people found this helpful

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Chris
4.0 out of 5 stars Good science based scifi
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018
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I very much enjoy the author’s style of explaining events trough hard science. Of course I can only assume he is accurate as I’m no scientist myself. I’ve only read (and seen) 2001 before reading this one and if you liked the film or the book you are likely to enjoy this one too.

There’s something to note about the author’s style which is at the same time his greatest strength, but for some less sci-fi inclined could be problematic. Everything and everyone in the storie is subject to a rigid framework of something. For example, if not laws of physics then military rank. There are no characters that act in surprising ways, because all characters are able to use a scientific mind to make decisions in any situation they face. There are no elaborate relationships between characters, because their military rank or role in the team dictates their relationship to everyone else. If you want deep characters you need to look elsewhere. If you want to read an intellectually intriguing story about life in space, this is your book.

Clarke’s stories are surprisingly easy to read and keep at least myself glued to the story like few other authors can. Whether you are a scifi enthusiast or just scifi curious, I’d give this author’s books a try.
38 people found this helpful
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Bryan DesmondTop Contributor: Dragon Ball Z (TV Show)
4.0 out of 5 stars Hard Sci-Fi of the Highest Order
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2022
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This feels like one of those books where I waver between four and five by mood alone. Resting on four now, as there were times whilst reading it that I felt slightly bored, but this feels like more of a 'me problem' rather than any problem with the text. 'Lot going on right now.

Anyhow, who doesn't love a getting a classic science-fiction novel for Christmas?? Clarke has been on my list for as long as I've been aware of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and with the recent news that Rendezvous with Rama may be Denis Villeneuve's next project after he's finished with Dune, what better time for such a sweet gift?

I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this novel. There is always a slight worry—at least for me there is—that classic novels will not hold up to the scrutiny of a contemporary gaze. Not so with Rama. Not so at all. Clarke weaves his unknowable cosmic journey with a not-at-all-concealed intelligence and a wry wit that combines into a cohesive package offering frequent moments of casual brilliance that will please readers new and old. It's true that the character work is nothing to write home about, but that simply wasn't Clarke's focus. Rama is hard sci-fi of the highest order. It is one hundred percent about the science, and yet Clarke keeps things fun and engaging (science is fun? who knew). And clocking in at just over two hundred pages, he keeps the pace up, too. There are no real lulls here, as the crew of the Endeavour explores a brand new world.

Clarke's strongest offering here is the sheer sense of exploration the reader gets. The reader himself is a discoverer of an alien artifact of unimaginable magnitude. The reader herself embarks on an unknowable cosmic journey as a sleeping giant awakes. It's a ride worth taking.
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Glenn Frank
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting classic sci-fi - but a little dated in style
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2019
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I had never read this classic Sci-fi novel, and felt that I should since I love the genre. I can clearly see why this was groundbreaking in its day. The more or less Hard sci-fi approach of the story, in regards to orbital mechanics, the way centripetal forces inside Rama would act, how liquids and air inside would react was amazing and probably very unusual in the time this was published. Those elements hold up well even today. I also love that the book lets the reader explore and incrementally discover many unknown mysteries in RAMA as the characters discover them, and leaves some mysteries totally unexplained, and to each reader's imagination.

One downside to the story is that the way characters are used and portrayed is very cold and distant. Except maybe for the main character, the commander of the ship, there is little character development or reason to care about them as might be done in more modern novels. I guess this is just a style of the era it was written in. I also felt like the "dangers" they faced were too easily overcome. The fact that everyone seems to come out of these life threatening problems alive and well is another premature tension release that I think would be handled differently in a more modern novel.

But I am glad I read it and I did enjoy it for its classic nature and hard physics / science components fit into the narrative of the story. I have heard that the sequels of Rama are different and co-written or written by other authors... most people who have read them dont like them as much as the original so I think this will be the only one I read. But I am glad I did read it and know it now.
13 people found this helpful
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RDDTop Contributor: Batman
TOP 500 REVIEWER
5.0 out of 5 stars Great High-Concept Sci-Fi from a Master of the Genre!
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2018
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Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama” focuses on an apparent asteroid entering the solar system in the 2130s. Scientists realize that, rather than a lumpy piece of rock and metal, the object is a perfectly formed cylinder. Explorers aboard the ship Endeavour intercept the cylinder and gain access, finding an artificial world complete with simulated gravity due to its rotation along the long axis. The story alternates between the perspective of the Endeavour crew on Rama and a group of scientists and politicians, called the “Rama Committee,” who are working with the United Planets (the governing body of humanity’s habitats on Mercury, Earth, the Moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune).

The story is one of Clarke’s best works of high-concept science-fiction, with themes similar to those in the “Odyssey” series. Like much of his high-concept work, the human characters tend to fall into more archetypal roles, serving to advance the big ideas rather than having fully-fleshed out identities of their own, but this is not such a problem for a 240-page book that clips along at a good pace. More problematic is the beginning of chapter 11, “Men, Women, and Monkeys,” which begins with a rather dated musing about the effects of low gravity on women’s bosoms and how that impacts male crew members. It’s a relatively small section, but it has aged poorly and only serves to highlight that nearly all of Clarke’s characters are men. Other than this, the story will entertain readers and leave them thinking about its ideas long after finishing, like the best of Clarke’s work. Clarke worked with Gentry Lee to write three additional sequels, “Rama II”, “The Garden of Rama”, and “Rama Revealed”, though these break from Clarke’s tone as Lee did most of the writing himself.
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Anthony
4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I remember it.
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2020
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Read this for the first time decades ago. A great classic ... but you can never go back. Great concept, excellently delivered ... but like in most of the old SF classics the description of politics and personalities is clumsy almost juvenile - and so old fashioned and out of date. Have we all changed that much?

The book relies/relied strongly on a sense of wonder and awe. The first ship from the stars, maybe a million years old!! But these days we’re all so blitzed and traumatised and hyper-stimulated that such a concept barely raises a yawn. And beyond the arrival not much else happens. Ah. Setup for sequels. But it’s not enough to justify a couple of hours. Definitely worth a read if you have never read it. But don’t bother reading it again. There’s so much more out there now.

On a final note In real life actual objects are now being detected transiting through the solar system. Oumuamua et al. Sooner or later ET will come knocking. Clarke was for the most part an optimist about this. We’ll see.
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Jo
4.0 out of 5 stars Everlasting Gobbstoppers, Batman! Cool Story!
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2017
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Sometimes the details dwarfed the story, perhaps, but Arthur C. Clark's work proves brilliant. A decorated and venerable Classic Sci-Fi writer. I believe the author may not still be with us, but I can't be sure right now. His work won many prestigious writing and Science Fiction genre awards. If you can find it, his story "The City and the Stars" far outshines some of his other works, though they are also good.

I have the story "Rendezvous With Rama" and several other good works in a several-works volume, which is where I was unexpectedly taken with his imaginative, humanly fulfilling and action AND character driven story I mentioned above. It was like finding a hidden gem.

As for Rendezvous With Rama, I enjoyed the "jaunt" across a strange alien artifact of astonishing technology, possibly some alien "escape pod" that was to pass through Sol's solar system, which included one space-faring civilization, Earth's, and then to vanish as suddenly as it appeared, headed on some strange mission already planned for it, how many ages ago, no own knows. What could it have been, what did it mean, and who WERE these folks, also, WHERE were they? Characters, details, imagination, scientific approach by Clarke's cast, with his own calculations, and his creations - nice work.
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Phil
4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly good. Quick read anyway.
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2022
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I found this book to be interesting and worth the read. The descriptions of everything were engrossing enough that I finished the book. The weak point is the characters. There really is no character development and they are forgettable. I can’t even tell you a single thing about them a few months later, but I still remember much of the rest of the book. This makes for a more bland read in certain ways; I hear the sequels just get worse, so I think I’m stopping after the first book here. But it was worth the read. Fast read for anyone into hard sci-fi and exploration of alien worlds.
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Phil in Magnolia
HALL OF FAME
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Arthur C. Clarke and one of his best Sci Fi stories
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2016
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This is one of my favorite science fiction novels from my own younger adulthood, when I'd be picking up the new releases from Clarke and Heinlein and Asimov and many others at the grocery store as soon as they were available. Rama was first published in 1973, and I'm reasonably sure that I purchased and read it soon after it first appeared on the bookstore shelves. I've probably read it again 2 or 3 times since.

There is a difference in the stories by Arthur C. Clarke, and my enjoyment of them derives from the wholesomeness of the storytelling, with limited violence and no graphic sex or gratuitous scenes, the scientific roots to his theories and images, and the groundbreaking nature of many of his concepts. By now it is well known that he helped popularize the idea of geostationary satellites and foretold the appearance of satellite television broadcasts worldwide, and he wrote extensively on non-fiction topics related to space flight and undersea exploration.

This book is the first in a series of four that continue the Rama story:

- book 1: 
Rendezvous with Rama , first published in 1973
- book 2: 
Rama II , written with Gentry Lee and published in 1989
- book 3: 
The Garden of Rama , written with Gentry Lee and published in 1991
- book 4: 
Rama Revealed , written with Gentry Lee and published in 1993

Over forty years after it was first written, this is fresh and enjoyable and not at all dated. Well worth reading for anyone who has not discovered it already, and re-reading for those who have.
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Ben E.
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Read
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2020
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Very clean efficient word use, making for a very quick and easy read. UNTIL he wants to give an increased sense of tension/drama. Then your going to read whoever is involved entire backstory, again (so you understand why they are thinking about rain on grass as everything suddenly turns bad, they look at the ladder/stairs, open a door, or take a deeper breath). Then there's the ladder/stairs your going to read chapters worth about them (use this chapter as an example of how information is offered, sometimes). Other than those minor complaints, a nice read. One of those missed classics you should read to fill out your list.
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MakerMark
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent writing, dry humor
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2022
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There's no real villain, mainly just a series of challenges and problems to overcome, sort of like the Martian book. All characters are a bit of an oddball, but believable. In general the ship crew have good hearts and work together. The plot mostly wraps up with a hook for a sequel. All the science is "hard" meaning plausible.
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