Rama II (novel)
 Dust-jacket from the UK edition | |
| Author |
Gentry Lee & Arthur C. Clarke |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Rama |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
Publication date | 1989 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 377 pp |
| ISBN | 0-575-04545-0 |
| OCLC | 20852483 |
| LC Class | PR6005.L36 R36 1989b |
| Preceded by | Rendezvous with Rama |
| Followed by | The Garden of Rama |
Rama II is a novel by Gentry Lee and Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1989. It recounts humankind's further interaction with the Ramans, first introduced in Rendezvous with Rama. Written primarily by Lee, Rama II has a distinctly different writing style than the original, with a more character driven narrative and a closer-to-contemporary mindset, ambience and human relations than the first novel's more futuristic tones.
Rama II is the first novel of the "new" Rama series, as Rendezvous with Rama is not always counted as part of it. The Rama series includes two more sequels: The Garden of Rama and Rama Revealed.
Plot summary
Seventy years after the events of Rendezvous with Rama, a second Raman vessel enters the Solar System. Its arrival is expected and an expedition is sent to unlock more of Rama's mysteries, but the crew are unprepared both for what they find and for the conflicts that arise between them. Rama II brings new characters into a new story and is mostly unrelated to the original; largely, it serves to set up its own sequels. The novel ends with three of the twelve astronauts stranded inside Rama as it travels out of the Solar System, Nicole des Jardins, Richard Wakefield and Michael O'Toole.
Unlike Rendezvous with Rama, which depicted a more technologically advanced stage of human life in the Solar System and focused almost entirely on the hard science fiction elements regarding the scientific wonders of the alien spacecraft, Rama II and its sequels deconstruct Clarke's vision of human explorers throughout the Solar System through a global economic crisis that forced their almost total deactivation. Then, the book follows a very different storytelling that brings forward contemporary issues like abortion, racism, drug abuse, and organized crime.
Characters in "Rama II"
Crew of the Newton
- Richard Wakefield
- Francesca Sabatini
- David Brown
- Shigeru Takagishi
- Janos Tabori
- Valeriy Borzov
- Nicole des Jardins
- Michael O'Toole
- Irina Turgenyev
- Hiro Yamanaka
- Reggie Wilson
- Otto Heilmann
Books in the series
- Rendezvous with Rama (1972)
- Rama II (1989)
- The Garden of Rama (1991)
- Rama Revealed (1993)
Gentry Lee also wrote two further novels set in the same Rama Universe.
References
- Brown, Charles N.; William G. Contento. "The Locus Index to Science Fiction". Retrieved 2007-12-07.
External links
- Rama II title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database