Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

A sci-fi fan's web page reccomended the Rama series, among many other books, as a classic of science fiction and while looking for anything interesting the local library I noticed this first book and the sequel. The first thought that came to mind, and the reason why I hired it out, was "very interesting," and that basically sums it up for me. Like many books and films, although certainly not all of them, I preferred the initial discovery and exploration of the enormous craft to the events that followed, which I found became tedious and long-winded sometimes. Once the initial mysteries were out of the way and people started 'flooding in,' ...

In the 2077 the inevitable happened after many near misses an asteroid finally hits an inhabited area of the earth. In the hope that future strikes can be avoided Spaceguard is set up to detect and catalogue all the asteroids that pass through the solar system. Fifty years after its inception it proves its worth in an entirely different way when it detects what is assumed to be a giant 40 kilometre asteroid entering the solar system. Normally when asteroids are discovered they are given a name based on the year in which they are found but an asteroid of 31/439?s size deserves a name and that name is Rama. As the gargantuan rock heads ever closer to the sun it becomes ...

Science-fiction writers are not renowned for their character development, and Arthur C. Clarke is no different - introducing characters as and when they are useful to the plot (even as late as chapter 36!) He does provide nuggets of background information about them, but the emphasis here is on action - into which the reader is plunged right from the outset. Following a massive meteorite strike on Italy which sinks Venice in the year 2077, an early warning system - Project Spaceguard - is instigated. Half a century later, Spaceguard detects a large fast-spinning object tearing towards the solar system. Named after the Hindu God Rama, it turns out ...