Rama Revealed

Have been waiting for this book series to come out in the Kindle edition. I love my physical books but it's great to be able to take all my favorite books where ever I go.....thank you the store and keep getting all books into Kindle editions.

This review does not reflect on the excellent service by the seller from whom I purchased this book

After a reference to the first "Rama" book (Rama Revealed) appeared in the news after an object with an origin beyond our solar system passed through ours, I was interested in reading the book for my own sake, as well as to consider using it for my students. The first Rama book was intriguing with some great sci-fi and characters in a plot with some cool twists. Bad language, sexual content, and violence in the first book were minimal and in context rather than being spread gratuitously just "because". I really enjoyed the first book--enough to wanting to read Rama II.

Rama II went further with sexual content and language, but most of it was still in context with the story as important elements of furthering the plot. For example, Nicole wanted to mate with both women to diversify the gene pool not knowing how long her first two children would be aboard Rama and alone once the adults died. These and other "adult" topics were included in the story to lay the plot groundwork for the later books and not just to make the book smutty enough to get readers turned on.

However, the final two books went way overboard with everything. Foul language kept increasing in use and type throughout the book. The amount of story dedicated to the topic of sex increases significantly from the other two books. In addition, the sexual interactions between characters and self-sex is much, much more descriptive and frequent than in the previous books and for no real purpose other than (it seems) because the author wanted to write about sex. If there was any doubt that the author just wanted to write about sex, all doubts are laid to waste when the author introduces pedophilia involving a 70+ year old man and a 13-year old girl. The author tries to (barely) disguise the subject of pedophilia by having those two characters being devout Catholics and by marrying the two. Disgusting!

Rama II had more character development and backstory than the first book, but it was tolerable overall. However, the last two books drag the readers to quicksand and leaves them there struggling to get out of it.

The author was obviously wanting to go for two more books after Rama II because the number of characters increase dramatically in the third book with the aliens wanting to capture 2,000 more humans for study. And, when hoping more characters would keep readers interested (which they didn't), the author adds worthless elements to the stories with more sex, deception, violence, and even crime.

It was very apparent that the author was greedy and struggled to complete the final two books as neither one has any worth. The last two books were so bad that I threw away both, which is something I rarely do as I enjoy my own library a great deal, but these two are out of there. I'm trying to decide if Rama II will join them.

This is the first of 4 Rama books which refer to a gigantic alien spacecraft of unknown purpose passing through our solar system. As all of Asimov's books, his descriptions take you there on the journey even into the thoughts of his characters. I will not be a plot spoiler, but the the jest is that because of its nature it causes a stir on Earth and Earth wants to all about it. So they send a crew to check it out.

OK at what point did the Octospiders tell Richard Wakefield that, "Yes! Wow, we are so amazed that you guessed what we call ourselves. Octospiders! How in the hell did a human guess that from just looking at us?" He made up the name for them in book two, and now it's gospel. What would happen if the Octos started off calling the humans, pink, whiny, four legs? So far this isn't resolved, maybe I skimmed over the part where the, "Octospiders," told the humans that their real name for their species would be impossible for them to pronounce.
I have cringed beyond belief every time a character is made to say, 'Whaaat?' the two extra, "a's" stand for: we have too many changes of scenery to cover so to hell with rich character descriptions.

I just finished reading the Rama series. In my mind Rama Revealed did "feel" like a natural continuation of the previous book Garden of Rama, but didn't quite feel like a solid conclusion to the story. For example, what was the connection between Maria and the Octospiders? To me, this element of the story seemed spurious; it was as if the authors were starting a new thread in the story but then swept it under the rug. Unless they were planning another sequel, I think they should have dropped the whole Maria element. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the story as a whole. If you enjoyed Garden of Rama, I do recommend reading Rama Revealed.

--- A COMMENT ON THE SERIES ---

I agree with the other reviewers that the sequels to Rendezvous with Rama do not fall within the same sub-genre of the original book. However, I don't agree with the critics who denounce Rama Revealed (and the other sequels) as literary trash. At worst, they are just not what you expected. When you're craving an apple an orange never quite satisfies.

In my mind Rendezvous with Rama presents a hypothesis on how humans would react to the realization that, not only are they not alone in the universe, but that they are not the most advance species. In addition, Rendezvous with Rama hypothesizes how alien intelligence might exploit the laws of physics to transport biological beings through deep space. These two hypothesis are woven by Clark into a thought provoking story, with the conclusion of each bite sized chapter compelling you to read the next. In many ways this story stimulated the sense of excitement and wonderment I felt studying physics back in college.

The sequels to Rendezvous with Rama continue the story but with a revised emphasis and approach. The sequels struck me as more character driven than plot driven, and there is more attempt at the use of sex and violence to spice up the story. In addition, the sequels present a reflection on the human condition rather than physics and its implications towards humanity. In particular, Clark and Lee explore ethics and value systems, the interplay between rational thought and emotion, social structure, politics, and intrinsic sources of human suffering. The alien societies are constructed so as to provide contrast to the human condition, so that we can better understand ourselves.

The scientific side of all the Rama books are excellent, ie. postulating what possible technological developments and advances one could possibly come accross, but the story is dragged out ad infinitum with, mostly irrelevant, detail about the characters' past and those sections become boring and spoil the tempo and continuity of the book. I don't know why this is, because most other books by Arthur C. Clarke is difficult to put down, but with the Rama books you eventually look up to reading further because you look up to pages and pages of mostly irrelevant blurb!

It was an excellent book. It shows the human nature extends into the future as it is today. We have to get over our greed and power control of the individual to improve on ourselves. It was a surprising ending too.

After building up for 3 books with excellent character development and vivid descriptions, this final book was a bit of a disappointment. It just didn't live up to what I was hoping for an ending to this 4-book adventure.

I fully agree with the bad reviews of the Rama series. Rendezvous With Rama was interesting and it went down from there.
Rama II ??? Barely worth reading
Garden of Rama was boring. Rama Revealed was so poorly written and unimaginative I finally started skipping pages and then
skipped all the way to the end and sold them back to my book dealer.
Predictable in a VERY BAD way. I would not recommend these to anybody!

OMG! !!!! The first two Rama books for excellent. Please please do not waste the small portion of your life necessary to read the last two. Here, I can encapsulate both of the final two books with just a few sentences. The following describes about 96% of the final two Rama books:

1. Woman cries because she is happy, woman cries again because she remembers crying because she was happy.
2. Woman has lots of babies cries a whole lot because of how much she loves them, woman continues crying remembering that she cried because she loves her babies
3. Woman finds out that God created Rama in an attempt to observe the universe and find righteous people, woman cries because she's happy that she found out that God created Rama, woman cries because she's happy that she remembered that she cried because she found out that God created Rama
4. About a half a dozen different alien species beat the crap out of each other the end

I love the character development and closure this book brings. It's sad and uplifting all at the same time, the commentary on humanity is a little stereotypical now but still engrossing. Hard to put down and definitely a reread.

I remember liking the first "Rama" book and decided to read this last one. I was disappointed along the way with the rambling nature of this book without much plot, but the ending! The journey through the knowledge is worth the book for the images and ideas he paints. Saved at the end!

fast arrival , super package, just as descriebed. love it .. great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great

This book was delivered faster than I expected and several weeks before the expected date! The pages of the book are not the quality I expected, because of the paper wich is of poor quality. Despite all of this, the book was new and in a good state.

The biggest flaw with this series is introducing plot points and then not resolving them. The second problem is all of the assumptions the plot makes that are suspect or just plain wrong. There was good stuff in this series and even in this last book - the interactions with the aliens were intriguing although I find it hard to believe that free will is not an operative sociological construct in alien societies. But, of course, that is a human-centric view. I also enjoyed the idea the loving and learning are two of the highest human pursuits. I happen to agree with that. Richard and Nicole's curiosity about the aliens and their technology was believable. However, so much of the rest of the book was not.

The first plot point that I thought suspect was the idea that 200+ years into the future, the societies of the world would have a hard time finding 2,000 people interested in space travel/colonization. At the present time, there are over 100,000 people signed up for a trip to Mars even though that eventuality is quite distant. To add insult to injury, the authors posited that prisons would have to be tapped to find enough people. As dumb as the human race can be at times, I don't think that criminals would be chosen to populate an off-planet colony unless the purpose of that colony was an ACTUAL prison. Strike one.

The second time the plot jumped the shark was when it assumed that the human beings chosen for the colonization/voyage played to the lowest common denominator in human behavior. (Wouldn't there be a huge swath of people from all of the educated professions, especially science, who would jump at the chance?) Apparently, in order to set up doc Nicole as a heroic figure, the rest of the humans had to be written as immature, unevolved idiots. I think that most people who would be interested in space travel and/or colonization, while not perfect, wouldn't be as self-absorbed as the society portrayed in the book. They would understand the idea of limited resources and have a strong incentive not to pollute their environment to the point where it overwhelmed the systems available to them. I feel that they would curtail their behavior in order to survive. I also think that they would be in awe of the superior technology and might heed the warnings not to screw around with it. Strike two.

The third plot point I couldn't accept was the idea that a contingent of colonists with a preponderance of Americans would quietly submit to a tyrannical Japanese warlord. Anyone who understands American culture knows that they would fight back. I'm not saying Americans don't have flaws - they definitely do. But, freedom is one of our highest values and I don't believe that that will change in 200 years. I feel that especially the type of humans (of any stripe) who are adventurous would not simply lay down and accept the diktats of a corrupt overlord. Strike three.

As a corollary to the point 3 above, where would an overlord get all of the raw materials to manufacture weapons at the rate indicated in the book? Where would the engineering expertise come from to engineer helicopters that could function in vacuum come from? This is not an easy task and I doubt that the skill set needed for this would exist in a human sampling of 2,000 people. Especially, 2,000 people who were so submissive to toxic political power. And also, if the progenitors of RAMA were so superior to humans that even a genius like Richard Wakefield took months to figure out how to interact with their programming systems, how would Nakamura be able to find additional geniuses to reprogram the biots into evil doppelgangers? It just doesn't make sense and seems to be engendered simply for the convenience of the plot. That might be okay for a popcorn movie, but not for a grand master science fiction writer. Strike four.

Another issue with the plot was the idea that the octospiders wouldn't make more of an effort to establish communications outside of their realm. IOW, after witnessing the humans committing genocide on the avians, myrmicats, and sessiles, why wouldn't they send representatives to establish communications in a safer locale - like New York - or even some other neutral locale? The idea of the humans being "rounded up" and coerced along a certain path seems a bit primitive for an advanced civilization that has been observing human behavior for a few years. It seems like they would want to protect their habitat from human eyes. Strike five.

The forced journey was certainly interesting and I enjoyed the descriptions of their bio-engineered systems and whatnot. But it seemed a bit off.

Another irritant: the human family in the octospider zoo. This was a plot point that seemed to exist simply to confer heroic status on doc Nicole. It was never resolved, much to my frustration. Why were the octospiders keeping humans in a zoo in the Alternate Zone? And why did they not communicate this to the others when they came to live there? Was there a dark side to the octospiders that was not explored? Strike six.

And, as a corollary to the above questions - why was doc Nicole told at the end of the book that the human species was judged the most sociologically maladaptive spacefaring species the aliens had ever encountered and then told that the octospiders that Nicole had met were specifically bioengineered to be more capable of cross-species interaction? IOW, apparently the octospiders were given time to bioengineer a special subset of themselves that was more adaptive to Rama and inter-species communication. The humans were not given this chance. Even the iguana-like creatures that were so belligerent and confrontational were excused for their behavior. The whole perspective of human behavior across the whole of the book seems a bit misanthropic.

Doc Nicole was definitely portrayed as too heroic and the rest of the humans were portrayed as too foolish and selfish. Throughout the course of the book, it occurred to me several times that the authors had a very dim view of human beings. However, I am guessing this was not the intent. But, that the poor behavior was used to contrast with the heroic Nicole and her family. Strike seven.

Finally, strike eight. The idea that a deity needs to "round up" various life forms to "study" them is just incredible to me. The idea that a deity with the power to create a universe as large as ours is limited to 4D time/space capabilities just doesn't resonate with me. Why wouldn't such a powerful deity be able to observe lifeforms in their natural habitats without the use of any kind of technology at all? I personally believe that there are many planes of reality and that our 3D/4D universe is just one facet of a greater whole. The authors' concept of deity seems rather limited.

That said, some of the technology outlined was intriguing, so reading the book wasn't a total loss. And I give the authors kudos for creating a highly imaginative world. But, the human story was a big fail and I won't be reading this book again.

So...it's better than Garden of Rama.

The Rama series reaches it's end (sort of) in this book that typifies it's two predecessors. The TL;DR summary follows the continuing story of the point-of-view characters introduced in Rama II and Garden of Rama. After Richard helps Nicole and most of his family and close friends escape to the Raman city of New York they set about doing pretty much the same things they did in Rama II. When they realized they're being hunted by Nakamura and his army they escape New York and have to deal with the Octospiders who turn out to be friendly. The cast spends a lot of time in the Octospider city which Lee/Clarke somehow make marvelous and boring. Eventually a totally predictable war breaks out between the human colonists under Nakamura and the Octo civilization and just as things get interesting the Ramans show up, call a time out, and we spend 100 pages on what turns out to be a really long, mostly uninteresting epilogue.

I had very little hope for this book, so I can't say I was disappointed. Like many people, having read the first three, I was going to read the fourth. Glaring through in Rama Reveled are the fact that through the second, third and fourth book the same things keep happening, often in the same place and almost always with the same characters. For example, 70 pages into the book we're essentially back to where Rama II starter - with Richard, Nicole and their kids (plus a few friends) living in the human section of New York. Rama has traveled from Earth to the Raman node situated near a star six light years awy, back to Earth, picked up Human colonists and representatives from two other species and is now off at near light speed velocities again and we've essentially just rebooted the story. Boring.

Uninteresting, repetitive character interactions are especially common in Rama Reveled. I guess some people consider this character development but for me, these sequences simply replaced any actual character development. Practically any time a character was absent from the group for any period of time, the reader is subjected to a two page description of how everyone else reacts to them being back and those actions are generally the same every time. In addition to being repetitive, character behavior is often pointless because other than Nicole and Richard, few of the other characters ever do anything other than react to some bit of news brought to them. We're told over and over throughout the book about how Keplar is the "good kid" who never causes a problem and how Galileo is the bad kid, always being rebellious but neither of them ever take independent action, so who cares?

The fascinating Emerald City home of the Octospiders is sucked dry as that entire part of the book (more than a third of it) is just the Octospiders walking the humans through parts of the city and various events and explaining as they go. It's so contrived it lacks any real emotion or sense of discovery. The history of the Octospiders and their simbiots is imaginative but made dull in the same way a monotone professor can make a history lecture boring to even the most curious student.

Finally, the only part of the book that got me excited, the Octospider vs Human war, prompted by Nakamura and his xenophobic government is Deus Ex Machina'ed to an end by the Ramans who finally put in appearance (in the form of The Eagle) and put everyone to sleep. Between plot hooks left unresolved or under-resolved and non-answers given by the Octos or Ramans, the entire series and this book in particular felt like it was just made up as the authors went along with no real idea of where it was going to end. When we do get to the last 75ish pages of the book, it's like reading a very long epilogue. I won't spoil what ending there is but it felt hasty and incomplete. At this point in the Rama series, that wasn't so much of a bad thing. At least it's over.

What the ???? happened. I'm currently just over halfway through this mess, trying to power on through but I'm just losing the will. Nothing is happening. A minor plot point will turn in a couple of pages then nothing but mindless drivel for page after chapter after what must surely be longer than many more concise and much better novels.

It's like the author has decided to do an information dump of all the trivial s*** in their lives. Diaper changing, breast feeding, blah, blah and more blah. When it's not that, it's "Hey, let's see what weird alieny type thing we can pull from our rears. Here, have another toke". This must surely be a case of where the editor has lost the nerve to use their red pen, where the author has gained too much power and prestige to be told when they're spewing rubbish. Surely two thirds or more of this bilge should have been cut out and sent to the shredder.

I'd say that anyone who thinks Heinlein is preachy should read this. Or rather they shouldn't lest they be put off of sf for life (this is supposed to be sf, right and not just "Boring stuff on a spaceship too big to make a difference"?). Everything's here, AIDS analog, racism, Drug abuse (with the oh-so imaginatively named kokomo), Japanese gangsters, global warming (seriously), teen sexuality, incest blah blah blah, everything the author might become over-opinionated about after half a bottle of tequila laid out on page after page after page. Just like that jerk you'd love to tell to shut up but they're your ride home.

I have to believe that Clarke didn't write hardly any of this. Partly because he's supposed to be a master and masterful this isn't and partly because it reads like the author felt like they would never get another word published again and so decided to make sure they got every word they ever hoped to say on any subject out while they could.

Let's not even mention the many plot points that have just been allowed to drift away. I guess maybe they'd wrap up by the end but the people involved in some would be dead by this point surely. I bear little hope.

Sorry, this book is really making me angry. In part because I just know I will have to finish it (I'm a completist) and there's just so much more to go...

Edit: Two months later and I haven't picked the book up again since I wrote this review. It's dead, Jim.

So far, except for the original 'Rendezvous With Rama' that Gentry Lee didn't have anything to do with and which I actually enjoyed to a degree this has been the 'best' of the Rama novels. That's not saying much. Characters continue to make ridiculous decisions. Dictators that should easily be overthrown turn what was once near paradise into third world squalor reminiscent of activities and treatment of 'undesirables' that led up to World War Two. I did enjoy the expanded interaction with alien species though some of their behavior and ways of life I found hard to accept. I still find xenophobia, bigotry and hatred among the humans of this far in the future to be somewhat ridiculous. Especially later in the novel [small spoiler] when a small, surviving contingent of humans make ridiculous and silly demands of those being clearly far superior the them and in control of their very lives. I would have hoped "Look at me, I'm human and therefore superior (even in this place we couldn't conceptualize let alone build) to all other beings." would have been a trait we learned to turn away from but we're still displayed as a people easily controlled and commanded by the power hungry but we're still displayed as despicable us.
There was at least some closure and explanations given, a little too heavy on the religious side for my tastes and the last novel in the series that Arthur C. Clarke really had a hand in. The last two 'Bright Messengers' and 'Double Full Moon Night' which I guess I'll read are all Gentry Lee. Wish me luck.

This fourth and final book with Clarke's involvement is a step forward from the two previous installments. At least we get back to some of the characteristics which make up a good Clarke novel. We get back to adventure, discovery, some action and a decent story. This is not close to "Rendevous" but it is a much more interesting read than it's predecessors. At least the series closed in a basically acceptable manner, without all the Soap Opera of the other two books.

I really LOVE Clarke's writing. Man, I really do. I spent the last year reading all of his stuff I could download.

Having said this, I tried so hard to make it through the "Rama" series because "Rendezvous" was such a neat, original story. I struggled through "Rama II" and barely survived "Garden." This fourth book has finally done me in.

(Semi-Spoiler alert)

Somewhere around 3AM this morning while battling dry eyes and story fatigue, I quit caring. I don't care anymore about anyone's drug addiction, alien biology, the progeny of any two characters in the story, or the future of the human colonies. I don't give a #!%@ about The Eagle, Katie, the Node, the Earth, African witchdoctors, or anyone's interstellar sex lives. I. Just. Don't. Care.

I actually wish the octospiders would eat Nicole and Richard. At least then I'd be surprised, delighted, and disgusted. That would provide some much overdue closure.

I did not feel that this novel was quite as well written as the original "Rendezvous with Rama" but nevertheless it was a thoroughly enjoyable and fitting conclusion to the series. If you have read the previous three novels in the series, you can't go wrong with this one. The content of Rama II on is a bit more emotional and philosophical in nature, and slightly less "pure science" than the first book, but overall the series made for a very satisfying science fiction read.

The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is quite simply because I don't want to be disrespectful to one of the greatest Science Fiction writers to ever grace this planet. After a month long struggle to finish, I came to the realization that Clarke had nothing to do with this turd of a book other than investment purposes and selling his name to Lee. With that said, anyone interested in reading the Rama series, just stick with the first one and leave it at that---just as intended. The first book, Rendezvous with Rama is classic Clarke. Anything Gentry Lee writes is nothing more than swingers sex, orgies, and other nonsense that has absolutely nothing to do with the story. Don't believe me? ...just read "Cradle" and you will understand what I'm getting at.

Disclaimer: I never finished this book. I read the original "Rendezvous with Rama" some years ago, and enjoyed it. Like Clarke's other novels, it was full of wonderfully imaginative ideas, speculation on the grand scale, and not much in the way of human characters. But the thin human characters were unimportant in comparison to Clarke's grand ideas.

The second, third and fourth books shift the focus increasingly from grand ideas to human narrative. The trouble is that neither Clarke nor his co-writer (ghost writer, I suspect) learned how to write effective human narration. The storytelling in the second through fourth books becomes increasingly sappy, maudlin and tedious, and the plot increasingly manipulative and silly, until we're left with nothing but pointless plot turns and endless "reunions" filled with hugs and tears and kisses and nothing even remotely interesting.

There is a point when the two central characters are brought into a domed city that, I'm not making this up, they jokingly refer to as the Emerald City (the reader needs no reminding at this point of how derivative and childish the story has become), and one of the characters becomes dizzy and overwhelmed by the riot of strange colors, shapes and creatures. I had a similar reaction, only it wasn't dizziness, it was better summed up by the phrase "give me a break." The authors have clearly realized that they've strung together too many "awe-inspiring" episodes by this point, so they feel they have to resort to even more bizarre (ridiculous) imagery to goad us into another reaction. It doesn't work.

This was around page 200. There is still another 400 pages to go. I was pretty sure it would be only more drivel, and the reviews here have made it clear that it's drivel that winds up with a spiritual "explanation that's not an explanation". One of the things I love best about most of Clarke's work is that he didn't feel obliged to provide the Big Answers. It's a shame that he did with this series. So I've put the book down.

I echo some other reviewers' thoughts in stating that this was a huge disappointment. The Rama series started off with a tremendous success (Rendezvous with Rama) and ended with a dud. So many questions left unanswered, and so many overdrawn discussions of biological minutia that just don't add anything to the story. I've learned that the Clarke-Lee team should never have formed, and Clarke should have done this on his own. It also became evident that the author(s) relied heavily on the creation of potential plot paths that remained unresolved, for the sole purpose of giving themselves something to write about in future additions to the series. Skip this book and just read the plot summary on one of the fan sites or wiki; you'll get about as many "answers" to your nagging plot questions as you would by reading this waste of paper.

I picked up this novel at the airport at LaGuardia Airport, after just reading the back (and being in need of something to read on the plane)..I had no idea it was the conclusion to the four part series.
Apparently, from what I've read, this book doesn't live up to the other three volumes (which i have no desire to read, actually, since i know the ending), but reading the book alone was enjoyable, especially the first 2/3rds.
The premise of this novel, and the world created is absolutley fantastic, imho. It's incredibly trippy and just bizarre, but in a good way. The alien speices in the novel are very memorable, and unique -- (ie the Octospiders with their speech through colors, and the Sessiles and Avians, the Biots) and Clarke/Lee's descriptiveness when describing the enviornment on Rama is unmistakeable, and very vivid).
The plot was interesting, and it took some unexpected twists and turns in it--things didn't work out the "predictable" way, which was rather nice. The character development in this novel was mediocre, at best though. I didn't really care to much about any of the characters one way or another, and there were some interesting characters who were left severely undeveloped. Too much time was spent on the Octospiders without giving them seperate personalities, as well.
The end of the book gets kind of strange, as do so many science-fiction novels. All of the author's theories and obscure scientific thoughts come pouring out in the form of dialogue (the old Ayn Rand trap)..and there are lots of things that didn't make any sense whatsoever (lots of rhetorical questions that any semi-intelligent person could figure out, also). All in all, the novel was enjoyable to read, and there were definitly parts of it that grabbed a hold of me...but i think much more could have been done.

As happens so often in the movies and in TV shows what starts as a great idea gets milked for every penny and ends up as nothing but soul-less formulaic rubbish.
As many other reviewers have mentioned "Rendezvous..." was a marvellous book. Pure classic sci-fi with little characterisation, a concentration on scale and good helping of the numinous. Clarke has always been quite good at this. But I suppose in the effort to sell more copies the publisher's cry for characters and action always wins and we end up suffering such nonsense.
It is a shame because I, like many others, have read all four almost out of a sense of duty, a loyalty to "Rendezvous...". But I've read them with an increasing sense of hopelessness and depression! What a missed opportunity.
At the close of "Rendezvous..." we're teased with the phrase "...the Ramans do everything in threes". Just a shame the publishers didn't heed the prophecy!
I can't agree with the reaction of some readers to the sex and sleaze in "Rama Revealed" but then Europeans are typically less hung up about that kind of thing anyway. I simply choose to erase books 2-4 from my memory as Rama books and maybe one day write my own.
No characters with colourful past-lives, no complex (!) emotional inter-relationships or loving family values, just good honest cosmic awe and an emphasis of the truth of human insignificance.
For real people read Gabriel Garcia Marquez, don't look for it in Sci-Fi, you'll be hard pushed to find an author whose skill set runs into both areas, although Iain Banks is giving it a good try!
If you've never read a Rama book. Read "Rendezvous..." and then go buy "Feersum Endjinn", if you've read "Rendezvous..." "II" or "Garden..." and are considering this one, go ahead but don't say I didn't warn you.

From the title of this novel you'd expect that all the mysteries of Rama would be revealed. If so, you're likely to be disappointed. The saga of Nicole des Jardins and her family continues exactly where the third book left off. Nicole escapes from prison after a few harrowing close calls and reunites with most of her family. They eventually end up in section of Rama controlled by the octospiders. They (and we) learn a great deal about the history and physiology of the octos, and perhaps some insights into what the ultimate goal of Rama is. Trouble develops between the octos and the other human colonists ultimately leading to a genocidal war. The Eagle (from book 3) steps is to prevent the extinction of one of the two races, and Rama is sent to another node for the big finale where we learn about Rama and its creators. The ending was reasonably well done, probably the best part of the entire novel. There is finality with a certain level of ambiguity that I thought was particularly intelligent. If you're reading this review and you've read the three previous books, I'd say that you're in for pretty much more of the same. Lots of dialog about the ups and downs and comings and goings of Nicole's family, some interesting discussions about the octos and human/alien interaction, a few tense moments, etc. If you haven't read any of the other Rama books (or at least either of the other two written by Gentry Lee), I'd highly recommend that you think carefully (and read other the store reviews) before you start. There are a lot of good ideas in this book (and in the three written by Lee generally), but there is so much irrelevant fluff (3 novels at 500-600 pages each) that I can't really recommend that anyone take the time to read them when there are obviously better books to work through. The three Lee novels are really more of a soap opera/family drama and not hard sci-fi. Lee had about 1-1.5 novels worth of good stuff that he stretched into three tedious tomes. Bottom line - there are some good ideas here, but probably not enough to spend the time to plow through three bloated novels (my rating of 3 stars is a generous roundup of 2.5). Read Rendezvous with Rama (one of the best sci-fi novels ever), then don't bother with the rest.

When I was half-way through Rama II, I was loving it. So I bought Garden and this. Both together are maybe worth 50 cents. The only reason I gave this a 2 and not a 1 was that the first two sections are sort of scientific about the Octos. But the rest is WAY to full of sex and violence. I mean, see if you can give Richard Wakefield a more violent death why don't you Mr. Gentry Lee? If you do, I might throw up instead of just feeling like I would. And what's this with Katie? She was my favorite character in the first half of Garden. Now she is a hopless drug addict and a manager of PROSTITUTES! Do you think you can make an even more deteriorated character Mr. Gentry Lee? (more throwing up) As I said in my review of Garden, let me spare you from this awful book: New Eden deteriorates. The Wakefields and a few friends go to live with the Octos. New Eden declares war on the Octos. The Ramans prevent the war and Rama III arrives at the node (after Richard is executed for trying to stop the war). Nicole starts having heart attacks and dies after learning this: God created the universe. He created the nodes, Ramas, and all that stuff, to learn about evolution so He can make every sub-atomic particle in the universe achieve complete harmony. (Laugh, Laugh) Bottom Line: Name any book you hate. This one's worse

As with the other reviews of Rama Revealed, the book was excellent and since I am a fast reader, I loved the length of the book, and series.

The only thing that I didn't love (I really liked it, thats why it got a 9 not a 10), was the ending.

It doesn't sum everything up. Of course you lose the main characters, (some), but there could be a whole series with the remaining.

What happened with Simone and General O'Toole all the years that Nicole was gone? What are they going to do now?

What goes on with Patrick and Nai on the Carrier?

What are Ellie, Max, Benjy, Dr. Blue, and the other humans, Octospiders, Avians, etc... doing on the Node with the Eagle?

The ending is not satisfactory. In fact, I think it may be the conclusion of the "Rama" series, but not the conclusion about the characters. You could go on forever.

I hope more books come to explain what happens. I didn't give to much of the ending away (I hope, but some people will still think I did), so if you want to discuss my opinions email me

If you have read the previous books you have to read this one. If you haven't then first read the others, otherwise nothing makes sense. All the questions, well, most of them, raised in the other books are answered.

Will people please stop comparing this book to "Rendezvous with Rama"? Of COURSE the 3 sequels in this series aren't the original. Let's move past that.
When I read Rama II, I was disappointed in many ways, but pleased in others. ACC is fantastic at what he does, but character development isn't it. So I was happy to have characters with some sort of depth to them. Sadly, these characters seem to lose depth with time. (Aside: Why is it that middle-aged scifi authors always write about exotic women with French accents who just happen to be amazing in bed?)
As another reviewer noted, the "revelation" of Rama was a bit of a cop-out. That's okay, because I'd known for years that ACC and Gentry Lee had painted themselves into a corner with the Ramans. Nobody could have pulled off a genuine revelation of the Ramans. Really, disappointing though it was, a cop-out was the best way they could have handled the revelation.
So, if the characters were terrible and the plot disappointing, why 3 stars? Simply because it was a valiant attempt, as was the entire series. ACC never intended to write a sequel to "Rendezvous," and the book on its own did not deserve one. He presented us with a mystery of stupendous magnitude, but nothing else. The sequels are worth reading simply because they attempt to put the mystery into HUMAN terms. We might not like or believe the characters, but it's good to see that they at least have names.

This was a terrible disappointment. The cover promises "... the unforgettable revelation of the true identity of the beings behind this strange glittering trek across the cosmos". By the time it reaches the end we know nothing more about the "Eagle" then when it started. Who built Rama and the Nodes? What is the ultimate purpose? Never explained (perhaps he had none). Nicole's decision to commit suicide (partly because of the existence of a robot image that could have been removed) is entirely against character. She is a strong personality with much yet to give and see, but leaves with a pity party, all those who care about her without regard to their needs or wishes (which they conveniently surrender).

I have been reading SiFI since the 1950's and have never spent so much time reading so many pages in order to get to a sloppy, sentimental, uninformative ending. I regret that Clark is gone so there is no way to beg him to make a last second save of Nicole and carry on with a fourth book that would would answer the questions he promised to but never did. It seems obvious that Clark had a genuine hatred for the human race. The only creatures in the known universe that are worse are primitive lizards. And then Nicole talks about humans as "unique" as though that were a good thing. There is no argument about the actions of the humans on Rama, it is typical human history--the desire to conquer and destroy, and the inherent believe of "moral" and physical superiority despite the evidence all around them. To emphasize he starts a new dictatorship as soon as they get on the Node that concentrates on hating all other species.

(Aside--if you want to read the most prescient and frightening story ever written, get a copy of Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands" {published in Astounding in '47 and available in collections).

The one feature that separates the three Rama sequels from Arthur C Clarke's other works is the melodrama. This book, thankfully, has less of that than the two preceding it. It's still no Rendezvous With Rama, but it's good. Since I can't give it three and a half stars, I rounded up and gave it four.
As I said in my review of Rama II, I do have a weakness for alien-contact stories, and therefore grew quite attached to the alien characters, Archie the octospider in particular. Clarke and Lee's ideas for differing alien cultures are interesting, which was one of the reasons I was so eager to finally meet the Ramans.
The result was disappointing. A good idea, certainly, but one they really should have saved for a different story. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it, but I was expecting something as technological and enigmatic as the Overlords in Childhood's End. Instead, all questions were answered in a way that was less than satisfying and left no sense of mystery. They tried too hard to come up with something utterly awe-inspiring, and overshot, leaving me with no feeling of awe at all. I could envision a fabulous short story built around the concept, but it just didn't fit the pattern the novels were following.
And what's with Maria? It's almost as if they threw her in and then forgot about her. Who was she? How did she end up in the octospider domain? What does that say about the octos? This isn't an unanswered mystery or even a loose end-- it's a complete oversight. They would have done better to leave her out altogether. It seemed like Clarke and Lee were really rushed toward the end, finishing it off in a hurry. "Oh, wait, we forgot to explain about Maria." "Oh well, no time to bother with that, we'll just leave it to the reader's imagination." The problem is, there wasn't even enough information given to imagine all that much. The girl just didn't fit.
Despite my problems with the ending, the story itself was compelling and exciting, pretty bleak on its perception of human nature, but fascinating nonetheless. The characters are more developped and believable than they were in the previous book, the sharp dividing line between the 'good' and 'evil' people finally blurring the way it does in real life. This is more of a 'traditional' story than I've come to expect from Clarke, but it's still good.

Ugh. I must say that Clarke's original book Rendezvous with Rama was brilliant. But when GL took over most of the writing for the remaining series, it went downhill. GL's writing style can't hold a match to Clarke's. The ending was absurd, and most of the goings-on in the story were just not believable. Sci fi is a tough nut to crack, and sci fi audiences are generally a smart group. When they are asked to believe a premise or idea in a movie or book that's just too hard to believe, or an idea that isn't thought through very well, they'll take the writer/director/ outside for a little pummeling. I remember when I got to the end of the book, the ending was so deflating, so contrived, so unimaginative, I felt ripped off, like it was almost a joke. The feeling of being underwhelmed was so strong, I vowed never to read anything from GL again. GL may have been a good engineer, but a writer he's not. D minus. Cannot endorse.

I read all 4 - the original "Rendezvous with Rama", plus the Trilogy - Rama II, Garden, and Revealed. I loved all of them.....the original was a very quick and enjoyable read. The other 3 (in the trilogy), were much more verbose and a slower read. They were written with Gentry Lee, and my understanding is that Gentry did most of the writing, and character development, and conferred with Clark on the story line. Gentry added great color to the characters...even though quite a bit of the time there was a lot of distraction around a level of detail with their lives that I thought was excessive. Plus several of the characters I though were a bit too simplistic or not developed enough, not to mention it was hard for me to believe that so many people in the "Garden / Rama" would act like sheep in mass. So I do agree with many of the points of a lot of the negative reviews.

However, that being said, these characters created a context for the storyline and a perspective on possible intelligent life and the evolution of life throughout the Galaxy that more than made up for it and allowed me to stay engaged. The story has elements of human behavior, politics, interstellar space travel, evolution of a variety of aliens and how they live, interspecies relations, the meaning of life, what an ultra advanced alien civilization or collective might do with their technology, etc. The story has a bit of a negative outlook on humanity, that might very well be accurate, but despite this not being totally credible, and things like I can't figure out how a large object can accelerate to 1/2 the speed of light and then decelerate on it's own without losing most of it's mass, it's stimulates much thought and leaves you with a powerful and epic story that makes you think and might leave you pondering your values and the meaning of life for a few weeks.

It makes me think how more people should read stories like these, instead of getting caught up in stupid Tabloid activities, but this book points out that most people live in the middle of the bell curve, and perhaps that is the way it is with all alien intelligent civilizations. The number of negative reviews probably indicates that one group of readers has no problem getting past the imperfections to get to the meat of a great illustrative story, and others want a book to perhaps be more entertaining and flowing...

First off, who the hell are the Ramans anyway? It says they are the monitors, but what the hell are the monitors? I would appreciate any opinions on the matter. I think I get it, but I'd like to know what others got out of this, so please send ideas to [email protected]. Otherwise, this book was fabulous and NOT smut to all you "sensitive" readers who feel a need to cry and bitch about the sex, welcome to the real world. People have sex, it's not always nice sex. Duh. Don't knock his writing because you all have some issue with your own sexuality, or lack thereof. Moving on, I felt this, uh, final? book was not a great finale to the series. I love open ended books and series, but there should some guide as to what is truly the author's view. But that is my only complaint and I think Clarke should be very proud of this creation.

Wonderful (in every sense) conclusion to an amazing life adventure. I waited entirely too long to get to this point. Am heartbroken that there will be no more, at least from ACC. Highly recommend but don't start here! ! ! Read 'me all, in order, soon ! !

The sub-text to the title reads "the ultimate encounter." And this sub-text is appropriate. This is the fourth installment to the Rama series and reads very well, very simply. Two thirds of the book is kept inside the Rama environment and continues the story of Nicole, her husband, and their children, and the political chaos that erupted in The Garden of Rama. It is a return to the spider-like creatures and how Nicole befriends them and learns from them. This book is just as much a statement about the human condition left to its own devices as it is about first contact with aliens in a controlled environment. As soon as the human population becomes statistically large enough, the violent and, and often unintelligent, course of human history begins to repeat itself. What was most interesting to me was the spider creatures and their view of life, intelligence, and social structure. This book takes the old optimistic course that higher aliens are also smarter aliens, and in comparison to them, humans are ignorant and barbaric. And it does appear that humans are indeed this way with the exception of a very few. The Nicole contingency has its own trouble adapting and trusting but eventually sees through their own ignorance and fear. At times this book was a little too simplistic a little too nicey nice. Sometimes the dialog bordered on adolescent, the characters too contrived and obvious (particularly Max Puckett). But in the end there was death and grit and even to a small degree betrayal. In the end Rama is finally revealed. The aliens are benevolent and vastly smarter than anything we can imagine. The authors seem to try and appease even the religious readers in making the ultimate alien encounter be God. There is not an overabundance of science to make this a hard sci-fi story. It is optimistic with enough pain thrown in to make it less hokey. The way it's written makes the story almost universal in its accessibility to all readers. I was particularly touched by the slow but sure course Nicole took to her own death. I thought in this context it was very real and made me think about how I would want to leave my final days. In all, this is a warm story filled with great imaginings and hope. It is very much the Arthur C. Clarke that millions of sci-fi readers have grownup with. It's a comfort book even though it brought me to anger at times for how stupid some of the characters could be. And I suppose that's really how it is. Humans are incredibly ignorant. Frustratingly so when you consider the arrogance that often accompanies this ignorance.

After the pathetic ending of "Garden of Rama" there really was nowhere to go but up. This book went up. Some. Not much.
The crisis situation in the human colony on Rama has been mitigated (and the humans are pretty pathetic); everyone goes to sleep again for a long, long time; Nicole is reunited with family members she never thought she'd see again (and a rather weak reunion it is, too!); a final "segregation" is made between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" based on a strange, Raman determination which preaches free choice on the one hand -- and no taking of personal responsibility for behavior on the other; -- AND Rama is revealed for what ACTUALLY is.
Again, Clarke and Lee delve into theological suppositions in which, frankly, they demonstrate that they are WAAAY over their heads. This was a serious mistake.
Finally, Nicole makes some choices at the end of the book -- which I won't spoil in this review -- which, frankly, reveal her to be as selfish and shallow as most of the rest of the characters -- a real disappointment.
Why the 3rd star? Because it was better than "Garden" which received 2!
My suggestion? Read "Rendevouz" -- and skip the rest of the series.

If you like lots of character development then check out the 5 sequels to Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama. Mr. Clark collaborated with Gentry Lee and produced 3 more books plus 2 without Mr. Clarke's input. Reviews are not outstanding like Rendezvous with Rama but Gentry Lee fills the books with well developed characters and complicated relationship, people you don't want to leave behind.

This final book in the Rama series puts a grand cap on a fantastic series. The scope of the whole series is on an almost unimaginable scale. This book wraps up the series nicely by answering a lot of the questions that have come up in the first three books. Also, if you enjoy thinking about deep questions such as the purpose of the universe this is a must read. If that type of thing is not your style then the end of this book may be less than you had hoped. One interesting aspect of this whole series is Clarke's dark picture of humanity. There is little of the bright humanistic picture that is prevalent in many other books. This series depicts humanity in quite a negative light. Whether this is an accurate portrayal is up to the reader. Overall this book is an excellent finish to an already brilliant series.

I found myself wading through the final pages of the Clarke/Lee trilogy, just waiting for it to be over.

I picked up these three books, Rama II, Garden of Rama, and Rama Revealed, from a nearby bookstore that was going out of business. I payed $1 each. I feel overcharged. Despite that feeling, there are a few points in favor of this book and this trilogy.

The Good:
* As with the original Rendezvous with Rama, these three books convey the immensity of space and of the spacecraft with which they are concerned.
* The aliens depicted are -- physiologically -- truly alien. They are not the mix and match humanoids with (fur, green skin, leathery gray skin), (pointy ears, no ears), and (antennae, enormous black eyes) found in so much science fiction.

The Bad:
* The characters themselves are difficult to like or even care about. Although the authors become more and more enamoured with their creations. By series end, the aliens are granting special favors for our protagonst while explaining that it is because of how wonderfully inspirational she is. I doubt that many readers found the protagonists wonderful or inspirational.
* The aliens are -- psychologically and sociologically -- characterizations of human societies. The octospiders practice a beneficent communism where the good of the individual must be sublimated to the good of the society. Those who will not agree are outcast to the alternate colony (octospider siberia). Those who can't pull their own weight are executed.
* On the other hand, we have our "bad guys". Whereas the aliens are generally benign, if difficult to understand, our villains are almost entirely human. (The exceptional "evil" aliens act callously rather than maliciously). Our human villains are glaringly violent, racist, drug dealing, pigs.
* Gentry Lee is far too fond of Arthur C. Clarke. While Clarke's claim that "Any technology sufficiently advanced, will have the appearance of magic", Lee quotes this claim over and over again when looking at any technology, whether or not anyone would consider it truly magical.
* The entire story comes down to a morality play in which Lee appears to drag out the vices of humanity and hold them up as objects of disgust and scorn, padding between the scenes with bits of his NASA lectures.

In total, the experience of reading this book, and this trilogy, is a drudgery. If you are to subject yourself to it, you should have your bookseller compensate you something far more than $1 per book.

This is a very good conclusion in my opinion. If this were to really happen, this conclusion would definitely be a realistic ending. This book does not do what most others do, and magically for some unknown reason save all the main characters, but flows with the real world, and reminding the readers that the people are not imortal, and always saved, but succestible (sp) to the real world. Foreshadowing told that Katie would not be like the others, and probably take on the job of prostitution. The octospiders were quite different than what i would have expected, which shows how good a writer Arthur C. Clarke is. It is not predictable, unless Clarke wants you to know. The ending was...strange, but a nice way to end the series. A few things are left a mystery, but then again, life is full of mysteries.....

I have just finished reading "Rama Revealed" and although I found the middle bit a little slow going generally enjoyed it. I was disappointed by the "death is beautiful" ending, but by now I have come to expect this from an Arthur C Clarke novel. It is indeed unfortunate that Dr Clarke has no interest in being part of the future as so many of his novels have been highly positive about it. The details about the Octospiders' civilisation are interesting in the way annihilation is considered, and this is interesting to read alongside The City and The Stars. The cosmological speculation in "Rama Revealed" is less than the title may suggest, but nevertheless makes the last few chapters compelling reading, including ideas from chaos theory and so on. It is interesting in this context to review Max Tegmark's ideas as published in New Scientist. I happened to read the New Scientist article at about the same time as I finished "Rama Revealed" and found similarities.

If you have read this far into the series I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't want to keep on going and see how it all ends. I am glad that I read this book and this series but I am glad that it's over. The series is really not Clarke's best but it holds many key moments of sci-fi wonder. This book has many of those moments, but unfortunately it also has 600 other pages of garbage. I recommend that you rent this book from your library and skim it, you can finish it in a day or so if you breeze over the unimportant parts that make up 90% of the book. Clarke and Lee went overboard on their anthropology lesson on the Octos and the scenes that include any part of the human colonists are laughable at best. But it's the 10% that make it worth the read since you've come so far and want to know how it ends. I loved any and all sections that included the eagle dude and the node and those parts made the end journey worth it.

Oh my! How terribly this book ended! You have to wade through numerous longueurs in the middle of this story where absolutely nothing happens! But you still keep reading to see if it ever reaches a frution that is satisfying. But, alas, it never does! A question: Why, if there were a God, would this God need giant ships traveling through space to perfect Their universe? If you are a God, then you should be able to complete the perfection without doing experiments! I read and read and fought through the boring waiting as the characters simply sat and did nothing during their long trips. Hoping that the benevolent race would make themselves apparent. That it would be sort of like Close Encounters. Not some completely preposterous idea that ACC seemed to pop out at the end! RIDICULOUS! If this was the plan of some all mighty God, then it was seriously flawed and I don't think I would want to live in their universe! I wanted to meet some aliens! I wanted to meet some higher beings who created all of this! I wanted MORE! That had to be the most let down ending of any book I have ever read in the history of ever! Save your nickel and go get some chewing gum. You will enjoy it more. Mr. Clarke, I don't believe I can read your books any longer. The first RAMA book was awesome. I was completely intrigued. But when you tried to explain what was behind the ships, your explanations were less than acceptable.

Following the marvellous first book, parts of the subsequent plot in this massive series have been something of an ordeal to plough through. In particular, the ponderous characterisation, politicising and moralising which dominated much of Rama II and sizeable chunks of III, detracted from, rather than augmented Clarke's brilliant vision. I am, however, very glad to have persevered to the end, for Rama Revealed contains more of what ACC does best. The sense of wonder builds through the exploration of never before discovered sections of the intriguing Rama world. Interaction with a wholly alien species is explored in great depth. The theme of human bigotry and xenophobia is dwelt on somewhat, but does not detract from the growing sense of momentum and expectation. The final section bombards the reader with profoundly philosophical and spiritual revelations. The brief transience of life in the great scheme of things has rarely been depicted with such clarity. Surely only the most hardened sceptic would find the conclusion anything less than deeply moving? Read those last words, close the book, put it down, feel that delicious shiver run down your spine as you gaze into infinity just thinking "wow!".

.. and it is the fact Nicole would NOT star (hopefully) in any of the future Rama books, if anyone would be stupid enough to try and revive it, that is...
All the characters, that were tiresome and unbelievable about 2 pages after entering the scope of the series come to their predictable end. The human race is of course destructive to everyone including itself, and is certainly not as enlightened as much as most species, especially the wonderfull octospiders, except for a sacred few humans, such as Nicole, most of her family, and most their closest friends. It seems that the co authors 'fell in love' with the octospiders, and made them all they thought the human race should aspire to...
This book stretches the ideas of the previous 2 books in the collection TOO far, and is by far the worst of the series. The plot continues to deteriorate, and so do the characters - especially the ones introduced earliest in the series. The 'total understanding' we are supposed to reach through Nicole is quite useless and over dramatic - by this stage, no one needs THAT much understanding of what's behind Rama. All the original questions behind the original Rama ship were given the most predictable and banal answers, which is to badconsidering they were excellent questions to start with.

Once I started with Rendezvous with Rama I simply could not stop. I stayed awake all night reading these magnificent books. I cried when humanity destroyed the (*****) and I rejoyced when Richard saved the last remaining (***). The series was a roller coaster ride of emotions for me. Arthur C Clarke aptly illistrates just how evil humanity can be and yet how compassionate we can be also. The Rama Series would be the best series I have ever read and I give the series a 10 out of 10 overall. However I think the meaning of life portrayed in the ending was a major let down considering the great potential the series held out as it unfolded.

This was the first book of the series I read. It was also the first book ever that I threw away into the waste bin after reading rather than giving it away to someone else. Badly written (tell, don't show...), no discernible plot, unnecessary characters and events. Not worth the paper it was printed on (but it's being recycled now).

This is plainly not a well written book. I should have heeded the warning of previous reviewers, but I wanted to get to the bottom of the story of Rama.
The characterization sod nearly every character are artificial and/or extremely simplistic.
This book, indeed the whole series after the first book, is not up to par with the rest of Clarke's body of work.

I bought it only to fill out the Rama series but wasn't expecting much. Of the Rama books, only the original "Rendezvous with Rama" is worthwhile, the rest are bad and if I hadn't read the first Rama back in the '70s, I'd never have read the rest. They were bad but one can slog through them. Rama Revealed I couldn't finish so I guess I'll have to go through life never knowing what was revealed.

"Rendezvous With Rama" is one of my favorite books. I can easily believe it could be real while reading it, and the size of the space vehicle along with the clear descriptions of the weather inside, the view from one side to the other and countless other such things makes the book (at least for me) unique.
I felt each book after the first got weaker, and by the time I got to this ending book of the series, I finished it ONLY because I had read the others.
From reading other reviews here, many people, or at least quite a few, felt as I do. The story went on too long and eventually got ruined.

Maintaining interest and keeping the story lines of several characters active throughout several books is a difficult trick, and yet by this one the three we have known since Rama II have all developed in ways I would not have seen. But the strength of this book is not in the characters, Clarke books are strong in that respect. He continues to astound with his commentary on the human race, our religion, the possibilities of cultures from other races, technology, and a possible nature of God. He even throws out a very curious and uncomplimentary reason for our existence; this universe is a part of an extensive and unimaginably long-lasting experiment. Nicole's death punctuates the message beautifully; she grasps how entirely insignificant she is. She has her legacy, which is all she was designed to have.

Wow! What an absurd concept, that GOD, the creator of all, would need a starship! It left gaping holes and could have or rather should have gone in another direction altogether. No sinister plots, no real twists, just flat characters driven by their own selfish wants. The character pattern is so definitively established by the time they wrote this book that except for the history lessons you already know how it is going to end.

In the end I kept reading in the hope that there would be something worthwhile to be garnered from the effort it took to read this atrocity. However I was thoroughly let down in the end.

"And this, Katie Wakefield, is for what you did to yourself."
Despite the fact that I don't even believe in monogamous relationships, I thought this story was wonderful. Its slow at times, but it is a really fascinating look at both humanity and cultures that are so foreign to our own that they are almost revolting.
Understandably, many people did not enjoy the character development, because thats not what they look for in a book. But I think it encompasses virtually every topic possible, and is definately well written.
Thats just my opinion.

Loved hhe first book in the series but it went downhill from there. Its cleat that ACC didnt have a lot to do with the later books. By the end of the last book I kinda felt cheated as the end just kinda lay there flat trying to be way more meaningful than it actually is.

Clarke is a familiar and venerable voice. Rama Revealed felt different from what proceeded it. It felt connected to Space Oddessy obliquely, but only suggested to me what may be the grand purpose. I thought it could be a bit shorter and still convey its message.

I was hoping for something more than a continuous soap opera and bashing of humans as a species. This book appears to hold the authors feelings about how we as humans treat those that are different in any way. What he say is true but not a very good read in my opinion.

Please, God, don't read this book... sorry, I forgot that God was a petty, self-serving egotist who would happily destroy our universe if we fail to dedicate ourselves to mindless worship.

Rendezvous with Rama was a classic, breath-taking work that allowed your mind to wander and wonder through a marvelous adventure. Each of the sequels got progressively worse until you find yourself wondering if Clarke's advanced age finally got him fearing his own mortality. The emotions left at the conclusion of this book were anger and disappointment.

I first started reading this series when I was a teen,and finally well into my 50's I completed it. The science was,as with all of Clarkes books, was spot on. The way he included mankind... the good and the bad, was so truthful on many levels. The way it was all tied together, masterfull. This should be on everyone's must read list

That's pretty much how I felt after finishing the final installment of the Rama series. Sure, there were a lot of interesting ideas brought up in the end, but I was very disappointed with the theological aspect of the novel. As the character of Michael O'Toole had mentioned earlier, mankind cannot put restrictions on God, and yet that's exactly what happens. One would think that God doesn't need to experiment and tinker around before getting creation right. And why would nodes be required to collect his data? I was hoping the novel wouldn't end with the explanation being as it was. I was hoping for an alien face behind Rama, not the fantastical idea that stewed in Clarke's brain and seemed a little out of his grasp. I just believe that with such an emphasis on religion in the books, including the character of St. Michael, the theology aspect could have been handled better in the end.

As for Nicole's fate. . .I was disappointed. I kept feeling that there was something big about to happen in the end. A more plausible and yet astounding discovery that would explain Rama's purporse and origins. But that feeling was never satiated, and I was disappointed with Nicole's choice in the end. There were so many critical moments when Nicole had returned to the dreams of her grandfather, and yet that theme was never completed or touched upon in the end. Maybe I was hoping for the story to not end there, but for Nicole to go on and experience something after. Why pump so much into spirituality in the book if it doesn't pay off in the end? All what we're left with is a cold, machine-like termination.

Loved the entire book. I was unable to put it down. After the second book ended I couldn't wait to get back to discover what had become the characters I had come to love. Imaginative descriptions of alien societies living on Rama really brings it to life.

Though not written by Mr Clarke, its true to the spirit of the series. If your expecting intense space action, then the whole series is probably not for you. If you want a good SciFi read, one thats a little cerebral, then this book should do just fine.

Em sua misteriosa viagem pelo espaço interestelar, a enorme nave ramaiana carrega seus passageiros humanos, até o fim de sua odisséia.
Mas os experimentos realizados pelos ramaianos falharam, e Rama III tornou-se um campo de batalha.
Os humanos chegaram até as regiões ainda não exploradas da nave, onde encontram um lugar dominado por aranhas mecânicas. E tem de decidir se elas são aliadas ou nimigas.
Enquanto isso, Rama III continua sua viagem em direção à base ramaiana, onde ao final de sua viagem, uma revelação estonteante os espera.
O ponto alto desse livro, em minha opinião, é a relação de Richard Wakefield e Nicole des Jardins e seus filhos. O fato dos personagens serem tão reais, tão pessoais, tão presentes, fez com que a trama de ficção científica ficasse muito melhor. Lembrando sempre que, a colaboração de Gentry Lee é que dá esse toque humano à estória.
Ao final, o discurso do velho, sobre a missão de Rama, foi satisfatório e inspirador - apesar de guardar suficientes mistérios para novas seqüências.
Foi o final de uma das séries de ficção científica mais fantásticas que já li - principalmente, se fizermos a correlação da família em Rama, com a Pequena Terra.

This book was littered with trivial melodramatic moments that continued the spiral of hopelessness cast by the previous Rama chapter.

Basically, if you finished the last book and are hoping this book's going to go anywhere better, sorry, it doesn't.

While the story was fantastically told and particularly spell-binding -- I literally stayed up way too late and got up way too early to finish the book in two days -- it is an entirely depressing account of how close minded most human beings are and how stubborn and ignorant they can be.

The magic/wonder of bewilderment that occurs with the discovery of the Octospiders' lives and of the Eagle can hardly make up for the majority of the story which is centered on the pain of human ignorance. I don't know about you, but I read sci-fi to expand my day dreams and move away from the base elements that make up our crude, TV-inflicted society.

All in all, the strengths of wonder, discovery, and self-qu!estioning that made up the first three Rama books are not at all present here... whereas the hopeless melodramatic downward spiral of the last book is flourished here in full force. Beware.

In the foreword for Rama II, Clarke explains that-in spite of what clearly appeared to be a lead-in to a sequel ("the Ramans always do things in threes", suggesting that there would be two similar craft to follow)-he never intended for the story to go beyond "Rendezvous with Rama." That allowed Clarke to do what he does best, to conjure fantastic worlds, and present compelling questions-without ever having to answer them. As I discovered with "2061" and "3001", the mysteries Clarke weaves and the questions his stories pose, are far more compelling than any answers he can present for them. Like 3001, the conclusion to the Odyssey series, this ending is simply abysmal. I'd have been better off letting my own imagination fill in the gaps, and ponder the unanswerable questions. Instead, characters that I had come to truly know and care about-having followed their entire adult lives-are led through situations that are both tedious and implausible. It left me feeling that the lives of the characters had been an absolute waste, that the hardships, struggles, even the joys of their unique odyssey were utterly pointless. That, for me, was even harder to swallow than the absolutely ludicrous suggestion that God would need spacecraft to shuttle people around. If you were captivated by the Rama universe as I was, do yourself a favor and stop with the third book ("Garden of Rama"). Discovering what happens to Nicole is not worth it (and her fate is quite possibly worse than you might imagine).

A very imaginative inter-stellar space story. It is a continuation of Rendezvous with Rama, Rama II, and The Garden of Rama, with some characters continuing all through. We see other creatures and their civilizations and travel to other galaxies. But we never find out who the Ramans really are. Still, I enjoyed it.

I got the entire Rama series from my dad for Christmas, who loves Arthur Clarke. I've personally never found him to be that great; most of his stories lack a B plot, have too much introduction (Rendevous and Rama II go on for hundreds of pages before you get to the good stuff), and feature mainly one dimensional characters.

Happily, as a sequel, this book does not suffer from the long introduction, and has a few B plots ongoing to keep the story moving. If the A plot is the experiences of Nicole and her family, the B plot is the war between colonists and Octospiders. So that's the good news.

However, I think that the middle part of the book could be shortened by a good 50 pages and maintain the integrity of the story. It gets pondersome in the middle. Or, more development from Nakamura's perspective (the dictator running the human colony), more insight into what is happening in the human colony overall, etc. would make things move along faster. In other words, while there is a B plot, it's not developed well and not strong enough to be a good foil to the main plot.

Finally, the book takes an abrupt turn to bring the ship and characters back to the Node, and the Ramans themselves (or at least their creations). This is a little forced, but not too bad. However, the story ends with a pointless death of one of our erstwhile explorers, and leaves a lot of questions unanswered. What happens to the humans in the Node or on the carrier? What is going on back on earth?

Either they need another sequel or a different ending.

Entertaining but unsatisfying.

A fitting end to the Rama series,even postulating a why to the universe. The main characters are Nichole and the octospiders. I did not get to read
the other books in the series but enjoyed Rendezvous with Rama, Rama II and Rama revealed.

This was a great literary read. But what riveted me to the book was the moral, ethical and social constructs that were discussed. This was a thrilling and an intellectual read. I was in awe of the calibre of the author's brain. This was a fitting finale to the series. This book would be my favorite in the series!

I won't enumerate the specific problems with this book, partly because I know I couldn't possibly provide an exhaustive list in the modest space available, and partly because most of the major crimes have already been mentioned in other reviews.
I will restrict myself to commenting that this book is so bad that I actually stopped reading it ten pages from the end - a first for me! Furthermore it is only my love of books that prevented me from ceremoniously burning this (along with its turgid previous two installments) - it now resides disrespectfully in the garage gathering dust, waiting for someone to throw it out in an absent-minded moment (I can't even give it to the charity shops, as how could I offer this for someone else's torture in conscience?)
I would make the following recommendations:
- read other Arthur C Clarks books - they are excellent
- if you want complex "other-cultures" along with genuine character development, read Iain M Banks
- never never buy any Gentry Lee books. (How he managed to dupe ACC into a partnership would make a better novel than any he could ever dream up)

I read the first three episodes of the Rama series twenty years ago, and finally got to read the conclusion, Rama Revealed. As great writers do, Clarke has created a riveting story of adventure, discovery, love and hate. I recommend, not only this book, but the whole Rama series.

If you read the other books in this series, then you had to read this one as well. Just a great story start to finish. Lot's of interesting thoughts regarding the creation of the universe in this volume.

The Rama series is absolutely wonderful. ACC creates an amazing world which, sadly, humans ruin (not surprising). I wish there was a fourth book to read. The story of Nicole was wonderful and the ending was beautiful. ACC can do no wrong.

I first read "Rendevous With Rama" when it first was published. I have to say that I still consider it to be the best science fiction novel that I have ever read. I ended up reading it in two days. It was very difficult to put down. Therefore it was with this in mind that I was ecstatic when I first saw the sequel "Rama II" on display at a bookstore. Although this installment was not up to the original I enjoyed it. When the "Garden of Rama" appeared I eagerly bought it as well. The first half of the book with the characters on their way toward and at "the node" was good but the second part with the storyline of the colony was terrible. I was so unimpressed that I didn't read until just now "Rama Revealed". This last novel was a complete bore. I read on and on trying to get a sense of what the authors were trying to say. Basically I only continued out of curiousity to find out who the Ramans were. Somehow I guessed by the incessant discussions of God in the storyline that this is who the Ramans would turn out to be. I was correct in this assumption. This ending was not very satisfying at all. Maybe I just don't get it but the concept of God, who is powerful enough to create a new universe, having to resort to sending out robot spacecraft to see how it all turns out is ridiculous. Arthur C. Clarke is my favorite author. I have read almost everything he has written and I don't believe that this book was primarily written by him. I think Gentry Lee had the lions share of input. In all fairness however I must temper my judgment with the fact that I can't separate any story about the Rama spacecraft from the first book "Rendevous With Rama". It left that much of an impression on me.

Rama by Arthur C. Clarke follows a small group of humans residing on a gargantuan spacecraft known as Rama. The main characters are essentially fugitives that have escaped from the Fascist human colony aboard Rama and are now trying to stop an imminent war between their species and another. The quality of this book varies dramatically and is therefore not for everyone. If you are looking for a book that realistically portrays alien life as well explores human nature, then this is the book for you. If, however, you want a book with fast paced action and intriguing, three dimensional characters, look elsewhere.

Rama has fascinating aliens in it that are just bizarre enough to be real. Unfortunately, almost none of the characters are nearly as interesting as their Alien allies; only two of the characters in the book are even close to memorable and most of the dialogue seems overly formal or even robotic. The chief appeal of this book is easily the Octospiders- a strange alien race that looks like a cross between a clam and an octopus. Everything about them is unique from us, from the way they communicate to the technology they use. You will find all of the differences you'd really expect from an alien in the Octospiders. The most interesting characters in the book are easily Katie and Max. Max was originally a farmer from Arkansas and is incredibly out of his element aboard Rama. Therefore he reacts with the same amount of shock and outrage at what he sees aboard Rama as the reader does. Katie, on the other hand, has lived on Rama all her life. She is in a lofty position within the human colony but is hopelessly addicted to drugs and leads an empty life. With Katie you get to see a slow but nonetheless fascinating character development that eventually leads to her brutal redemption. Unfortunately, the other characters in the book are about as human as the aliens they allied themselves with. There is absolutely no chemistry between the characters and there is little character development. This makes it even more ridiculous when a character has a sudden epiphany about the nature of humanity, life etc. These realizations seem to be a thinly veiled attempt of the writer to insert philosophy at random intervals. This would be fine except that instead of having the messages implied they are simply shoved in the readers face.

Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is essentially a Sci-fi novel that centers on a Fascist government and a group of people trying to stop them. In this way it is similar to Frank Herbert's science fiction epic Dune. There are, however, plenty of differences between the two books. First of all due to the violent nature of Dune'Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)s rebels there is a lot more action in Dune. Second, the characters in Dune are much more interesting. The final difference is that Rama is much more intriguing location. This book is not for people that are new to Sci-fi or for people that are looking for a fast paced book. It is recommended only for people that are already well versed in science fiction and are looking for something familiar. For everyone else, might I recommend Dune? [...]

so i've had time to think about the series. i read the 4 books in the main saga within a few days. overall, the concept had potential. there were interesting bits such as the setting itself, Rama, the aliens, etc. the last 2 books tried to take on what would happen if humans were to live on Rama, and how they would fare in an interspecies community. then the ending, which is relevant to the review of this book, was again "interesting" but a little abrupt, kind of out of nowhere. i give it +'s for trying to be massively incredible, the purpose of Rama and its creators, the insignificance and petty squabbles of man, etc.

however the negatives that other reviewers have put forth also hold true. the main characters you kind of get to know some of them well but the rest are kind of blah. the drama gets drawn out, plot twists are sometimes annoying. ending is a bit unsatisfying. my pet peeve is that lots of characters had "chest pain" but when the medical ability presented itself, no one thought it was a good idea to have an angiogram.

i suppose i do not regret reading the series because i had nothing better to do and i did want to be incomplete and just read clarke's solo book. but i would not recommend the entire series to someone who is not a hardcore fan of clarke or had a low attention span. maybe just the first book which sets up the mystery of Rama. i gave this 4th book 3 stars in the middle because it does bring some closure to the series

The final chapter in the "RAMA Saga" ends with a whimper, and not the beautiful kind that Yeats spoke of. Instead, it ends with revelations that lift ideas from Clarke's short stories.

I suppose this isn't such a sin since Clarke himself lifted entire sections of some novels out of his short stories. For instance, Clarke reproduced his short story "Meeting with Medusa" almost verbatium as a chapter in 2010: Odyssey Two. So, I'll forgive it.

However, the final revelation is not much more than another red herring, another rabbit hole with rabbit holes. It doesn't help that huge sections of the novel are simply characters standing around and being told the "HISTORY AND MEANING OF EVERYTHING." It lacks any wit or wonder.

My rating applies to Ramas 2,3, and 4. Although the "loving family" stuff is a bit corny and so soap opera-ish, I liked how the series viewed human nature to war with the unknown. The end of this was very good, too. For those who complain of the smut in the series, the only difference beween this and other works by Clarke is it is more implied in the others. This was mostly science fiction. It successfully combines physics, biology, chemistry, etc. True Clarke!

I have started with book 1. I liked it a lot. 2 was terrible, were 3 and 4. I don't know why I kept going. I give myself 1 star for time used productively. I thought Pinchon was awful but I think I have a new winner.

Wow. Astonishing.
After the hideousness that was RamaII, and the horid mess calling itself 'Garden of Rama', Gentry Lee has managed to amaze us all by releasing an even larger pile of claptrap.
Lawks. From the amount of words he has committed to paper over the last few years you'd think the guy would have learned how to write, plot, characterize, basic dialogue. Apparently not.
What is even more astonishing is that this piece of drivel has an average 4 star rating on the store. Perhaps this says something about the state of sci-fi today. I don't know, and I'm not going to speculate.
The plot : Rama returns to Earth bearing the paragon of vitue Nicole Des Jardins, her hubby and some of her children. They pick up a bunch of people, who happen to be criminals, and go back to Rama Central. Ensuing complications. Poor character development. Atrocious plotting. Ack.
For those who don't throw the book into the fire after the first five pages, trust me, it only goes downhill. My real regret is that I have spent a significant portion of my leisure time over the past week reading these 3 books.
AP

Better by far than the third book in the series, this non-conclusive conclusion still disappoints on many levels. Like many others I have learned to avoid the name Gentry Lee while brousing the bookshelves. My advice: read the first book, Rendezvous with Rama and avoid the rest. Your imagination is better equipped to write the rest of the story than Mr. Lee ever was

I learned about half way through the second Rama book, that if I just skipped the dream sequences, the book was much more enjoyable. Sure the dream sequences give insight into Nicole's character that I probably missed, but I got to know (and like) Nicole pretty well either way.
Anyway, I highly reccomend this series to anyone who likes science fiction extrapolated upon the science we know now, and who likes well developed characters.
Four books is just about right for the 3 weeks it took me to read them. Although, I must say, at the end of the last book I was ready to be done. I think the authors were too -- they left a few loose ends. They never really explored what Maria's existance in the octo realm meant to the Human/Octo relationship.
That being said... is it just me, or does anyone else see another possible sequel (both Richard & Nicole are stored in the sessile material!).

I skimmed this just to see how they would explain the whole thing. Well, while I won't state it outright, just imagine the most boring, fallback explanation that falls into the category of metaphysics as opposed to hard sci-fi, and you will guess.
I was so disappointed in this series that I am embarassed to admit that I got the whole way through it. WHile the other two knockoffs were medicore if fairly good stories, this one is truly bad and utterly ruins the entire concept.
Does Clarke not care if his name attached to such [stuff]?

If you have not read the other books in this series, read them first. An essential experience to the reader is character development, which begins in Rama II.
To those who have read the previous books of the series, do not miss the opportunity to experience Nicole's life again. This was the first book that brought tears to my eyes because of the simplicity of its message. We are all capable of doing so much good. The purpose of life is to live.
As far as the plot is concerned, Nicole and her family are hunted after, not by alien species, but the human beings aboard Rama. Another Node is introduced, and the purpose of the universe is finally revealed. In the end, the humans that had boarded Rama demonstrate the essential wickedness of mankind, yet the sympathy, daring, and heart that embodies Nicole makes up for all of it. Read this book.

This review concerns the whole Rama series, from 'Rendezvous' to 'Revealed'. I consider this series to be one of the great tales of our time. The concept is intriguing, to say the least. And while certain key questions are answered along the way, there remains a lot of unresolved mystery (as there should be in a tale like this). Each answered question poses at least three new ones: it's just like science. Rama may be revealed, but she's definitely not naked! Not everything is perfect, though. Clarke and Lee portray the human race as utterly xenophobic, totally paranoid, outright genocidal and undescribably stupid. While it's certainly true that we humans are doing a LOT of things wrong, I feel that the authors are over-emphasizing our destructive nature. This also leads to a certain predictability in the plot. That said, I think the series is a masterpiece, and I've read it from start to finish in one, long breath. Some will find the books to be on the 'soft' side, but I consider it to be SF of the highest level.

I just set the book down after breathless non-stop reading literally leaping through the last half of the book mezmerised. It was really good.... But, I felt so dissappointed by the ending. That the distributed intelligence that is Rama failed to 'invasively guide' the outcome in spite of the importance of Nicole is/was unthinkable. The book begged at least one extra chapter! Don't leave us hanging like this. Either actually kill the heroine off or rescue her! (Rescue being preferred). With such grave dissappointments I am not sure whther to buy the fourth book or not. Lastly, I really wish I could share my beloved SciFi with my children. But, almost everything I've read in the past six years has NOT neen PG-13. The ending I would love to have seen? The executioners being 300 series biots are deactivared moments before Nicoles execution, and Nakamura in a prideful rage takes the switch himself only to discover that Rama has redirected all power to the switch itself instantly vaporising the tyrant!

This one surely makes up for the slightly racy motherhood scenes of "Garden of Rama," and in a big way. If I could only give you one reason to read this book, it would be the Octospiders. Clarke has already lead us on a fairy tale chase of the Ramans, but in this novel, he introduces us to the entire social, economic, and political society of the Octospiders. He has created a whole new race from nothing, complete with strengths and faults that are believable and profound (. . .) Not only does Clarke create a whole new civilization, he creates another also. The Myrmicat/Sessile/Avian triad is another marvel. Read the book and marvel at the genius of Arthur C. Clarke.

I was asked (by a friend) to write a review for this book. I have not written other reviews for other books because I have wanted to read all of the other books in the series first. I'm going to write all of the bad points in the book, because I could go ON and ON about the good points.
The aliens in this book were all related on Earth-based animals. There are simply some things that humans cannot relate to, or have any comprehending of. Clarke does not acknowledge this, and although the symbios relationship between the Octospiders and their enviroment was facinating, and the sessile, and myrmicats was intresting although a bit exaggerated.
The aging relationship between Nicole Wakefield and Richard Wakefield got boring after the first 100 pages.
Katie did not officaly enter the story until about 150-200 pages. This bothered me because I expected more of an exaggeration on her, which I would have liked.
"And this, Katie Wakefield, is for what you did to yourself." That is a "big" line in the book, but kept right out of an old silent movie.
Ellie being genectly altered by the "splint colony" was an easy way to get out of "writers block". It really got to my nerves.
Eponine really didn't have much of a character.
In Emerald City, the octospider's home, no human would really allow living creatures to crawl inside of them! Even in the future.
Those are the main things I found that really got to me.

Wow, I'm surprised to read so many bad reviews of this series. REALLY? Ok, RAMA was classic earlier Clarke, and yes, it loses a bit of it's hard sci-fi edge with some of the family oriented character development. But say for instance you take RAMA as a primer for the universe that unfolds in the three later books of the series, this is a freaking excellent story.. with a point. All those many pages and the story actually had a pretty good point to leave the reader with besides remembering on an epic adventure. IMO, this is what makes a tale truly great. Look at Frankenstein, Time Machine... many classics stick in readers minds with that. The first RAMA really sat in my mind categorically with around the middle of the MANY other mid 1900's sci-fi I've read. But after finishing the whole new series back to back, it is seriously on my top three list of greatest stories I've ever read, the other two would have to be the whole hitchhiker's guide and Barker's Imagica. Epic. Not to say there isn't many more FANTASIC novels out there, some much better than those, but those three are REAL ADVENTURE, fun to read, never a dull moment, great characters, awesome visualizations left with a bitter sweet taste and perfect endings. No, it isn't hard sci-fi or even very Clarke-like, but still a super read and well worth the time spent.

Whoa! This was a long series! Rama Revealed made up for Rama III. Its ending still leaves you unclear about who the hell the Ramans are but it gives you a chance to guess for youself with the clues you have picked up throughout the series. Rendezvous with Rama has definately come a long way but it still ranks the highest in the series.

I read all the bad reviews after finishing Garden of Rama, and more or less decided to pass on Rama Revealed. Nevertheless, a couple of days later, I was browsing at the local bookstore and found a copy, and because I was out of anything to read, took a chance on it anyway, throughly prepared to be disappointed.
This is NOT a great book, but it is nowhere near as bad as some here have painted it. Read it; find out what happens. If I had believed everything I read on this review page, I would have missed an enjoyable read.

This book was amazing. Extremely thought provoking. Makes one really appreciate the miracle of human life. It also shows humanity small place in the universe as a whole. It pits the worst on human traits against best and projects the future path of both.

The book Rama Revealed was one of the best books of the series. It, at least breifly, went over the past events of Nicole's life. In some places, it evoked stronger emotions than all of the others. Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee expandend on the characters even more. I think that the ending is kind of This was an all around great book.

The book is rather good, althought it is quite a long series(4 books). The first "Rendezvous with Rama" is Excellent!. The second "Rama II" is really very good, the third "The Gardens of Rama" is quite boring, and the fourth is almost an obligation to read after you've reached this point, but Clarke amends what he's done in the third book. He (and almost all other SF writers) should write only THREE books each series. The first open questions, the second debates them and the third he can solve mysteries and dream. Same with the 2001, 2010 and 2061 series. The 3001 book is horrible. Read "Childhood's End", for me the best book Clarke ever wrote.

I think that everybody here is right for the most part--1 stars and 5 stars alike. Especially about Mr. Monologue (Gentry Lee). The only reason I gave this book a five star rating is because of the Octospiders and the last part of the book. The Octos were pretty awesome, and so were the other aliens, but the humans sucked. All the really interesting stuff is when the main characters are away from all the rest of the humans. Yet the good stuff outweighed the bad stuff, and I have labelled RR as one of my two favorite books.

The flaws in Gentry Lee's writing and plotting become more apparent the deeper into the series you go. Clarke was clearly renting his name out in exchange for checks at this point. Avoid like the plague.

As most will agree the first book in the series was suberb and each follow up by Lee went further downhill. I rather disliked Lee's fascination with religion throughout the books he wrote and especially how it tainted the ending of this particular one. I think it's kinda worth a read if you're struggling to find something since I did find the overall story to be very interesting but it could have been sooooo much better. Truly a shame.

I'm not sure what others have found so negative about the Rama books. The ingenuity of the multi-layered intelligences, and the religious overtones really resonated with me. The great strength of the 4 Rama books is the fact that one can achieve a genuine flow, with believable characters: some real heroes, some genuinely evil people, and the rest, like most of us, somewhere in the middle. And the plot can unfold at a sane pace - rather than cramming every idea one has into one book. And a very mature, subtle, spiritual ending.

The subject title refers to both this book itself and the series as a whole. The entire drama with Nicole grew and evolved to become one of the central foci of the book. For that awesome scene at the end - and the realization of the meaning of the Universe - it almost deserves a "*****". But Nicole's other self seems so human like in her wants and desires. We got to this point and the authors seem to be saying, "OK, we know the secrets of the cosmos. What do we do now?"
I would have loved to have seen this idea in the hands of a Frank Herbert or a Pamela Sargeant.

Gentry Lee's stereotypical and disparaging references to Blacks, Jews (the Jewish lawyer ) ruin this book (series);
the great Arthur C Clarke has done himself a disservice teaming up with this dated and bigoted co Author.

I am amazed at one horrible review after another. This entire series, especially Rama Revealed, is brilliant and the best series, science fiction or otherwise, I have ever read. The aliens, Rama, the cosmology, everything is so original, different, full of wonder. And the human family is wonderful, we become a part of the family and feel everything they feel as the years go by. It is an astounding awe-inspiring story. Those who gave this one star or says its terrible compared to the first book, have totally missed the point. I am so sorry for them, that they don't have the sense of wonder, the humanity of family, and the intelligence and adaptability to appreciate the wonder before them. I pity them.

Well I hate to say it, but I'm disappointed. The great buildup which the first three books implied did not come to fruition with a real sense of closure. I WANT TO MEET SOME OF THESE VAST INTELLIGENCES THAT YOU'RE ALWAYS TEASING US WITH MR.CLARKE! THIS WAS THE GOLDEN OPPURTUNITY AND YOU LET US DOWN WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER SAYING,"I UNDERSTAND". WELL THATS GREAT FOR HER BUT AFTER FOUR NOVELS I WANT THE WHOLE SMASH! WRITE ANOTHER ONE...I'M SURE YOU CAN...(or can you?) AND PUT US RIGHT IN THEIR LAPS! I'M GONNA HOLD MY BREATH UNTIL YOU DO...OK HERE I GO.....

One of the worst possible endings to a series, ironically which began with one of the best sci-fi stories Ive ever read(Rendezvous with Rama). I really dont know why Clarke had to invoke god in order to explain the alien constructs - couldnt something like just a very advanced alien civilization or something do? And for that, you come across one of the weakest, most powerless gods youve ever read about anywhere! I mean this god thingy is creating multiple universes to conduct his experiments, and he cant even manage faster-than-light travel? The guy defines the very physical laws thatd govern the universe, and he has to cart his observers and subjects around in a huge arkship pondering along for generations just to reach from one star system to another? You almost groan out loud at the lack of imagination of god(or is it Clarke?) So if you are thinking of buying the book, definitely skip it - better to construct your own explanation than read this pathetic ending

Wow, I actually got mad when I finished this...really, really, that is what is revealed?
Questions were not answered and the humans in it where very one dimensional and some of the dumbest smart people.

Save you energy for some other great Arthur C. Clarke, but make sure you read the first Rama book
(wow, this reminded me of the Dune series...just got worse and worse with each book)

The whole concept behind this fascinating series is that there is too little that we would know about other alien species to be able to criticize accurately. As the top reviewer has suggested, the dialogue becomes to technical and unrealistic at times. I would agree, except the dialogue itself encompasses a field of study which we could never comprehend. There is not onve of the events in the entire series, including Nakamura, which is not possible, or better yet, not likely to occur had it been a real life situation. This novel is the example of perfection as a conclusion to the most heralded SF series of all time. Do not miss out on this series.

Though there are some parts I dislike I was very satisfied by this book. The ending was perfection. Even though it kept foreshadowing to the exact conclusion for the last 10% of the book the final moments were truly sad yet beautiful.

As an avid sci-fi fan I'll admit that the Rama series wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Rendezvous with Rama is very different from the later books. It's pure Clarke. Rama II disappointed me at first because of the departures it makes from Clarkes's distinct style. But once I changed my expectations I found that the series tells a powerful story about life and love. It even brought me to tears at times. I suspect that the people who gave bad reviews were looking for a climactic explanation about the alien mysteries. I don't think that the purpose behind the Nodes and Rama were really the main point of the narrative. I pity the critics who overlooked or ignored the profound realization that occurs at the end. The greatest thing that a human being can achieve in the course of his/her ONE life is to love and be happy. And we achieve those things through our families and our accomplishments. I'm giving the Rama series five stars because I feel like I learned something very meaningful from it even though it didn't conform to my expectations of "hard" science fiction.

This book was a long soap opera. I got it as a gift, or I never would have purchased it. Does not communicate a sense of scientific wonder, which is in this reviewer's opinion, part of the duty of good science fiction.

The only reason I don't rate this lower than one is that the review javascipt won't let me.
My advice, read "Rendezvous with Rama", then skip to the conversation between wossername and the alien in book four.
(But don't buy it, read it in a library, it should only take a minute or two, and you might find something nice to read while you are in there. Like a good SF novel.)

As an example of how not to write SF, "Rama Revealed" is just about average. As SF, it is pitiful.

In my opinion, this is the best of the Rama series. After this ending I would be surprised if there are any more books available in the series. The pace is quick and the locations frequently are changed. The characters also are numerous and varied, plus quite life like.

I have literally just finished Rama Revealed, again - and have to say I enjoyed it a lot more the second time around. I found that the religious content did not really ring true, but I give it five stars for the rest of the story - The Octospiders, are my favorite characters, and could have a book of their own. I felt sad again at the demise of Richard Wakefield, bitter at Nakamura and what he turned New Eden into, shocked at the eventual war waged in Rama by the humans against the Avians/Sessiles/Mirmicats and octospiders and exhilarated when Rama eventuallly turns up at the second Node. I am now feeling a sense of loss since completing the book.
Whatever people think of this book, it is a milestone in Science Fiction - and with a film of Rendezvous With Rama, the first book, planned for 2003, let's hope that it does the book justice.
If you like Clarke, then read this.

With messages of duty, responsibility and the value of family, it's likely that this book will apeal to a more mature reader. While this last installment of the RAMA tales holds all the magic of the past 3 books, it also holds some very real, if disapointing truths about mankind. We are not the creators chosen race, indeed, we are simply an eliment in one universe of many by which the creator seeks a simplicity only a god may aspire to. Some refreshing ideas on the origins, purpose and existance of the universe and our place in it.

Humanity summed up in this story. Earth is New Eden and what happens regarding resources and breaking out to new areas is similar to "Manifest Destiny", Columbus voyages and 18th century colonialism .

Rendevous with Rama was a classic novel all by itself...i stay up all night to read it....i think the series got progressively worse...the characterization in Rama II was quite far-fetched...Nicole des Jardins had a baby for the King, was an Olympic gold medalist plus a brilliant doctor..how much can one woman do...i won't even bother talking about the last two parts of the series..i only read them because i'd gotten halfway and felt obligated to go to the bitter end.

After reading the first book (Rendevous with Rama) I was looking forward to finding out all the answers to the questions raised. What I discovered was that in some cases, it is better not to know. The three books where Arthur C. Clarke collaborated with Gentry Lee just got worse and worse as I went through them, but the concept of Rama is so good that I'll still give 2 stars to this book. The Rendevous was a classic science fiction novel, but the ending of this book is hardly science fiction at all. Please, I beg anyone out there, read the first book and keep it at that! It's much, much better that way . . .

......no,no,no it is a nightmare.....then i woke up.....
oh oh oh aha the review....
So,the book is like a coin it all depends on a way you turn the books contetext.But its a wonderfull mix of future and present humanity.Its a summer kind reading if you need a book to get rid of boredom and just have a space adventure run for it!

After reading other excellent works by Arthur Clarke, Rama Revealed is such a disappointment. Rendezvous with Rama was such an excellent book, and Rama II was not all bad either. Garden of Rama and this last one in the series can only be considered progressive deteriorations. Where Rendezvous was a page turner, I endured this book so I could get to the end. Too many pages spent on inane sub-plots and not enough on the overall story. After reading Rendezvous and then the rest, I came away with the feeling that only the first one bears Clarke's stamp.

Arthur C. Clarke is not only a science fiction genius, but can actually end a series well-- a feat I have rarely seen done. This series keeps you guessing until the very end. It was a sad day when I finished the Rama series.

I can't think of another series that started with so much promise and ended as such a dud. It's a shame that Arthur C. Clarke allowed his name to be attached to this. Clearly this Gentry Lee co-author person carried the bulk of the writing on this installment and it just wasn't up to Clarke's caliber. The plot, the premise, the writing, the "I can't think of any real answer to all of the Rama questions so I'll just wave my hands and make up some religious mysticism" - what a dud.

No matter how much you loved previous Rama books, you don't want to read this. Re-read the first book or two and make up your own ending. Anything you can construct will be better than this.

Shallow, one-dimensional characters, an artifically convoluted plot that never satisfactorily resolves, and bombastic writing of the sort best edited with a shredder. What more could one ask for? Why, sententious spiritual pretensions, of course!

This is the sort of reading that makes you think longingly of scrubbing the bathtub grout with bleach and a baby toothbrush. I look at my stack of Rama books as I would five empty Pringle's cans - with a combination of nausea and self loathing.

Clark should be spanked, Lee caned, and the publisher fined.

This book was very poor. The science fiction elements were nearly non-existant, leaving a plot that was straight out of some cheezy .99 cent novel. The conclusion was pathetic, and ruined much of the Rama experience. My advice, if you've suffered through II & III, you might as well read this. Otherwise, don't.

I have a different take than most of the people who have reviewed this series. Most people seem to think that the first Rendezvous with Rama was the best of the series, and that the series went downhill from there. I think the first book was the weakest in all regards, and the series only got better. Eugene was not a masterpiece.

The character development is the one of the many pieces that made this series so phenomenal. Now I'm generally not into touchy-feely or corny plots, but the characters and situations in this series felt so real, it was one of the first times that I've killed a Eugene and actually cared about the characters.

Rama Revealed is the perfect end to this series. At first I was disappointed with the explanation given for the node, Rama, and the purpose of the Universe, but I think if Clarke had given us concrete answers, it wouldn't have left such an impression on me. Its the mystery that makes this story stick in your mind for years to come. (I read the series a few years ago, and just re-read it.)

The hero, Nicole Wakefield, was the best character of the lot. Like another reviewer said, if there was somebody I could choose to represent the human species, it is her. At the end, Eugene simply sucked.

So Eugene's up to Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. I really have no idea the extent to which Lee contributed to this series, but however it is these two men collaborated on it, it worked. This series is a must read, and is, in my humble opinion, the best sci-fi series ever written.

I smell a dead Eugene...

Arthur C. Clarke has done it again. I really enjoyed this book. I thought something between Max and Eponine would spark. I thought the end was amazing, when Nicole is reunited with Simone and Micheal O'Toole. I'm 13 and I loved the last three books in the series

rendezvous with rama rocked big time. Gentry lee destroys the other three sequels... the storyline becomes progressively worse . things becmae so bad and boring that I couldnt even read the last book and a half properly.. i just skipped through the pages and belive me it was boring .. boring.. boring... more like a melodramatic soap opera on cable tv
J

I shan't repeat what has been said so viscerally before. Book one was a good and original book, not exceptional but very good; book two was not in the same vein filled with vapid, whiney and totally unappealing characters. Book three was an extension into absurdity of book two, and book four, well I have run out of adjectives to describe it. If I want to abase myself in the lives of self-centered brats with no redeeming qualities (for good or evil) I'll watch some reality tv. After re-reading all the books in the series I'm keeping book one and the rest go into the trash, I won't burden Goodwill with them. Save your money, you'd be better off spending it on toe nail clippers.

oh the horrors of poor writing.
Plodding through "Rama Revealed" was a wate of my time and I won't be wasting any more on it.
My recommendation is to skip it, I couldn't get past 25% of this book. Off the top of my head, read a good Greg Bear SF novel instead.

The story evolved right from the first book. Rendezvous with Rama gives you the hard scify while the rest focuses on the character development and the lessons learned. Obviously, Gentri had a hand in that.

5 stars baby!