Rama II (novel)
Rama II is a science fiction 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,[1] 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 on Earth the chosen crew of twelve readies for the voyage to unlock more of Rama's mysteries. Interpersonal conflicts among crew members begin prior to the launch date.
After arriving, an accident kills the leader of the group while still outside Rama, and there is debate over who the replacement should be. The tools and vehicles the crew bring to Rama, based on knowledge from the first expedition, make exploring Rama easier.
The novel ends with three of the twelve astronauts abandoned inside Rama as it travels out of the Solar System.
Characters
Crew of the Newton:
- Richard Wakefield: British electrical engineer
- Francesca Sabatini: Italian journalist
- David Brown: American scientific leader
- Shigeru Takagishi: Japanese scientist, expert on first Rama craft
- Janos Tabori: Russian cosmonaut
- Valeriy Borzov: Russian General and Rama II mission commander
- Nicole des Jardins: French chief medical and life-sciences officer
- Michael O'Toole: American general
- Irina Turgenyev: Russian cosmonaut and pilot
- Hiro Yamanaka: Japanese cosmonaut and pilot
- Reggie Wilson: American videographer working with Sabatini
- Otto Heilmann: German admiral
Books in the series
- Rendezvous with Rama (1973)
- Rama II (1989)
- The Garden of Rama (1991)
- Rama Revealed (1993)
Gentry Lee also wrote two further novels set in the same Rama Universe.
- Bright Messengers (1996)
- Double Full Moon Night (2000)
Adaptations
Video game
Sierra Entertainment created Rama in 1996 as a point and click adventure game in the style of Myst. Along with highly detailed graphics, Arthur C. Clarke also appeared in the game as the guide for the player. This game featured characters from Rama II. [2]
References
- ^ George Zebrowski (23 July 2008). "Arthur C. Clarke | Interviews | SCI FI Weekly". SciFi.com. NBCUniversal. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
Since then Gentry has collaborated on Rama II and The Garden of Rama, and Rama Revealed, which was written virtually entirely by him, though with consultation with me. I've described our collaboration in the preface, "Co-Authors and Other Nuisances," I think in Rama II.
- ^ Sierra On-Line (17 November 1996). "Sierra WebNews, November 17, 1996". Newsgroup: alt.anonymous.messages. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
External links
- Rama II title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- RAMA at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
- Prelude to Space
- The Sands of Mars
- Islands in the Sky
- Against the Fall of Night
- Childhood's End
- Earthlight
- The City and the Stars
- The Deep Range
- A Fall of Moondust
- Dolphin Island
- Glide Path
- Imperial Earth
- The Fountains of Paradise
- The Songs of Distant Earth
- Cradle (with Gentry Lee)
- The Ghost from the Grand Banks
- The Hammer of God
- Richter 10 (with Mike McQuay)
- The Trigger (with Michael Kube-McDowell)
- The Light of Other Days (with Stephen Baxter)
- The Last Theorem (with Frederik Pohl)
Space Odyssey |
|
---|---|
Rama series |
|
A Time Odyssey |
|
collections
- Expedition to Earth
- Reach for Tomorrow
- Tales from the White Hart
- The Other Side of the Sky
- Tales of Ten Worlds
- The Nine Billion Names of God
- Of Time and Stars
- The Wind from the Sun
- The Best of Arthur C. Clarke
- The Sentinel
- Tales from Planet Earth
- More Than One Universe
- The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
- Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics
- The Lost Worlds of 2001
- The View from Serendip
- The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010
- How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village
- An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (comics)
- 2010: The Year We Make Contact (film)
- The Nine Billion Names of God (short film)
- Rendezvous with Rama (video game)
- "The Star" (TV episode)
- The Songs of Distant Earth (album)
- Rama (video game)
- Childhood's End (TV miniseries)
- Arthur C. Clarke in media
- Sir Arthur Clarke Award
- Arthur C. Clarke Award
- Geostationary orbit
- Clarke's three laws
- Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
- Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers
- Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe
- Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies
- God, the Universe and Everything Else
- Great Basses wreck
- 4923 Clarke
- Serendipaceratops
- GRB 080319B