Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke Book Review

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Review Summaries
"In the 22nd century, a giant alien object is discovered while passing through our solar system. A mining ship is sent to rendezvous with this extraterrestrial object, which was given the name Rama. Inside, they find a miniature world full of wonder and mystery..." Ian Gallagher, Resident Arthur C. Clarke Scholar
"Captain Norton and his crew are sent to intercept a mysterious cylindrical object. The object turns out to be a giant spaceship, complete with mysterious cities, plains, and even a frozen lake encircling the center of the cylinder. During the exploration, more questions are raised than are answered, as Norton and his crew are forced to depart before Rama gets too close to the Sun. Rama is the first book in a four book epic." Kerry Downing, Resident Arthur C. Clarke Scholar
"Far out in the Solar System and travelling fast, a large object is detected which will pass near the Earth. An expedition to meet it discovers that it is a giant spaceship with an artificial world inside it, complete with its own gravity. The spacecraft seemingly expects them, but does not appear to have any aliens onboard - or perhaps they are just hiding. With no way to control the ship it will soon pass out of the solar system, and the team race to unlock as many of its secrets as quickly as they can. This is a standard 'hard' sci-fi story, with some real scientific concepts and explanation, and enough action to keep up the pace. The expeditionary team has plenty of surprises as they try to gain an insight into the alien shipbuilders, including a nice touch when they are reluctantly forced to abandon ship. As its final bow to the Solar System, the craft turns towards the Sun for a re-fuelling pit stop." Michael JR Jose, Resident Arthur C. Clarke Scholar
"Rama is a huge metalic cylinder aproaching Earth at huge velocity, as the story unfolds Rama is found to be a self contained 'world' full of technological marvals and yet total without life, or so it seems at first. For every question that is answered several more need asking . . ." Ian Andrew, Resident Arthur C. Clarke Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 37.5%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 17.5%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 37.5%

Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - exploring a wondrous planet or phenomena - primitive/present day space voyage
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - explorer
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - none
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.

Setting
Spaceship setting: - alien spaceship - really, really giant spaceship/station
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a fair amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog - significantly more descript than dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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