Product Description

After twelve years trapped aboard a labyrinthine Raman vessel, three human cosmonauts learn their true destination and face a rendezvous with a Raman base. Reprint.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188020 in Books
• Published on: 1992-09-01
• Released on: 1992-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553298178
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Introduced in Clarke's 1973 Hugo- and Nebula-winning Rendezvous with Rama and most recently seen in Clarke and Lee's Rama II , the massive spacecraft Rama is back, but the luster and sense of wonder generated by its first appearances have eroded. The once-exciting vessel, a "cylindrical worldlet," has been turned into a cheaply painted backdrop for an equally garish exposition of vice-lord politics. When Rama returns to earth and demands a sample of humanity for observation, a lying, corrupt government hands over 2000 citizens. These individuals serve as a microcosm to reflect most of today's big sociological problems, thus implying that in 300 years no existing problems will have been solved nor will any others have been created. Clarke's unmistakable style is sadly lacking. Essentially, the book suffers from an imbalance between what occurs onstage and what offstage. Minor characters are built up with detailed introductions and then generally ignored. Major events, about which reader interest has been piqued, are skipped, then given a one-sentence review. Potentially captivating interactions with aliens and advanced technology are ignored. Readers are advised to give this voyage a miss and wait for Rama's next adventure.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Trapped aboard the massive Raman spacecraft as it leaves Earth's solar system, three cosmonauts begin a 13-year voyage toward an unkown destination. Combining the best of space adventure (as the spacefarers encounter other life forms within the multi-habitat vessel) with human drama (as children are born and raised in an unearthly environment), this third novel in the Rama cycle asks as many questions as it answers. Recommended, along with Clarke's classic Rendezvous with Rama ( LJ 8/73) and Rama II (Bantam, 1989, coauthored with Lee), for most libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/91
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Picking up where Rama II (1989) left off, this latest effort from Clarke and Lee is as disappointing as their others. Nicole, Richard and Michael--the three cosmonauts trapped on the Rama II ship as it headed out of our solar system--muddle along together as the ship accelerates toward Sirius. After a 12-year trip, during which Nicole bears five children, the family arrives at the Node, a giant space station where they undergo extensive tests before being sent back to Earth in a refurbished Rama vessel with accommodations for 2000 human specimens. The Rama colony is established with remarkably little strife, but as the new Rama departs our system again, an unpleasant criminal element arises to challenge Nicole's peaceful, enlightened leadership. The turgid pace and lengthy digressive lumps make this installment a chore to read, and Nicole's unflagging pious virtue is an endless irritation. Worse, there is an utter lack of traditional sf strengths: the people, cultures, and habits of this 23rd century are hardly different from our own--instead, the authors settle for unsubtle parallels to modern perils such as AIDS, ecological disaster, and totalitarian repression--and all of the speculative concepts are shopworn. Crude attempts to jumpstart the reader's sense of wonder with repeated insistence that the characters are awed, amazed, and overwhelmed by the rather routine vistas they encounter serve only to underline the lack of the genuine goods here. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Rama II and Rama III are awful.
Rama II and Rama III are awful. I'm embarrassed to see Mr. Clarke's name associated with these so-called sequels. They reflect nothing of the science fiction wonder and imagination seen in Rendezvous with Rama and most of his other stories. Rama II & III are completely polluted with political, sociological & religious nonsense and modern emotionalism. Not worth reading. Certainly not worth adding to a fine collection of Clarke books.

God this is a bad book....
I have just reread the whole series, book one is a very good book but each book after is geometrically worse. Book two is bad, book three is horrible, I'm at a loss to describe book four. I recommend shoving needles under your finger nails which is less painful then this series. Read and keep book one, burn the rest.

Takes a bit of willpower to finish
It's not that I thought this book was awful, it's just that it didn't have much in it that I found very good. The original Rendezvous with Rama is a classic, filled with an environment that makes you wonder about the alien intelligence and crave for more.

These sequels, on the contrary, are set in the same "universe" but center around some Jerry Springer-esque quarrels amongst all the various humans. The notion that this has anything to do with Rama or aliens is secondary (or even tertiary) to the plot. In this installment, there are fleeting bits of the original wonder as the characters visit the "Node" and again when Richard visits the mysterious other dome towards the end. Sadly, this doesn't constitute very much of the overall book itself.

There are also some references that hit the reader with all the subtlety of an anvil to the head: the AIDS-like RV41 virus, Nicole's impending martyrdom and the constant (and fleeting) references to her heroes Joan of Arc and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the groaner where someone confuses Richard with Jesus. Social and religious commentary are the main themes of this book (as they were in Rama II). Science fiction is merely (and IMHO unfortunately) a backdrop.