Rendezvous (urspr publ 1972; utgåvan 1900)

Big Object

It was humorous to see how many elements of the plot have been borrowed from Clarke and used in contemporary science fiction TV shows. I noticed that some other reviews pointed out that some readers find this book challenging due to the stretch of imagination needed to visualize what Rama looks like; I cheated a little and searched online for some artist interpretations, which helped me understand a little better what was happening in the story. ( )

Re-read the book for the third or fourth time today. This, 2001 and Childhood's End are without a doubt his best work. ( )

mmmmm Rama. I think this was the first sci-fi book I've ever read (and I've probably still only read a dozen or so). Rama is a great mystery of a novel. Arthur C. Clarke sets up a futuristic world born out of terrible global tragedies, and uses this political set-up to explore an alien ship that approaches the Earth at a breakneck pace.

I won't spoil anything here, but suffice it to say that nothing is as expected, and - while the book is marvellous as a kind of literary meditation on cultural differences, and timeless qualities of humanity - it most definitely leaves you wanting more. Surprisingly, Clarke hadn't really envisioned a sequel when he wrote it. Unsurprisingly, three would come to pass. Each of these would be a lesser novel than the one that came before, but they comprise a definite trilogy so I'd recommend either stopping after this book, or reading the whole series. ( )

I'm already opening the next book in another window. This is a science-fiction mystery, and book one left me with a lot of questions. I'm just going to have to read more of the series. ( )