Rama Revealed

Okay then - against my own better judgement I have taken one for the team (and you!) and finished the Rama quadrilogy. Unfortunately, this one is as poor as the two previous instalments. It even mentions "g0lden sh0wer" and includes a rather rude rant by someone with defecationary problems. Do yourself a favour and read the first book (again) and don't bother with any of the three sequels.

This is a great example of a book that was carrying so much, good and bad, with so much potential, such great possibilities, but regrettably crumbled under that load. I will say firstly that it is by no means terrible and whatever flaws it has it at least makes an effort unlike the complete mess that was Rama 2.The first half of the book carries on directly from Garden of Rama and is very good, even excellent in parts. Like Garden it is reasonably well written and avoids the worst pitfalls of the series so far. In fact it manages to make a few amends for story elements that should have gotten better treatment in the previous books. Up to this point I was really quite impressed with the direction the story went, even if I didn't quite agree with it. Once again it does drag on too much in many places but it is mostly readable.So, all that's left is to neatly wrap everything up with a satisfying conclusion. But, you'll know by the last chapters and pages that's not coming. You'll realise with increasing dread, having put so much into the series, that it's beginning to resemble Rama 2 again, with pages and pages of dialog and explanations but no feeling of progress. It grinds to a halt, it fizzles out, it gets bogged down....I wanted to rate this 3 stars, maybe even 4, as the majority of it is really okay and quite good. But I can't get over the ending. It doesn't ruin it, because there's nothing to ruin. It's the sort of thing that has you wondering if there was a mistake made that spliced in part of a totally different book by accident. Or maybe there's a missing chapter that *really* explains everything.The Rama series, with all it's highs and lows, deserved much better than this.

The first rama book is excellent, the second is ok. This one starts to drag on a bit, it gets too caught up in the personal lives of the characters and their families and looses the plot, excitement and sense of discovery which the first two convey so well.

My first venture into buying a second-hand book online. I can't honestly remember how the condition was described, but I find it to be worn and grubby. Hey-Ho, can't really complain for the price I suppose.

Just AMAZING. How someone can write such a story with so many details is just a triumph of human endeavour. I loved the first in this four book series, didn't think much of the second but the third and this the fourth installment I can HIGHLY recommend. Wonderful.