Rating: 
Summary: This is not the Clarke I used to read
Review: Wow, I read the first Rama novel shortly after it was published. I only recently discovered that there were sequels. I first re-read the original (which is an excellent book) and then started on this one. What a shocking disappointment. If it were not for Wakefield's robots, I would have given the story zero stars. Clarke has never lent credibility to religion in any of his own novels. In fact, the thing I loved best about his works was the fact that they were really pure science fiction. The fact that this novel got so gobbled up with hare-brained religious overtones is just a sad, sad thing. Even worse is the fact that almost all of the characters are absolute idiots. There isn't a single character here that I give a hoot about. They're shallow, one-minded idiots. And what happened to the universe in which this story takes place? In the original Rama, Mercury and Mars had large populations, as well as some of the larger moons in the solar system. Now, all of a sudden, some war on earth is supposed to have disrupted the entire solar system? What a crock! I am really disappointed to see Mr. Clarke's name become so tarnished.
Rating: 
Summary: Hateful, weird...
Review: What on earth happened?Rama I was such a good novel. It was so good, I and, I imagine lots of other teenagers were really enthralled by this. A sort of general feeling of "can't wait for the movie" expectation. While realizing that writing novels is by no means a trivial exercise - I have tried and it's appallingly difficult - I really am stumped with this. the religious overtones are weird for a beginning. I'm a Christian. trying to make head or tail of what on earth is going on is still for me, absolutely impossible and I can only recall "Black Easter" by Blish as presenting such a fantastic, splendid mess. That completely ignores the main problem with the book. The characters. The characters. Oh my... oh my. In my short life I have (in the electronics business) come across at least three serious sociopaths. If anyone has ever had this experience, you know that you never forget it - it's terrifying and bleak and the last thing you want is to hear that missions in space are going to be populated by amoral disasters such as the characters in this book. If you want to know, the apothesis of this book is probably Mission to Mars, which while a littel bit cheezy, is infinitely better than this. This is a story of complete darkness. What on earth has happened to Clarke? The guys in charge of the expedition are either (apart from the Russian, who dies very early on), absolute infamous psychos! What on earth is going on in Clarkes future now? All of them identify the non-psychopaths and find ways on murdering them. In all this, Rama is just a useless, clunk machine which presents no wonder, no thrills, no insights into anything other than what appears to be alien space junk. This novel has made me re-read a lot of Authur Clarke. Now I am actually wondering what on earth I ever saw in any of it. I can't find the original Rama I. Can someone please explain to me what happened to this author? Or has he gone the way Bob Shaw did?
Rating:
Summary: Has Gentry's Hand In It Far More Than Clarke's
Review: The original Rendevous With Rama novel was Arthur C. Clarke at his best but Clarke admits in the foreword that Gentry is the one planning the Rama sequels and it shows all too much. Gentry's writing style is bloated with soap opera silliness that leaves you wishing the characters could act as intelligently as people do in real life. In the place of Clarke's style of hard science fiction Gentry introduces supernatural visions, and people with enough mental problems to make them fit for the worst soap opera. Having read another Clarke-Gentry collaboration titled "Cradle" I can see the pattern indicating that Gentry is running the show with Clarke just filling in a little here and there. Clarke's 3001 novel has received blasting reviews and many readers of it feel he might be losing his mind. I will read no more future works written by Clarke or Gentry and will instead seek authors that present more plausible plots.
Rating:
Summary: From Classic to Crap
Review: "Rendezvous With Rama," the first novel in this series, is one of the all-time classics of science fiction, brilliantly capturing the exhilaration of discovery. "Rama II" rivals "Exorcist II: The Heretic" as perhaps the worst sequel ever. It is a bloated windbag of a book that manages to be both pretentious and trivial. Clarke, who was about as religious as Madalyn O'Hair, somehow let himself be talked into attaching his name to this preachy soap opera, whose climactic sequence features an outer-space baptism. Think of an especially long and tedious episode of "Melrose Place" with Jerry Falwell as a guest star and you'll have a pretty good idea of this travesty.
Rating: 
Summary: Into the void...
Review: The stage has been set, and now Rama has returned. But now, the world has changed... This second book in the Rama series takes off from the first, seemingly trying to do more with character development... seemingly with purpose. "Rendevous with Rama" was a very light-hearted, almost child-like look into the unknown: what's out there? is anyone there? what's around the next corner? This second volume moves along into adolesence. Scandal, greed, conspiracy... and in the end, unanswered, perhaps unanswerable questions about the true center of the adventure: Rama itself. Dispite this effort to stretch out into a more detailed level of psychology, many of the characters still come off as being highly two-dimentional. This may disappoint some readers, but the characters which this attempt to add depth has succeeded with end up being the ones who will bridge this story with the next in the series. As for the mystery of Rama, more questions than answers... Although perhaps a drag on some, this is a neccisary step in the Rama saga. 3 stars is mostly the result of dissapointment in character development than story. It may be best to get the remaining two books in the series at the same time, as this is a fast read and will leave a person only wanting to read more.
Rating:
Summary: A world away from _Rendezvous with Rama_
Review: It's got to be the contributions by Gentry Lee. To explain: I have found Clarke's books to be--while very enjoyable--essentially plot-driven vehicles. 2001 and Rama are both essentially long 'short stories'; travelogues, perhaps, or simply expanded 'ideas'. Rama II, however, is all about people, with lots and lots of character information, often at the *expense* of the story. For several chapters it's not even apparent (or even evident) who the main character is. We are introduced to a myriad of Cosmonauts who are the crew of the Newton--a spacecraft designated to meet with the "Rama II," apparently identical to the massive alien ship that appeared seventy years before and simply flew through the Solar System after a near-pass of the Sun. There's Nicole des Jardins, who does eventually turn out to be the main protagonist, there's Francesca Sabatini, the villainously evil Italian journalist, there's Borzov the Russian General, Takagishi the Japanese scientist, Wakefield the brilliant roboticist and programmer...etc...etc. Not only are we subjected to a virtual roll-call, our point of view switches apparently at random; we're given tons of background information on Sabatini, for example, with no payoff--she's not even *in* the last half of the book. O'Toole, a religiously-minded American General, turns out to be one of the most 'key' players in the novel, but his development is sporadic; tons of exposition in one chapter, then nothing for most of the book, with more development at the end. In the end, I think it's a book that's fair. It could have been edited better, and should be about a hundred or a hundred and fifty pages shorter. The story is simple--perhaps as simple as the first one, without half as much 'adventure' or 'discovery'. The ending is abrupt, and frankly, after the way I was treated in this book, I have no desire to continue the series. Stick with Rendezvous.
Rating:
Summary: Low quality keyboard
Review: Why do the donuts fly in Rama... What is the meaning of the shoelaces? It is all very vague Why do the novels mentioned in the novel actually relate to situations not in the novel
Rating:
Summary: Low quality keyboard
Review: Why do donuts not fly... What is the meaning of shoelaces?
Rating:
Summary: give this one a can of Alpo...
Review: because it's a real dog! What a shame, as Rendevous with Rama was a really fun read.
Rating:
Summary: What a mistake...
Review: It's tough to accuse Mr. Clarke of characterization. Despite his huge cannon, even works like 2001 and 2010 render characters on the whole rather flat. But this isn't a criticism. Clarke is about imagination, and science applied to futuristic vision. And, along with Asimov, at this he is a master. So, Rendezvous with Rama, is a work of pure imagination. A 'what if'. Hard science re-engineered to an alien world. Rama II on the other hand is a different beast. Who told Gentry Lee that importing stock cardboard characters, tired cliche plot elements and possibly the worst dialogue ever committed to paper would improve upon the Rama experiance? I think we should be told. I approach the rest of the series with a certain sense of dread.
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