Rendezvous with Rama

I started reading, Rendezvous with Rama, on Monday night on a whim. I read 70 pages that night. It is now Wednesday and I am finished. Obviously this one is a page turner. It was on my list with Neuromancer as one of the few science-fiction novels ever to win multiple awards in the genre. It's from the 70's and another classic. Arthur C. Clarke's work is drastically different in almost every respect to William Gibson's though.

Rendezvous with Rama concerns a huge asteroid that makes its way into our galaxy some hundreds of years in the future. By this point man has colonized the Moon as well as Mars and even Mercury. The scientific world is shaken up when this would be asteroid turns out to be a perfectly smooth cylinder some 50 kilometers long traversing our solar system. A team is sent out to examine and explore this alien construction sent from the depths of the Universe. But what will it contain? Will we finally discover an alien civilization far ahead of our own? And what is the purpose of its passing?

Mostly I found Rendezvous with Rama very interesting and compelling. The book is very plot driven and character development is not stressed as much as the fascinating plot. The chapters are usually 2-5 pages and the book itself is just over 250 pages. It was a fun and exciting read, and a nice break from some of the more intellectual books I have been reading. I would not count it as science-fiction fluff, but it is fairly straight-forward and simple. It would be difficult to get much out of this anti-climatic thriller besides stunning visuals and fast paced wonder. It is however the first book in a series, so perhaps it should not be judged until conclusion. I probably would not recommend it to others unless they wanted a fairly light, adventurous science-fiction read. It would have made a good movie. 7.5/10