Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee

Nonsensical soap opera in space

Rama II is the sequel to Arthur C. Clarke’s science fiction novel Rendezvous with Rama. While Rendezvous was written solely by Clarke, Rama II was written collaboratively with Gentry Lee, an engineer who headed several unmanned space missions for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including robotic probes and rovers sent to Mars, Jupiter, and visiting comets. Rama II was published in 1989, 16 years after Rendezvous with Rama. The story of Rama II, however, begins in the year 2200, about 70 years after the events of the previous novel. This second installment, therefore, features all new characters, but frequent mention is made of the Rama mission from the first novel.

Rama and Rama II are the names given to two nearly identical spacecraft that have entered our solar system from parts unknown. Clearly created by an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization (referred to by default as the Ramans), the two craft are enormous cylinders 50 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide, filled with mysterious machinery, an atmosphere, and even a large body of water. The first Rama was discovered to be uninhabited by intelligent life, though occupied by maintenance robots with biological components, referred to as biots. Earth is better prepared for the second visit in 2200. An international crew of 12 cosmonauts, comprised of scientific and military personnel is sent to intercept Rama II as it passes through our solar system. Whether the Ramans will actually be found present on this second craft is anybody’s guess, but at the very least this team of explorers hopes to capture one of the biots and bring it back to Earth for study.

I read the first Rama book because I was intrigued by the premise. I was unfamiliar with Clarke’s writing and new him by reputation only. I found Rendezvous with Rama, however, to be quite disappointing. When Rama II was offered at a discount price, I decided to give Clarke the benefit of the doubt in hopes that the second installment would prove better than the first, but alas, Rama II is drastically worse than its predecessor. The problem with Rendezvous is that it was far too techy. Clarke spent most of the book exploring the physics of a cylindrical spacecraft, with very room left for consideration of the alien intelligence behind it. You would think that the addition of Gentry Lee, a spacecraft engineer, would result in a “hard” sci-fi book that’s bogged down even further in technobabble, but no, with Rama II, the exact opposite is true. This book reads like a fantasy novel written for children.

All sorts of bizarre happenings occur on this new Rama, with no rhyme or reason to any of it. The cosmonauts end up in all sorts of tunnels with weird creatures popping out of them. Nothing is really learned from any of the random happenings that occur. Meanwhile, the crew members conduct themselves with all the maturity and intelligence of a bunch of teenagers. There are all sorts of melodramatic subplots going on that would better belong in a soap opera or an Agatha Christie novel: love affairs, petty jealousies, a murder mystery, pointless dream sequences with African mysticism, a bunch of useless Shakespeare references. And every character gets his or her own terrible back story. The female lead reminisces about a love affair she once had with . . . the king of England. Totally unnecessary.

Although Clarke may be one of science fiction’s most acclaimed futurists, the technology employed by these astronauts of 2200 isn’t much more advanced than devices we all now use at home every day. I can only assume that Clarke’s Odyssey series (2001, 2010, etc.) is far superior to his Rama books, otherwise why would he be so famous and critically acclaimed? Clarke and Lee’s Rama II, on the other hand, leaves the reader wondering, what the hell were they thinking?