Killian
I enjoyed my time with Rama and can definitely see how this was a very influential contribution to science fiction, although I think at the same time it suffers from the author's strange decision to normalise certain concepts within Rama's worldbuilding.
I liked the opening where it is explained how the human race developed into a star-faring civilization, and I enjoyed the bits of political intrigue that dotted the chapters, but I really did not enjoy the normalized polygamy and the concept of the "simps". These concepts didn't meaningfully contribute anything to the narrative, and they're never acknowledged with the weight that they would deserve. Whenever the MC's wives are mentioned, its usually because he's been neglecting both of them and that's typically phrased in a comedic way, and don't even get me started on the simps. The in-world reasons for these two concepts really did not hold any water for me and it just kind of pulled me out of the read as being a weird sign of the times this book was written in or just a random thought the author thought might be interesting.
The prose of Rama is incredibly dry and professional, which I loved as a change of pace from more "heroic" or "quirky" science fiction novels, The characters by and large do not cause drama with each other and instead are intensly focused on the tasks at hand, which was a wise choice as the mystery of this novel is incredibly captivating, and I have never read a book that conveys a sense of sheer scale as well as Rama. However there are several times where the main character makes extremely innapropriate remarks about the only female crewmate on his ship, which if it was handled well or had narrative consequences would be acceptable, but that was not the case at all because the professional focus of the book forces everyone to get on with their work. So these remarks are made and then just forgotten about, but just like the simps and the wives, it takes me out of the mystery that I had been so engrossed in.
I know a lot of that sounds negative, and it is, but the core conceit and mystery of Rama is so good that I would recommend it still to those who are fans of science fiction, especially low-sci fi.
I enjoyed my time with Rama and can definitely see how this was a very influential contribution to science fiction, although I think at the same time it suffers from the author's strange decision to normalise certain concepts within Rama's worldbuilding.
I liked the opening where it is explained how the human race developed into a star-faring civilization, and I enjoyed the bits of political intrigue that dotted the chapters, but I really did not enjoy the normalized polygamy and the concept of the "simps". These concepts didn't meaningfully contribute anything to the narrative, and they're never acknowledged with the weight that they would deserve. Whenever the MC's wives are mentioned, its usually because he's been neglecting both of them and that's typically phrased in a comedic way, and don't even get me started on the simps. The in-world reasons for these two concepts really did not hold any water for me and it just kind of pulled me out of the read as being a weird sign of the times this book was written in or just a random thought the author thought might be interesting.
The prose of Rama is incredibly dry and professional, which I loved as a change of pace from more "heroic" or "quirky" science fiction novels, The characters by and large do not cause drama with each other and instead are intensly focused on the tasks at hand, which was a wise choice as the mystery of this novel is incredibly captivating, and I have never read a book that conveys a sense of sheer scale as well as Rama. However there are several times where the main character makes extremely innapropriate remarks about the only female crewmate on his ship, which if it was handled well or had narrative consequences would be acceptable, but that was not the case at all because the professional focus of the book forces everyone to get on with their work. So these remarks are made and then just forgotten about, but just like the simps and the wives, it takes me out of the mystery that I had been so engrossed in.
I know a lot of that sounds negative, and it is, but the core conceit and mystery of Rama is so good that I would recommend it still to those who are fans of science fiction, especially low-sci fi.