Tomb Raider in Space. (Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
Date:	17/01/01 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant story, good characters

Disadvantages: not long enough!

I came to Arthur C. Clarke via the Odyssey series of books years ago, which were great reading. I'd overheard someone else mention that he'd written a book about these people who were exploring an alien spacecraft, and the idea intrigued me because I like those "exploring the unknown" type of things.

A planetary catastrophe in the shape of a huge meteor strike in Europe in 2077 leads the planet to set up a space-based early warning system called Spaceguard to track all incoming objects. Half a century later, in the year 2130, a huge object, thought to be an asteroid is picked up by Spaceguard travelling through our solar system. As it is an unusually large object, whose origins are from outside our solar system, it is given a name instead of just a number - the Rama from the title. It is then discovered to be a huge space shape, a giant cylinder, 50 km long, and 20 km wide. A spaceship is diverted to rendezvous with the incoming Rama, and the crew is under orders to find out as much as possible within the available time frame. Seeing as these spacefarers are not skilled explorers, they are constantly in contact with a small group of experts who supply them with information and theories to aid them in their mission.

"Rendezvous with Rama" tells the story of the small group of people who have been sent to explore and report on the inside of this huge extra terrestrial spacecraft, and whatever mysteries it may contain (and believe me there are a few!). It describes the inside of the ship in enormous detail, and how the spacefarers go about investigating the unknown, and what conclusions they come to.

Hopefully, that's enough to whet your appetite to read the book for yourself, because you're really missing out if you do! As usual with A. C. C. books, his science (which is not usually too technical, and most things are given at least a brief explanation if warranted) is spot on, and his characters are deve

loped just about enough for you to actively take an interest in them, and what they do or think. The problem with Clarke's writing is that characterization is not his strong point, although arguably the Rama spaceship itself is the star of the show and given plenty of detailed description. This is also evident in the way that Clarke introduces new characters when the plot needs developing, and in this case, new characters are added even as late as chapter thirty six. An aspect of the book which I liked was the fact that the explorers aren't professionals at this type of job, and are "normal" astronauts out doing their job and are called into action simply by being the nearest spacecraft to Rama at the time action is needed. However, I don't think much is made of this in the way of plot throughout the book.

I think the story is fantastic, and I'm surprised that no-one has even considered making it into a film (perhaps it's too slow paced?) Actually, I'm very surprised that no-one has done an "Art of Rama" thing yet, in the same way that they do those ones for "Lord of the Rings" and such, because the book really makes you think about what the inside of the ship looks like, although I believe there was a game on the PC done a few years ago which may prove interesting (at least visually).

It's very easy to read and it's quite short too at only about 250 pages, so even if you don't read that much, you should get through it fairly easily. It has so many questions to answer that even at the end of the book, you're dying to know more, which some might see as a good thing, although I found it frustrating. I liked the idea that not all questions were answered at the end, but I felt that by giving the reader a little more, the book could have been improved. The series is continued in three further books, co-written by Gentry Lee, but I feel these are a poor addition to what could have
been
a tremendous series based on an amazing idea.

If you're an ACC fan and haven't read this, shame on you! It's the only sci-fi book to have picked up all the major sci-fi fiction awards and if that's not a recommendation in itself, I don't know what is! If you don't read science fiction then this is as good a book as any to get started - as I said, the science is basic and explained in easy to understand terms where necessary and the story is one of the best of any genre! Some may not appreciate Clarke's style of writing - his characters are not usually flawed and all seem to belong to that old time that only seems to exist in books written before 1970. Sort of like a science fiction Enid Blyton, if you catch my drift. I only found this to be a problem when reading a lot of Clarke in one go, and to dip in and out of, this shouldn't be a problem.

ISBN: 1857231589
Price: £6.99
Published by Orbit.

Extra Note:
Reading an article in the May 2003 issue of Empire magazine (the movie magazine) has indicated that a possible film version of the book could be in the offing with no less than Morgan Freeman as the star and David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club and Panic Room) directing. Concept slides are at www.rendezvouswithrama.com and despite the slides quoting 2004, Empire reckons 2006 is a more likely timescale.

Summary: