Rama II: The Sequel to Rendezvous with Rama

Rating:
Summary: This book was an exciting read with a lot of mystery
Review: Now let's be honest, Clarke and Lee can make a hell of a good read! this book rocked I loved it Nicole des Jardins is a hot and tough lady. With mystery after mystery, this books just keeps getting better and better! Add this one to your Clarke book list!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting sequel, excellent story concept.
Review: I enjoyed this book even though at first it took me awhile to get involved with the storyline. I felt it was a worthy sequel to an interesting and excellent concept. Fun to read.

Rating:
Summary: Another suspenceful novel of the Legendary Arthur C. Clarke
Review: To many people criticized to begining of this brilliante work. The begining scenes on earth were essential to the development of the characters. Especially Nicole des Jardins and her family. Those of you who didn't understand Nicole's vision, and though that it was boring, just don't read between the lines enough. Every page of the magnificent creation was entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty decent for a sequel to a classic
Review: I think that writing a sequel to such a Sci-Fi classic masterpiece as 'Rendezvous With Rama' is a nearly unaccomplishable task, so I think that 'Rama II', while nowhere in the vicinity of its predecessor's heights, makes do nicely. It is entertaining, lively, and kind of keeps you on edge. The characters are varied (I loved Sabatini's meanness) and imaginative (maybe too politically correct), and the plot has the unmistakable Clarke's grandness, so what else can you wish? And the computer game makes a great companion for this book, too!

Rating:
Summary: Rama and beyond.
Review: If you've read the previous book in this series ( and I'm sure you have) you'll not be let down this time either. A superb continuation by the si-fi guru himself. My advice to you is: READ IT!!

Rating:
Summary: Arthur C Clarke did not write this book!
Review: Arther C Clarke did not write this book. If you want to read Arthur C Clarke, then don't read this book, or its sequels. I must admit I did, because I dont like to leave things half baked. RWR was undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read, and its status as a classic I think is well deserved. I am extremely surprised that Arthur C Clarke would allow such an extreme divergence (to sex, violence and soapy smut) from what has been such a tried and proven formula of success over the years. It is very misleading that these books be sold with a massive "Arthur C Clarke" title with a very minor "Gentry Lee" credit on the covering face. Its clearly an attempt by Gentry Lee (who appears to have impressed Clarke with his Nasa credentials) to rocket his career by using Clarke's name to market his work. Dont get me wrong, I am sure Gentry Lee's style would appeal to a market out there, but lets see how many books he can sell without the "Arthur C ! Clarke" on the front"! Leave it out gentry, and let Arthur get on with it.

Rating:
Summary: Tried too hard
Review: After "Rendezvous" this cannot even compare. Too many attempts at a diverse crew and pleasing the political slant of the time. Maybe even too much Gentry Lee.

Rating:
Summary: A dissapointing sequel.
Review: When I got this book as a gift(one I requested) I dived right in, expecting Clarke to write another mysterious tale of alien intelligence. I was dissapointed from the first page. The text(which I suspect is Lee's) is the same boring drown of many a sleepy story. I was confused by the visions of des Jardins, they had no point. And the worst was the cliff hanger at the end. It screamed BUY MY SEQUEL! I wish I had stayed on the first book.

Rating:
Summary: (thud, snore)
Review: I thought this was a great book! I have a sleep disorder, and it put me right to sleep! The only good thing about the last three books in the series IS NOT THIS BOOK (it's the last one, where I think ACC put his foot down or something)! I think that they should stick Gentry Lee in his Galileo spacecraft and launch it inside the orbit of Venus. The characters were pretty good, but I think that that was because I had played the game (way better than the book) and had learned more about them than I could have in the novel (I was reading in Richard's voice).

Rating:
Summary: A test of patience compared to Rendezvous w/Rama
Review: I read Rendevous With Rama when I was a teenager. ( I won't disclose how long ago that was, but it was right around the initial publishing.) When I recently discovered that there was a whole Rama series, I immediately bought Rama II and expected it to be the same thought provoking and tantalizing Sci-Fi novel that was Rama I. Mostly, however, I was disappointed. Some parts were very engaging and reminded me of the original novel. While reading those chapters (mostly toward the end), I couldn't put it down. But the long periods of soap-opera-like character developement, with characters whose qualities are unbelievable, put a real drag on the overall pace of the story. Kind of like driving a Jaguar at a high rate of speed into a tar pit. My 10 year old son is reading Rz with Rama now, and loves it. It is his first sci fi novel, but I can't recommend Rama II to him. I don't think he would survive the bordom of it, and the unusual (for a Clarke novel) sex and violence sections, would make it inappropriate.