History Literature / RendezvousWithRama

* RamaII by Gentry Lee

* GenerationShips: It's speculated by the humans that Rama is a failed example of this. [[spoiler: By the end of the novel, it's pretty clear it isn't, and the [[RamaII sequels]] further prove the point.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: The Octospiders do this to ''themselves'' in [[RamaII the sequels]].]]

* [[RamaII ''Rama II'']] by Gentry Lee

* GenerationShips: It's speculated by the humans that Rama is a failed example of this. [[spoiler: By the end of the novel, it's pretty clear it isn't, and the sequels further prove the point.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: The Octospiders do this to ''themselves'' in the sequels.]]

* [RamaII ''Rama II''] by Gentry Lee

* ''Rama II'' by Gentry Lee

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in DevelopmentHell for decades. An [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama_(video_game) adventure game]] adaptation was released in 1984.

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in DevelopmentHell for decades.

* AbsurdlyLongStairway: The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters. Justified in that it's almost certainly a triple-redundant emergency backup system to whatever smaller vehicles the Ramans normally used.

* ''The Garden of Rama'' by ] Gentry Lee

* CrazyPrepared: The Ramans and their triple-redundant.. everything.

** Rama is a huge starship that has traveled presumably for millions of years without showing any signs of wear or damage. It uses a ReactionlessDrive to perform a gravity slingshot ''within the outer atmosphere of the Sun'' to gain speed and head off in the direction of the Greater Magellanic Cloud. All of this, according to human science, is utterly impossible.

* LimitedDestinationTime: The ''Endevour'' can't stay with Rama when it gets too close to the sun.

* {{Starfish Aliens}}: From the sequels, Octospiders, Avians, Myrmicats and the Sesil Net. The last three live in a symbiotic relationship.

* TripodTerror: The "spider" biots who start swarming around the interior of Rama. [[spoiler: Though they prove to be harmless to humans, unless you try to dissect one of their corpses.]]

* AbsurdlyLongStairway: The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters. Justified in that it's almost certainly an emergency backup system to whatever smaller vehicles the Ramans normally used.

* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: The Ramans prove to have absolutely no interest in Earth, or any other planet in the solar system.

* OhCrap: The expedition's reaction when they realise that Rama's minor course-correction, coupled with its rotation, has led to a massive tidal wave being generated on the lake. Made worse because they are ''on'' the lake at the time and can see it rapidly racing towards them from the "ceiling".

* TheOnlyOne: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the first book as Rama is moving so quickly through the solar system that the ''Endeavour'' is the only ship in the right place, and with enough delta-V, to catch up with it and land.
* TimeAbyss: The ''Rama''.
* UpliftedAnimal: The superchimps.

* AbsurdlyLongStairway: The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters.

* ImprovisedParachute: a character uses his shirt as a parachute. Justified since the main purpose of the 'chute is to ensure he hits water feet-first.

* {{Starfish Aliens}}: Octospiders, Avians, Myrmicats and the Sesil Net. The last three live in a symbiotic relationship.

* ''Rama II'' by [[strike:Arthur C. Clarke and]] Gentry Lee
* ''The Garden of Rama'' by [[strike:Arthur C. Clarke and]] Gentry Lee
* ''Rama Revealed'' by [[strike:Arthur C. Clarke and]] Gentry Lee

* ReactionlessDrive

* TheOnlyOne: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the first book as ''Rama'' is moving so quickly through the solar system that the ''Endeavour'' is the only ship in the right place, and with enough delta-V, to catch up with it and land.

Although ''Rendezvous'' ends with a large SequelHook, Clarke never seriously intended to write a follow-up, and many people agree that he shouldn't have. In fact, the three belated sequels were not written by Clarke, but by a friend of his, Gentry Lee, with Clarke merely providing ideas and support. While ''Rendezvous with Rama'' was pretty high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, the sequels fell squarely on the soft side. The science is largely overshadowed by commercial conspiracies, [[HumansAreBastards government corruption]], scientists having sex, and Lee's [[AuthorTract views on religion]]. It also changes the nature of the setting to some degree, ratcheting it [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism significantly farther to the cynical side]] and turning up the UsedFuture level.

* OhCrap: The expedition's reaction when they realise that Rama's minor course-correction, coupled with it's rotation, has lead to a massive tidal wave being generated on the lake. Made worse because they are ''on'' the lake at the time and can see it rapidly racing towards them from the "ceiling".

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* TheFederation: The United Planets, which has seven members: Mercury, Earth, Luna, Mars, Ganymede, Titan, and Triton. The fact that most of these are moons, not planets is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the story.