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Rendezvous with Rama cover art

Rendezvous with Rama

Written by: Arthur C. Clarke
Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Robert J. Sawyer - introduction
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Publisher's Summary

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft.

Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams...and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits - just behind a Raman airlock door.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by Hugo Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer, who explains why Rendezvous with Rama will make the listener "feel both humbled and exhilarated at the same time".

©1973 Arthur C. Clarke (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

What the critics say

Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1974
Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1973
John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Best Novel, 1974


"A frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic tale...Clarke is a master." (Los Angeles Times)
"A first-rate tour de force." (The New York Times)

What listeners say about Rendezvous with Rama

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An all-time Favourite

"Rama" was the first book by Arthur C. Clarke that I read as a young teenager. Many others followed. I love Imperial Earth, Childhood's End and the Songs of Distant Earth, but Rama remains my favourite. I only wish Robert Sawyer had continued from the foreword right into the story. Instead, my ears were assaulted by a monotone drone. Even the computerized voices of voicemail directories have more charisma. The only redeeming quality were some of the accents. Pity for such a great book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story but the narrator is monotone

I enjoyed the story but the narrator is so monotone and so slow that I had to stop listening because I found it too boring. I came back a few months later and enjoyed the story a lot more when I bumped the speed up to 1.5x and the story actually seemed to move forward.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A classic!

I read this classic every couple of decades and now have listened to it. Although I wish I could read again for the first time — to experience the ending afresh — I love how Clarke reveals the story and paints such vivid mental pictures of this new world.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

OK story, robotic reader

The book premise was great, but the reader was so monotonous that it was hard to believe it wasn't a bot voice. The story had two token women being smart, but the casual sex and sexism used to "humanize" the captain was quite pathetic. Women shouldn't be allowed in space because the weightlessness made them "too distracting"? Puleeze. I found it interesting enough for a "listen once", but I won't be picking it up again.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Classic sci fi

One of the greatest megastructure stories.

Not for you if you love characters, but the grand plot of humanity and its reactions makes up for it.

Performance was fine. Adequate if not super memorable.

Recommended to those interested in the Canon of popular science fiction.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A sober, sterile, and highly plausibl story

Rendezvous With Rama focuses on the arrival of a large, extrasolar spaceship into the Sol system. It is a sober, sterile, and highly plausible exploration of exploration. Almost devoid of personal conflict, I've read few books that so neatly debunk the theorem that concept is the most important element in science fiction.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

10/10 SF book

This book let me with a nice feeling about alien ships.

This book end with many questions about the alien but the book is complete. 10/10

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