Rama II
Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
Rama II follows on seventy years later from the events of the Rendezvous with Rama. A second Raman ship has entered our solar system, and a whole new crew is ready to board it and learn its secrets. From the outside it appears similar to the first, but the big question as they enter the ginormous space craft, is, is it similar? and why has a second ship arrived?
The first book is one of my absolute favourites, and as a kid I loved the third in the series ‘Garden of Rama.’ I’d attempted to read the second back then after reading the first and third, but couldn’t get into it. This time I've been reading them in the right order, despite some of the longer story being spoilt by my lasting memory of Garden of Rama.
Rama II has a much different feel than the first, and that’s down to the writing. While Arthur C. Clarke is one of the two authors credited, this clearly isn’t his work. It doesn’t feel like it, or read like it. From what I can gather he was in more of a consultancy role, with Gentry Lee taking over the main writing duties.
Hard science and an almost cold approach to character (which I love in Clarke’s work) is replaced by something all together more human, with large sways of the book having a more melodramatic feel. Human relations are front and centre, as opposed to the science of it all. That’s not to say the science has disappeared, but Clarke’s attention to detail is replace with Shakespeare quotes and news reports. His design detail pushed aside for lover tiffs and new relationship forming.
If it sounds like I'm looking down on the book, I'm not. I enjoyed plenty of Rama II, it’s just different. The extra three hundred plus pages more than the first are there to develop character, and that’s not always for the betterment of a story. The pacing is all over the place, and there’s plenty of unresolved issues with the amount of dramatic turns taken, but I still like most of what’s going on.
Richard Wakefield is probably my favourite character, but I actually like a lot of the religious stuff with O’Toole too. While not religious myself, I always like adult conversations about the subject, and this book has plenty of them. Nicole is the main character in the book, and her story is also very interesting, but a lot of it is somewhat unresolved.
I think it’s a more difficult read than the first in the terms of pacing rather than any complex prose. If there’s a character you’re not fussed about, things can slow down at times, and the book never commits to being in a single place. When Rama is finally boarded there’s still plenty of flashbacks and asides.
Gentry Lee is clearly his own writer, so maybe hardcore fans of Arthur C. Clarke will find this one difficult to enjoy. But, I think there’s plenty of merit in his book too. I’m sure a hundred pages and several side stories could be cut from this book without causing much damage, and that’s not a good sign, but I also believe most of that stuff is still interesting enough when its happening. It’s a decent book overall, not a favourite, but something I would potentially read again one day, and I’m sure I’ll read the follow up in the near future too.
