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brandonmgh 's review for:
Rendezvous with Rama
by Arthur C. Clarke
After having reading reviews from others stating that this was their favorite Arthur C. Clarke novel and given that Denis Villenue had queued up plans to direct and adaptation of this novel out of the hundreds of other classic Science Fiction novels he could have adapted, I was very excited to dive into this novel.
Much to my chagrin, once one removes the novelty of the concept (which was probably more novel back when this book was originally published), this novel is pretty meh. It's not a bad read by any means, but it is pretty mundane and lacking in any sort of dynamism, relying purely on the novelty of future human explorers discovering a foreign alien habitat ship traveling through our solar system. Some of the ideas that Clarke explored, like the automated biological machines that serve as caretakers of Rama and the topographical design of Rama, were interesting, but the characters in the novel were just shallow cardboard cut outs devoid of any try defining personality traits. I found it hard to get invested in the drama (or lack there of) of their predicament given how little attention was given to exploring character motivations. Every character in the story could just as easily be replaced with any other character in the story. Ultimately, each character is just the same as character as any other. No real personalities to speak of to distinguish one from the other. Outside of my issue with the characters being indistinguishable from one other, I already had some issues properly orienting myself inside the world of Rama, not completing understanding, directionally where the characters were in relation to other objects and locations in Rama.
All that being said, Rendezvouz with Rama was not a bad read by any stretch of the imagination. There were some interesting ideas and conceptualizations of future technologies that were explored that appreciated as well as a strict adherence to the laws of physics as it pertains to how things move in space.
All in all, I can appreciate why people really enjoyed this novel, even if I, personally, found myself wanting.
Much to my chagrin, once one removes the novelty of the concept (which was probably more novel back when this book was originally published), this novel is pretty meh. It's not a bad read by any means, but it is pretty mundane and lacking in any sort of dynamism, relying purely on the novelty of future human explorers discovering a foreign alien habitat ship traveling through our solar system. Some of the ideas that Clarke explored, like the automated biological machines that serve as caretakers of Rama and the topographical design of Rama, were interesting, but the characters in the novel were just shallow cardboard cut outs devoid of any try defining personality traits. I found it hard to get invested in the drama (or lack there of) of their predicament given how little attention was given to exploring character motivations. Every character in the story could just as easily be replaced with any other character in the story. Ultimately, each character is just the same as character as any other. No real personalities to speak of to distinguish one from the other. Outside of my issue with the characters being indistinguishable from one other, I already had some issues properly orienting myself inside the world of Rama, not completing understanding, directionally where the characters were in relation to other objects and locations in Rama.
All that being said, Rendezvouz with Rama was not a bad read by any stretch of the imagination. There were some interesting ideas and conceptualizations of future technologies that were explored that appreciated as well as a strict adherence to the laws of physics as it pertains to how things move in space.
All in all, I can appreciate why people really enjoyed this novel, even if I, personally, found myself wanting.