Book Review: Rendezvous with Rama

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Knowing only a little about the plot (humans have a brief chance to explore a huge alien spacecraft as it zooms through our solar system), I was disappointed a bit by RwR. The spacecraft is fundamentally pretty understandable. The human explorers within minutes of getting inside know the basics. It's the details that are mysterious. And Clarke does a good job of keeping them (the details) intriguing, alien, and, ultimately, inexplicable. But I was hoping for an encounter with something truly, mind-blowingly alien. No such luck. These aliens use plates, for instance, and wear belts. They like water and breathe more or less the same type of atmosphere we do. The book ends with the promise of a sequel (two, actually), and I have a feeling one exists. If it does, I'll read it.

Typically of classic SF, the characters are not in any way memorable, but they do the job of proving the reader with someone to identify with in a book that's really about scientific ideas.


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