Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is an incredibly well thought out story about what might happen if a giant alien spaceship flew into the solar system.
It was published in 1973 and won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.
Brent: 3 stars. Incredibly interesting premise and beginning of the book, but there aren't really any characters, and because it’s so real it doesn’t feel like it has a traditional story arc. I still really recommend it though.
Cody: 4 stars. I loved exploring Rama, and I found it refreshing to read something that reminds us how insignificant humanity is on a universal scale.
Here's the setup:
Earth’s meteor warning system detects a new object in the deep solar system, on an orbit that will take it in, past Earth and close to the sun. Scientists name it Rama. As it gets closer, it becomes clear it is a massive cylinder and it’s far too perfect to be a natural object.
There is only one ship that can intercept the object before it leaves the solar system, and we follow that crew as they arrive at Rama and open its airlock to explore whatever is waiting for them inside.
Hugonauts' Thoughts:
Rendezvous with Rama creates a feeling of reality and believability that makes it feel more like a history book or nonfiction than a piece of science fiction. This is at once its greatest triumph and its biggest shortfall. On the one hand, it’s incredibly interesting to explore along with the crew. On the other, the members of the crew aren’t fleshed out at all as characters – the only thing that matters is their perspective on Rama. Similarly, there isn’t a traditional story arc, because the book is so close to reality – and reality doesn’t really have clear beginnings, middles, and ends, or neat conclusions to things you don’t know.
Rama is also a fantastic and unique imagining of what a first contact might look like. Clarke’s willingness to adhere to his idea of this first contact defies literary tradition in that he withholds so much from the reader and his characters in service of making the book feel authentic to its universe. The ending is definitely a surprise that will stick with you, and possibly change the way you feel about first contact.
If you like hard sci-fi, you will love this book. And even if you aren’t a hard sci-fi fan, it’s still very much worth reading because of Clarke’s succinct, easy-reading prose. Remarkable book - and not too long either. Highly recommend picking it up before the Denis Villeneueve movie comes out in the next couple of years!
Related Books
If you loved this one, you might also like:
The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu
A genuine, chilling and awe-inspiring story of first contact. A book that forever changes the way one thinks about life in the greater universe, and about life on our own little planet.
Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
The first novel in The Mars Trilogy follows 10 of the first 100 humans to colonize Mars, and really (really) gets into the details of how humanity might one day learn to live on the desolate planet.
Titan - John Varley
A fun adventure novel that doesn't make you think too much. A mission to Saturn discovers and explores a strange satellite in orbit around the planet.
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