Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
It's a lot more than that. Rendezvous with Rama is a classic of sci-fi. But those sequels with Gentry Lee are about universally hated. I don't know that I have ever seen a positive review on any of them.
I've not read the sequels. But I have read Cradle by Clarke and Lee and remember being disappointed in it.
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I've read them. I went into them thinking, "Surely they aren't as bad as everyone says they are." Well, I was correct, because they're worse.
The original is set in an optimistic future where humanity has colonized the solar system and sets out to explore Rama when it unexpectedly shows up passing through the Solar system. The sequels start out with all of that gone except the base on the moon, which is still hanging on by a thread. In addition we quickly find out that terrorists nuked Rome between the original and the sequels. As in detonating an actual nuclear weapon. The entire first sequel is devoid of any hope or positivity, focusing more on all the characters being assholes in various ways than on the exploration it's nominally about.
And then it gets worse. Attempted genocide even happens, with humanity doing it, of course. Your reward for suffering through all of this? Well, there isn't one. There is no satisfying ending, Lee's explanation of what Rama is turns out to be really bland.
Save your time and sanity, don't read them. They're truly, horribly awful and the worst books I've read in my entire life. I regret having read them, and they're the only books I can say that about.