Paperback, 252 pages
Published Feb. 28, 1991 by Orbit.
Written in 1973, a massive 50 kilometre long alien cylinder begins to pass through the solar system provoking a hurried effort to intercept it. The closest available ship rushes to rendezvous so as to have a quick study before it gets too close to the sun. Able to enter via an airlock on one end of the ship, the crew explores the huge world found inside, a world full of wonder and mystery. As usual, the science is spot on. This is the best novel of Clarke's since 2001 and Childhood's End and is a truly grand adventure full of puzzles and ideas that lead you asking more questions than are answered. Enough questions in fact to lead to numerous inferior sequels, but enough answers to leave you satisfied. Don't pass up this gem of hard science fiction.
A promising opening of mysterious object and dry elder academic panel bickering.... oh don't let this be just a cool exploration of the physical properties of this space... in space... with bonus tangential misogyny... oh, the physical properties and some cold-war-commentary at least accelerate... pity for the futuristic anachronisms, 1973 feels closer to Jules Verne than to us.
... that is, it's 50% description of a docking maneuver, and 50% setup for an exciting book.
I guess that makes it one of those books you should read once, but I didn't manage to enjoy it much.
the characters were a bit no-nonsense and technical, but the setting was immensely good
It was my first Arthur C. Clarke book. And even though it is a classic I didn't have any spoilers before I read it. The idea of finding an unknown object in the sky with extraterrestrial suspicions, and going there to actually explore it was very thrilling. And well, it is hard sci-fi, so I expected a lot of scientific explanations and musings on the laws of physics. I had some hard time trying to imagine the interior of Rama. The scale and complexity of what was inside was very difficult for me to grasp. But I tried to imagine Rama like "The Citadel" of the video game "Mass Effect", at least to understand the cylinder design of the spacecraft.I really expected there would be more answers in this book about the purpose of Rama and the "biots" inside. Of course, the author leaves a hint at the end indicating …
It was my first Arthur C. Clarke book. And even though it is a classic I didn't have any spoilers before I read it. The idea of finding an unknown object in the sky with extraterrestrial suspicions, and going there to actually explore it was very thrilling. And well, it is hard sci-fi, so I expected a lot of scientific explanations and musings on the laws of physics. I had some hard time trying to imagine the interior of Rama. The scale and complexity of what was inside was very difficult for me to grasp. But I tried to imagine Rama like "The Citadel" of the video game "Mass Effect", at least to understand the cylinder design of the spacecraft.I really expected there would be more answers in this book about the purpose of Rama and the "biots" inside. Of course, the author leaves a hint at the end indicating that there is more to the mystery.
