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slippete's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 truly. Oddly enough: a very soothing, hard sci-fi book—albeit a little dated in sections—with some cool ideas and hopeful thorough lines. This version of earth/human future as detailed in some “flashbacks” and through copious amounts of exposition is ultimately fascinating and helps to solidify the world building. Definitely a bit boring in parts with some laughable dialogue and character dynamics at points, but ultimately I enjoyed it as my “small book travels well on the metro/offers escape from the occasional mundanity of commuting” read. Low stakes and easy to read despite the technical jargon.
markon7000's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
roysimons's review against another edition
3.0
Fun to read. Mostly building tension without resolving many questions posed in the first book. Wasn't a huge fan of the incorporation of the Shakespeare parts, since it wasn't needed for the story, but more of a gimmick.
taetris's review against another edition
4.0
Written by Arthur C. Clarke together with Gentry Lee, Rama II is the sequel to Rendevous with Rama.
This is a dramatic story set to the hugely imaginative backdrop of Rama.
It took a while to get started, we didn't even arrive at Rama until a third into the book, but after that the story combined the setting of Rama with a dramatic plot, making the book unputtdownable during the last third.
This is a dramatic story set to the hugely imaginative backdrop of Rama.
It took a while to get started, we didn't even arrive at Rama until a third into the book, but after that the story combined the setting of Rama with a dramatic plot, making the book unputtdownable during the last third.
katrinemarie15's review against another edition
4.0
Updated review 8/4/2020 - rereading this still had a lot of allure to it, mostly in the back half of the book (front half of the book felt more dated with interpersonal drama and social commentary of the late 80's). Midway through this book I thought I'd be done with Rama...but now at the end of it I clearly must keep reading this series because it seems book 3 will be all about the Ramans and 3 humans on their stellar journey and I can't recall much about that!
Original review July 2020
Plowed through this series in high school, loved it...almost so I might go back and re-read now that I'm tripping across these again through Goodreads. Fun fact - I never put together back in the early 90's reading these that the first book was actually written when I was born in the 70's. Say what? (Although in my defense - the last book which triggered the full series read, WAS published in 1993.)
Original review July 2020
Plowed through this series in high school, loved it...almost so I might go back and re-read now that I'm tripping across these again through Goodreads. Fun fact - I never put together back in the early 90's reading these that the first book was actually written when I was born in the 70's. Say what? (Although in my defense - the last book which triggered the full series read, WAS published in 1993.)
jcarlberg's review against another edition
3.0
A very different style from the first Rama book. While I enjoyed learning more about the individual characters and especially their very different philosophies, I thought the story focused too much on the characters’ personal stories and schemes and not enough on the Rama mystery.
davem1's review against another edition
1.0
Imagine being assigned to use as many pure tropes as possible and to push them as far as you can -- without getting to the point of parody or satire (cause that might be fun). Then you're told to stretch that project to cover as many pages as possible, with the minimum actual plot progression.
That project would be Rama II.
That project would be Rama II.
larsdradrach's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
Enjoyed this far more than the first time I read it, at that time I was only interested in reading another Rama book and not all the human intrigue stuff.
This time around I treated this as a novel by another writer borrowing the Rama background to write another story and in that setup it makes sense.
We still get the exploration part and learns a little more about Rama, but there is also a human story of incredible egomaniac behaviour, jeopardising the most important exploration of the human race for a broadcasting agreement and our heroine who uses her cultural and mythological background to make sense of Rama.
Unfortunately there’s also a strong religious theme, which put me a little off.
True to the fact that these novels are not true Clarke novels, there is a lot of unbelievable future facts about 2200, which seems a little odd given the novel is written in 1989.
The journalist uses a tape recorder to make recordings, they struggle to get radio coverage inside Rama etc.
Enjoyed this far more than the first time I read it, at that time I was only interested in reading another Rama book and not all the human intrigue stuff.
This time around I treated this as a novel by another writer borrowing the Rama background to write another story and in that setup it makes sense.
We still get the exploration part and learns a little more about Rama, but there is also a human story of incredible egomaniac behaviour, jeopardising the most important exploration of the human race for a broadcasting agreement and our heroine who uses her cultural and mythological background to make sense of Rama.
Unfortunately there’s also a strong religious theme, which put me a little off.
True to the fact that these novels are not true Clarke novels, there is a lot of unbelievable future facts about 2200, which seems a little odd given the novel is written in 1989.
The journalist uses a tape recorder to make recordings, they struggle to get radio coverage inside Rama etc.
reanimatedreader's review against another edition
3.0
The narrator was very monotonous and it was hard to keep track of which character he was speaking for at times. The overall storyline was engaging, however at times there were passages of scientific over explaining and one paragraph of numbered data. Not very interesting when read out loud! I enjoyed that equality between the genders on board regarding roles and abilities, not so much the social and emotional aspects.
scifinerd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75