Rendezvous with Rama

Arthur C. Clarke

Science fiction

First published: 1973
Print length: 243 pagesBantam Books, 1990

Hugo Award for Best Novel, 1974

Locus Award for Best Novel, 1974

Nebula Award for Best Novel, 1974

Description

Set in the 2130s, Arthur C. Clarke’s novel follows the discovery of Rama, a vast, perfectly smooth cylindrical alien starship entering the Solar System. Spaceguard identifies the object, and the crew of the Endeavour intercepts and enters it to investigate its unknown purpose. Within Rama, the explorers find an immense artificial landscape divided by a frozen sea and geometric structures as large as cities. As the vessel draws nearer to the Sun, its environment changes dramatically. These discoveries spur debate among scientists and planetary authorities, while Mercury’s government comes to regard Rama as a danger.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Direct · Technical

Pace

Measured

Tone

Atmospheric · Cerebral · Philosophical · Suspenseful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Mystery · Plot · World

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

Knowledge and truthPowerSurvivalTechnology and society

About Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke was a British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist whose fiction joins technical clarity to speculation on an immense scale. His direct, descriptive prose often proceeds through scientific inquiry. Crews enter unknown structures, gather observations, and confront purposes that remain beyond ordinary human understanding. In Rendezvous with Rama, explorers map a vast alien cylinder as its artificial environment changes around them, while the vessel’s function stays elusive. The same method sharpens 2001, where the voyage of Discovery One moves from procedural detail to HAL 9000’s dangerous conflict with its crew, within a larger history of alien influence on intelligence. Clarke repeatedly returned to evolution and the possibility that intelligent species might become godlike. Childhood’s End gives that idea a generational structure, pairing the Overlords’ peaceful supervision of Earth with humanity’s fading creative drive and an approaching transformation.

Series

Rama · Book 1

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Bantam Books
Language: English
ISBN: 9780553287899

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