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bookworm513's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Murder
wrzlprmft's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Hard science-fiction story about a big dumb object with horror elements.
If you want to read Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, read The Last Astronaut instead – unless you’re not into horror. Almost all the ideas of the classic Rendezvous with Rama are here, but on top you got an interesting cast, a political backstory, further ideas layered on top, an ending that is not vastly open, and, well, horror elements. It’s like a remake improving a good old movie making it better by using modern storytelling advances. On the other hand, if you already read Rendezvous with Rama, you might find this redundant in parts.
That being said, not all is excellent. Some of the political backstory and characters are a bit trite. There is some dissonance in science-fiction hardness, as one aspect is considerably softer (the human–I2 neural interface ). Also I consider the title and cover text somewhat misleading regarding the topical focus of the book.
If you want to read Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, read The Last Astronaut instead – unless you’re not into horror. Almost all the ideas of the classic Rendezvous with Rama are here, but on top you got an interesting cast, a political backstory, further ideas layered on top, an ending that is not vastly open, and, well, horror elements. It’s like a remake improving a good old movie making it better by using modern storytelling advances. On the other hand, if you already read Rendezvous with Rama, you might find this redundant in parts.
That being said, not all is excellent. Some of the political backstory and characters are a bit trite. There is some dissonance in science-fiction hardness, as one aspect is considerably softer (
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Gore, and Medical content
Moderate: Murder and Gun violence
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