Rama #3: The Garden of Rama

by Arthur C. Clarke

Paperback, 1993

Library's rating

Collection

Rating

(596 ratings; 3.4)

Publication

Orbit (1993), Paperback, 608 pages

Description

Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: The third novel in the Rama series from the legendary "colossus of science fiction" and creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey (The New Yorker). Continuing from the end of Rama II, three astronauts�??Nicole, Richard, and Michael�??remain trapped in a labyrinthine alien spaceship bound for deep space. Creating the best semblance of a life they can, Nicole bears five children and they spend the next twelve years raising them aboard the ship. Eventually, they arrive at the Node, a Raman facility orbiting Sirius whose purpose is to study representatives from all of the galaxy's species. Told that they must re-establish contact with Earth and arrange for two thousand more humans to return with them in another voyage, the astronauts worry what trouble they might be entering into. After all, their children have never known other people. Their fears are realized when they learn part of their new crew from Earth includes a group of violent convicts. As the spacecraft hurtles toward a rendezvous with a Raman base, the astronauts brace themselves to finally meet their enigmatic captors face to face�??and hope to learn the true purpose behind the mysterious craft. "When this book is good, it is really good." �??SFrevi… (more)

Language

Original language

English

User reviews

LibraryThing member Neale
A good sequel that opens up the story line extends the story. A bit slow to start but picks up the as the story progresses.
LibraryThing member michaeleconomy
better than part 2, the first half is pretty fun, then the second half is a bit depressing and drags on. I don't think i like sci-fi books that focus this much on how shitty humans can be. It kinda feels like the author was writing this book and half way through like his wife left, his dog died, or
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something, and the tone of the book is completely different. I was still very anxious to see what happened next, but i was pretty depressed when it did happen. I like fun surprises not depressing ones.The only reason i read this book (I did not enjoy rama 2 very much) was that i had already purchased it, and it was the second to last unread fiction book on my shelf. However now that i've read three out of the four books, for some strange reason i remain optimistic that the 4th book will be better than the middle two.
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LibraryThing member sdobie
I read this many years ago, and don't remember that many details, but it was bad enough that I could not be bothered with reading Rama Revealed.
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
Sequel to the Rama II, in this book we follow the fate of the astronauts travelling with the giant alien spaceship. The only problem is that the first half of the book (the way to the Node) is totally unbelievable... A way too simplistic and optimistic. The second half (the life of the human
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colony) better, more interesting but sometimes so didactic it hurts...
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
The problem of human aggression, and What Clarke things would result from cooping up people with other life forms is dealt with here, as well as peripherally, the problems of lack of transparency in government. The addition of Gentry Lee to the writing team may be a mark of ACC's advancing age. An
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interesting but not compelling read.
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LibraryThing member AliceAnna
Aarrgghhh! These people are succeeding in getting me totally frustrated -- the ending gave me no choice but to read the next installment. I'm hooked!
LibraryThing member Razinha
Torn on this one...the story might have gotten three stars for being a relatively mindless read with fairly good flow, it was still mightily flawed. First, two men should not presume to write first person from a female perspective - even if one of those men claims to have bounced the story off of
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his wife; the first quarter of the book was in the form of diary entries of a carryover female character from Rama II...and reminded me of early sci-fi sexism. The second quarter was decent enough science fiction, but the entire last half of the book was a tiresome play on the failings of the human race, replete with a ton of caricatures and cardboard characters. And if the authors's bludgeoning polemic wasn't enough, what made them write dialogue using 20th century slurs and prejudices when the story takes pace 200 years in the future? I am guessing that much of this came from Gentry Lee, but then Clarke typically was weak on human interactions. I think I'll need to put some time between this one and Rama Revealed (I'm stubborn - I still intend to read as much Clark this year as I can.)
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LibraryThing member ikeman100
Third out of four Rama books by the great Arthur C. Clarke. I did not enjoy this one quite as much as the first two.
Some of the authors choices were a little weird. The choice of colonist was just ......stupid?

A good read with HUGE ideas.
LibraryThing member David_Fosco
Rama continues its journey through space; however, the question remains will the human species repeat the mistakes of their past.
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