This book could have been a third shorter and it probably would have been a fun read. Remove all the sexual content and stick to the scifi and you’ve got a decent story. I read the first few pages of book four and I’m intrigued to see how the story ends but I’ll leave that one on my shelf for a while. Easily the weakest of the first three Rama books.

Updated August 2020 - did not reread, left the past memory be :)Plowed through this series in high school, loved it, quite memorable.

The book is good. I still like the story. I'm still giving it 4 stars. The rest from now on will probably be spoilers. (view spoiler)[I am sticking with my 4 star rating for the third time in the Rama series, even though this book is completely different from the first two. The present work translates more like a social experiment (what would happen if you take a cross section of 2000 humans that would perfectly resemble Earth's genetic, social and cultural population and you plant them on an al...

After giving up on the series many years ago I recently decided to give it a go again hoping my adult, more mature mind would be better prepared for some of the unpleasant topics.And here we go again, less than half way though I have to call it a day...There’s nothing wrong with posing provocative or even indecent notions if it’s linked to the narrative, but here it seems unnecessary and just stupid.Gentry lee thanks his wife and some other women in the foreword for providing an insight into the...

This is where the Rama series ends for me. A lot of the Rama mystery is gone. Clarke appears to be completely absent in this one and Lee is just not cut out to fly solo.The first quarter was interesting. There was still some focus on the Rama mystery. The rest of the book, however, is tedious and pointless as it focuses on the human society aboard Rama. Basically society breaks down and ridiculousness ensues.This is not what I wanted in a Rama sequel. I wanted to learn more (but not too much) ab...

Loved the first Rama novel; number 2 something of a disappointment- this one is a major let down. What I liked in the first 2 is the mystery and the sense of weird erieness; the inexplicable killings and the strange surreal architecture; also the loneliness and emptiness.These elements do appear in the first half of this book- I loved the description of Nichole venturing ito the Avian lair and walking down miles of empty corridor before coming to a solitary door. Yup these bits make me tingled w...

The first 10% and the last 10% of this story are solid sci-fi in typical Arthur C. Clarke style (five stars). The middle 80% is adult romance, presumably written by Gentry Lee (two stars).This is book three in the Rama series. The first was great, the second was disappointing, and the third was a boring struggle to reach the end. I don't know if I'll ever read the fourth (final) book in the series.Average score: 2.6 rounded up to 3.

Torn on this one...the story might have gotten three stars for being a relatively mindless read with fairly good flow, it was still mightily flawed. First, two men should not presume to write first person from a female perspective - even if one of those men claims to have bounced the story off of his wife; the first quarter of the book was in the form of diary entries of a carryover female character from Rama II...and reminded me of early sci-fi sexism. The second quarter was decent enough scien...

This is the third in the series and I've read them one after another. "The Garden of Rama" is by far the weakest entry. The first book focused on the mystery of the craft and its absent creators. "Rama II" followed another expedition that delved deeper into the craft. The third installment gets hung up on humans who aren't that interesting, and predictable themes that don't fit into a series about enigmatic aliens.As strange as it sounds, "The Garden of Rama" needed less of a human element. Nico...

What can I say about this volume, it is a fascinating examination of what happens to the crew of Rama II. How the crew has children, becomes a multiple parent system with half-brothers/sisters.That was all in the first third of the book and was extremely mind blowing as a reader trying to figure out what you would have done in their shoes. It’s written with a scientific flare, keeping one examining it with an open mind.However, the book then is turned over to Larry who seems obsessed with sex an...

In space, nobody can get an erection.That's the takeaway from the first third of The Garden Of Rama where the three surviving astronauts (Nicole, Richard, Michael) from Rama II try, and try, and try, and try, to conceive and repopulate the human race as it exists in a giant space tube. The notion of a unorthodox family unit forming on the Rama spacecraft seemed promising as eventually children are had by Nicole and Richard. But the train goes off the rails when Nicole decides she REALLY needs to...

Mainly, this book was very boring and not a hard sci-fi book at all. We do learn about a new alien species, but the social/political drama overshadows it all. The main character is a woman, which usually I appreciate, but not in this book. Nicole is a over the top mary sue type character, we are expected to believe that she is a gold medal Olympian astronaut, who also had an affair with the King of England?! Several times in the book it mentions that her daughter from the affair could technicall...

This is part three of the series and my second time reading it. Again, I just didn't remember things the way the book presents them. In this book the family has reached the Node, been informed by the aliens that they are to be studies as are all other species the aliens can find anywhere in the universe. Meanwhile, the family has expanded to 5 kids. They are then informed that they can all leave the Node to go back to their solar system except two must remain at the Node. The oldest person agree...

When I read this novel as a teenager, I loved it, as I totally enthralled with the Rama series and the writings of Arthur C. Clarke in general. As I read this book a second time as an adult, I realized that this book is really just lousy, and it was extremely evident that this was not in any part written by the master author Mr. Clarke, but instead was likely written entirely by Gentry Lee and signed off on by Mr. Clarke's agent for some quick cash. This "Sci-Fi" novel is better suited for a dri...

The Garden of Rama is the third installment of a four part series. It's better than the second book, but nowhere near as good as the first. On the positive side: - It accurately portrays humans as the dysfunctional assholes they are. - A bit of the mystery that can be found in the first book is re-introduced.On the negative: - The plot quite literally goes nowhere (the ship travels to Sirius only to turn right back around and return to Earth). - The characters are uninteresting. - There's qu...

There's a scene towards the end of the sixth Harry Potter book where Harry and Dumbledore find a small basin of water with a much-needed magical item at the bottom of it. The water is cursed, though, and they can't simply reach in and grab the item, nor scoop out the water; the water has to be drunk in its totality before the item can be attained. And you just know that water's going to taste bad. Think the purified essence of a thousand Domino's pizzas and then multiply that by three. Yes, that...

Unlike the first sequel, aptly titled, "Rama II", this third instalment refers less to Clarke's original novel, "Rendez-vous with Rama". This is set nine months after Rama II which is set 70 years after the first appearance of the mysterious artifact that cruised through our solar system. While Nicole des Jardins, husband Richard Wakefield and Michael O'Toole were stranded on Rama II headed somewhere near Sirius, they have between then five children. These become our new cast characters for the

Vile. Clumsily written by a dullard and carelessly edited by a sluggard. Read Lee's review near the top of the list if you really are still curious.

SUPERB!Looking much forward to read its following book.This book gave me thoughts (once again) to ponder about the human situation towards itself and its attitude towards other species. Gave me the shudders!!At another instance, it also pointed out about the pleasures (and possible rewards) of experiencing things anew.A Fantastic Book, in a Fantastic Series! :) :)

OK, Arthur, how about cutting to the chase? Actually, this was OK, but not as good as the previous two. I haven't heard much about the last novel, Rama Revealed, but I think I've had enough already.