Rating: 
Summary: It's horrible . Period .
Review:
I am quite certain that a contradiction of this scale will be quite tough to come across . 'Rendevous with Rama ' is , and will always be one of the best books I have read . But the whole 'Rama' series will I am sure be the worst series that I ever read .
I actually feel sorry for A.C.Clarke , that outstanding ( and my favourite ) author , who has his name printed , in jumbo-size , on the cover of this and the other two atrocious Rama books .
He couldn't have had much say in the compilation of these books , surely !!
Whan you think of Clarke , you think of his stylish , almost poetrical prose , his authentic science , and his crisp ,no-nonsense style of writing . These three Rama books lie at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum .
Gentry Lee was the chief engineer of the NASA's 'Galileo' program ' I've heard . Maybe he's a good engineer , because I surely know what he's NOT good at . Any thoughts of a career shift should be rapidly discouraged !!
In brief - Read 'Rendevouz' , and don't go anywhere near the others .
And I still feel the rating I gave this book is one too much ...
Rating:
Summary: Stop at Rendezous.
Review: Shampoo ingredients make for a more interesting (and scientific) read than this book.
Someone once said that sci-fi novels cannot be judged by the same standards as other fiction because in sci-fi, the setting itself often supplies the motivating force behind the text. Perhaps this is what made Rendezvous with Rama so interesting. Sure the character development was non-existent, but you didn't care - Rendezvous was ABOUT Rama. Is it presumptuous to anticipate a sequel to be the same?
It appears so.
All the eerie weirdness of the first book, along with its concise, if not bland style, is gone. Forgettable characters have become the focus. Those reviewers who have described this book as a soap opera are not being overly harsh in their criticism. Although I do not know the full extent of Lee's influence in writing this book, he appears to have written the whole thing, simply using Clarke's ideas as a backdrop for his uninteresting and painfully contemporary characters.
I want my money back.
Rating:
Summary: Sadly, Absolute Trash
Review: This book is *not* written by Arthur C Clarke, it was written by Gentry Lee alone. The promotion of the book as an ACC book is highly misleading.Gentry Lee belongs on the slushpile. His writing is full of magic and fantasy rather than science fiction. This book contains lengthy, irrelevant asides. The SF component is trivial; the book is basically a large character study. It is astonishing how bad this book is by comparison to the excellent, simple narrative "Rendezvous with Rama"
Rating: 
Summary: So-so
Review: I was a huge fan of the original "Rendezvous with Rama". It presented the reader with an incredible scenario and allowed him/her to simply explore it along with the characters- not getting bogged down in cliched details or unrealistically large personalities. At all times it felt like anything could happen, and it was one of the rare instances in which I literally couldn't put the book down.
This book, and the two that follow it, are almost completely opposite of the original in every way. This is a story all about the characters- more so than their mission. I was still interested in returning to the world of Rama and possibly discovering more, and this book didn't disappoint in that regard. However, there were so many cliches and naked plot-devices that it really detracted from my enjoyment. I was especially disdainful of the somewhat hokey "mysticism" with regard to the character of Nicole des-Jardins. That part seemed far more in the realm of fantasy than serious science-fiction.
However, I have read the succeeding books, which I thoroughly enjoyed (though not as much as the original), and "Rama II" is a required read before delving into the third and fourth installments. One must bear in mind that the three sequels are, basically, a separate series from the first book.
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