Rendezvous with Rama

I say this in the nicest way that I can, but I found this book to be pretty vanilla. None of the ideas were particularly stunning or inventive, though I suppose they may well have been in 1973 when it was first published. The characters sole reason for existence was to observe the phenomenon on display, to report back their surroundings and circumstances to the reader. There were many opportunities to expand the depth and scope of the ideas explored that Clarke purposefully sidestepped, and it results in a novel that is very limited.

I did love the mystery of the object, which I think is mostly why I enjoyed my time. Despite the best efforts of the exploration team, we are still left with the feeling that the aliens who created Rama, and Rama itself, are beyond our comprehension. Their motives, the object of their journey, where they came from, and even basic functions of the ship are still shrouded in a thick fog to us. I'm very glad that Clarke left it this way. Clarke has really strong endings, at least out of the two novels that I have read. Overall, not a ton to say about it. If you enjoy hard science, realism, and tons of exploration, you'll probably enjoy it.