Rama: Spoiler Section

Author: Samuel Peterson

Date Published
2020-03-24 (ISO 8601)
75-03-24 (Post Bomb)

This appendix to my "Rendezvous with Rama" review is to share my reaction to specifics of the story which I wanted to quarantine from the main post, so that those who have not read the book would not accidentally see some plot point which might spoil the story.

For those who have not yet read "Rendezvous with Rama" I highly recommend NOT reading this, as it is a tale whose impact would be considerably diminished if the details are already known to the reader -- it is first and foremost a story about discovery of the unknown.

With that out of the way, let's go on.

My favourite narrative choice

Without a doubt, the decision to not show an actual Raman was my favorite detail in the plot. Rama's indifference to the potential inhabitants of Sol was also a great choice.

My least favourite narrative choice

The Hermian attempt to destroy Rama was unnecessary. It would have been far better if the stakes were always shrouded in mystery.

Thoughts on the ending

If we just ignore the missile launch from Mercury, which I would describe as an unnecessary sideshow tacked on to give the story some conventional sort of threat, then I think the narrative climax of the book is right when the crew needs to leave Rama. When that episode is over there are just a couple more pages left to the story. It is surely one of the shortest conclusion/resolution that I have read.

I'm not sure if the sudden conclusion was the artistic choice of the author or just him wanting to wrap it up quickly so that he could do something else, but it just leaves enough room for the characters and the reader to process an impression which I shall try to convey through the following utterance: "Huh, OK... So that happened."

If the Hermian missile launch was not a part of the story, the above impression and the feeling of discovery would have been the entire point of the story. It would have been a perfect execution of what the book set out to do.

Things "Rendezvous with Rama" reminded me of

I would be shocked if Kim Stanley Robinson did not read this book before writing "2312". Much of that book deals with life on the terraria, which are asteroids converted into spinning inhabited cylinders. Both books take pains to vividly paint the look of the interiors of these structures. To be sure, it is visual gold, and if one were not constrained by the imperative of profit, "Rama" could be well rendered as a mini-series of ~5-6 1hr episodes. Barring that, I think that visualizing the interior of a cylindrical spaceship the size of Rama is the first instance I can think of in which a VR headset would be uniquely capable of doing.

The Raman strategy for what is presumably interstellar colonization is actually pretty close to something I have thought of before: Rather than have people living in a ship for eons, just pack a ship up with a bunch of embryos, and a collection of robots who are capable of ship maintenance, gestating and raising children, and finding a suitable environment to colonize. That might actually make for a fun sci-fi concept: What would happen to a brood of children who were raised by robots on a virgin planet?