Rendezvous With Rama

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Rendezvous With Rama is a Science Fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, in which a giant asteroid comes shooting through the Solar System, circa 2131 AD. By the time it's realized that the visitor is actually a hollow artificial cylinder, only one human spaceship can even briefly reach the object and explore it before it slingshots around the Sun and returns to the depths of space. Captain William Norton and the crew of the Endeavour discover that the structure, dubbed Rama after one of the major Hindu gods (the Roman and Greek naming reserves having long been exhausted), is actually an entire miniature world stuffed with ever-more-amazing technology, which Clarke spends the bulk of the narrative detailing. The novel garnered much acclaim and won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Although Rendezvous ends with a large Sequel Hook, Clarke never seriously intended to write a follow-up, and many people agree that he shouldn't have. In fact, the three belated sequels were not written by Clarke, but by a friend of his, Gentry Lee, with Clarke merely providing ideas and support. While Rendezvous with Rama was pretty high on the Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness, the sequels fell squarely on the soft side. The science is largely overshadowed by commercial conspiracies, government corruption, scientists having sex, and Lee's views on religion. It also changes the nature of the setting to some degree, ratcheting it significantly farther to the cynical side and turning up the Used Future level. Your Mileage May Vary, naturally.

The books in the series are:

  • Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
  • The Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
  • Rama Revealed by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in Development Hell for decades.

Tropes used in Rendezvous With Rama include: