Engagement:
Genre:
Science Fiction
Published:
1973
Page Count:
243
Where to Buy:
Rendezvous with Rama
#
Content Ratings
Mild Themes
The novel is primarily a novel of pure wonder and scientific speculation; its themes center on the humbling encounter with intelligence so different from our own as to be essentially incomprehensible.
No Violence
A robot creature briefly attacks humans but is quickly dealt with; the novel's tension comes entirely from exploration, mystery, and the wonder of an alien environment rather than violence.
Synopsis
A vast cylindrical alien spacecraft enters the solar system and a crew of explorers must race to investigate it before it passes out of range forever, finding an astonishing artificial world inside that is beginning to wake up. Told with Clarke's characteristic scientific clarity and sense of wonder, the novel is above all else an experience of awe before the incomprehensible scale and strangeness of alien intelligence. A masterpiece of first-contact science fiction.