Lee, Gentry Books

The Garden of Rama

Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The Garden of Rama 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a great series up to this book, with good character & plot development. However, life in New Eden (technology & amenities) evolved way too fast to be believable, and yes, the colonists were entirely too stupid.

Another trip to the Well 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

In this second sequel to Rendezvous with Rama Gentry Lee takes us to a hint of the origins of the Rama spacecraft. Unfortunately, the answers are not very satisfying. The "Rama Node" is said to be huge, but the characters never get a sense of it. And the existence of dozens of other Rama type vessels and an even larger space station diminishes the awe of the original Rama craft.

I read this, but I wouldn't ever again.

Gardens of Rama is disappointing 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read the first two books and liked them especially the first. This book is a waste of the series. Genuine mystery gets replaced by mundane explanations and deliberate omissions. All the characters seem to get stupider and one dimensional. Rama gets stupider and its motivations go from unfathomable to arbitrary and shallow. There are sloppy inconsistencies with the first two books. Overall, this book is not worth the read even if or especially if you liked the first two books. The Rama in this book does not exist in the same universe as the first two. On top of all this there is some vaguely nauseating sexual themes involving incest, polyandry, the extremely old and the extremely young.

Editorial Review:

After twelve years trapped aboard a labyrinthine Raman vessel, three human cosmonauts learn their true destination and face a rendezvous with a Raman base. Reprint.

Double Full Moon Night

Gentry Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

What an utter waste of time 2 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I waited so long for this book, I had nearly forgotten what it was supposed to be about. Apparently the author did as well. The last half of the book is a haphazard collection of incidents with very little to do with any sort of plot, except to, perhaps, explain the title of the book - which by the way, ultimately had little to do with a consistent plot other than to kill off some inconvenient characters. Lee at least had enough sense to raise some questions that I as a reader needed to have answered, otherwise I would never have finished reading it. But he should have stopped raising the more complicated questions somewhere before the final section. Had he done so, he wouldn't have had to tie things up in such a neat, improbable little package in the final 3 chapters. Don't even get me started on thin character development, and an unhealthy tendency to insert a new life form merely to lengthen the novel as a whole. And as an atheist, I found being preached to on a regular basis rather insulting.

When Lee was co-credited for some of the Rama novels, I hoped I'd found a new author whose work could at least partially fill the void left by Clarke's declining output and the total loss of Asimov's. I'm afraid I'll have to look elsewhere, because I won't subject myself again to this kind of drivel.

Frankly, the 2 stars I gave this book are generous, but unfortunately, worse books than this exist and I needed to save room for them.

Editorial Review:

Gentry Lee, who has inherited the Rama mantle from SF legend Arthur C. Clarke, continues the story he began in Bright Messengers. In the first book, mysterious clouds of sparkling white particles beckon Beatrice and Johann into a strange craft that whisks them, and nine other colonists, from their homes on Mars to a deserted island inside a huge alien sphere. Beatrice dies after delivering a child, Maria.

As Double Full Moon Night begins, Maria has just turned 8. Their idyllic island life is suddenly ruined when a deadly creature threatens their lives, so Johann leaves his little paradise to find the other colonists. Their happy reunion is short-lived when they are transported to a strange place where they must start over and learn to survive. Lee effectively captures the sense of mystery and excitement that characterize the Rama universe. This long-awaited sequel will please fans of his first solo Rama book. --Adam Fisher

Bright Messengers: A New Novel Set in the Rama Universe

Gentry Lee, Arthur C. Clarke (Introduction)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Looks like Sci-Fi is too much for Lee Alone 1 out of 5 stars.
10 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Up until page 212, this seems like an acceptable science fiction story. Tantalizing hints, solid science, and interesting characters. I admit, some of them are two dimensional, but at least they are interesting, and their firm viewpoint is well portrayed.

After that we have inexplicable aliens giving our main characters increasingly pointless tours, while removing carefully all the other characters from the situation, for no explicable reason. We have situations described as 'zero gravity' with: Walking, shuffling, floors, cielings, climbing (Even tiredness while climbing), a RIVER, a BOAT in the river, SEATS in the boat, Earthlike scenes with trees, and squirels, while our carefuly segregated main characters sitting and eating a picnic . . .. All still in a zero G setting, with no explanations, adaptation, nothing.

From the before mentioned page 212 on, this book continues downhill, into a train wreck. If you are serious about your Sci-fi, and care about motivations, I would reccomend skipping this one, and looking to Niven, or Clarke, or Heinlein, or, above all, Spider Robinson.

Editorial Review:

To Sister Beatrice, a priestess of the global Order of St. Michael, the cloud of tiny white particles is a message from God.  To Johann Eberhardt, a German systems engineer, it is an anomaly of physics.  But to the Rama society, it may; be the long-awaited proof of nonhuman intelligence.  On Mars, Johann and Beatrice will meet, drawn together by a fabulous account of a vast city lost beneath the red planet's harsh landscape.  Joined by none Martian colonists, the mystic and the skeptic will board a strange craft that will hurtle them toward the truth behind the mysterious bright messergers and a startling journey into the heart of the unknown.

Rama Revealed: The Ultimate Encounter

Gentry Lee, Arthur C. Clarke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A very telling tale about the human race 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

With messages of duty, responsibility and the value of family, it's likely that this book will apeal to a more mature reader. While this last installment of the RAMA tales holds all the magic of the past 3 books, it also holds some very real, if disapointing truths about mankind. We are not the creators chosen race, indeed, we are simply an eliment in one universe of many by which the creator seeks a simplicity only a god may aspire to. Some refreshing ideas on the origins, purpose and existance of the universe and our place in it.

A very poor conclusion to an otherwise magnificient series 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

In the foreword for Rama II, Clarke explains that-in spite of what clearly appeared to be a lead-in to a sequel ("the Ramans always do things in threes", suggesting that there would be two similar craft to follow)-he never intended for the story to go beyond "Rendezvous with Rama." That allowed Clarke to do what he does best, to conjure fantastic worlds, and present compelling questions-without ever having to answer them. As I discovered with "2061" and "3001", the mysteries Clarke weaves and the questions his stories pose, are far more compelling than any answers he can present for them. Like 3001, the conclusion to the Odyssey series, this ending is simply abysmal. I'd have been better off letting my own imagination fill in the gaps, and ponder the unanswerable questions. Instead, characters that I had come to truly know and care about-having followed their entire adult lives-are led through situations that are both tedious and implausible. It left me feeling that the lives of the characters had been an absolute waste, that the hardships, struggles, even the joys of their unique odyssey were utterly pointless. That, for me, was even harder to swallow than the absolutely ludicrous suggestion that God would need spacecraft to shuttle people around. If you were captivated by the Rama universe as I was, do yourself a favor and stop with the third book ("Garden of Rama"). Discovering what happens to Nicole is not worth it (and her fate is quite possibly worse than you might imagine).

Editorial Review:

In the conclusion to Rendezvous with Rama, Rama II, and The Garden of Rama, a massive alien starship carries its human passengers to the end of a generations-long odyssey. 115,000 first printing. $115,000 ad/promo.

Cradle

Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Gentry Lee begins his sabotage of Arthur Clarke 2 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I remember receiving this book with excitement. Arthur C Clarke was up until then a consistently good read: capturing, like few others, a real sense of wonder without belabouring his points.

This book was his first "collaboration" with Gentry Lee, and from here on his books completely lost me. Lee seems to be obsessed with rubbing our noses in the lesser qualities of humanity while Clarke always made me feel there was something better about us. In this respect I consider that Lee sabotages and subverts Arthur C Clarke's original style and visions. Likewise, he emphasises religious topics where Clarke was always refreshingly free of this.

He did the same thing with Rama, taking something wonderful and piling it up with low-grade human dross. In some respects his writing is realistic, but he is too pessimistic and seems to be fundamentally at odds with the genre he is in; he wants to write basic human drama but for some reason insists on doing it within science fiction trappings.

As others have said he is unfortunately not all that great at human drama anyway. There is a lot of effort expended, but characters somehow fail to convince me.

At the end of Cradle I was left feeling flat and uninterested, and I can't really remember much of the story.

The politest way to view this "collaboration" is that the "marketing department" simply chose to use Arthur C Clarke's name to boost a less-than-average writer. Clearly, Clarke has lost interest in the mechanics of writing, or at least no longer has the time for it. As a result I consider that he stopped writing some time ago and discount Cradle and the Rama sequels entirely.

Editorial Review:

This far-reaching, spine-tingling adventure stretches from the dawn of time to the distant future, from the edges of the universe to the vast depths of the sea. At the bottom of the ocean, an alien creature is dormant. But the time has come for it to awaken. And as it stirs, its power will be unleashed on the planet--and trigger the dawn of human extinction.

The Tranquility Wars (Bantam Spectra Book)

Gentry Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the New York Times bestselling novelist Gentry Lee, author of Bright Messengers and Double Full Moon Night,  as well as co-author with Arthur C. Clarke of the Rama series, comes a thrilling new novel of suspense, love, and adventure set against a grand galactic backdrop. Here is the story of a young student, a dangerous love affair, and an explosive conflict to establish control over humanity.

The Tranquility Wars

For young Hunter Blake, the future is bright indeed. He has been awarded the exclusive Covington Fellowship, named for the totalitarian ruler of the FISC (Federation of Independent Space Colonies), bringing with it fame, a generous stipend, and assured success in his chosen profession.

In addition, after years of separation he has been reunited with the one woman he ever loved, the beautiful and enthralling Tehani Wilawa. She has come back into his life, offering her love with one proviso--that he accept her profession as the most beautiful paid escort in the FISC's most famous pleasure palace, Sybaris.

But as tension mounts between the FISC and its neighbor and rival, the UDSC (United Democratic Space Colonies), bands of renegade space pirates begin to take advantage of the growing hostilities between the two contending federations--raiding, looting, kidnapping, and building their ranks from the disaffected of both space powers.And when Hunter and Tehani are kidnapped by a pirate band, the aptly named Utopians, they find themselves forced to choose between the enticing ideals of their captors and the rigid conformity and shallow satisfactions of life in the FISC. They suddenly find themselves questioning "truths" they've accepted all their lives. Are these space pirates really the avatars of a new freedom, as they claim--or simply criminals? To answer, Hunter and Tehani must quickly learn the razor-thin difference between freedom and anarchy, obedience and slavery, pleasure and indulgence.

But of even greater consequence, Hunter finds his reputation unexpectedly compromised when he becomes an outlaw in his old world as a result of his activities with the space pirates. Separated from Tehani by his own acts of revolution, Hunter faces a countdown with destiny itself as events spiral toward a crucial climax that will explode in the
Tranquility Wars.

Rama Revealed

Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Is there less then 1 star? 1 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I shan't repeat what has been said so viscerally before. Book one was a good and original book, not exceptional but very good; book two was not in the same vein filled with vapid, whiney and totally unappealing characters. Book three was an extension into absurdity of book two, and book four, well I have run out of adjectives to describe it. If I want to abase myself in the lives of self-centered brats with no redeeming qualities (for good or evil) I'll watch some reality tv. After re-reading all the books in the series I'm keeping book one and the rest go into the trash, I won't burden Goodwill with them. Save your money, you'd be better off spending it on toe nail clippers.

Like being smothered in quicksand ! 1 out of 5 stars.
10 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Why did Gentry Lee have to mess with a good thing. Nicoles flashbacks and pages of dribble........what a total SNOOZER !!

Read the original RR and let you own mind figure the answers!

Editorial Review:

A continuation of the science-fiction series which began with Arthur C. Clarke's multi-award-winning "Rendezvous With Rama", and continued with "Rama II" and "The Garden of Rama", both written in collaboration with Gentry Lee.

Rama II: The Sequel to Rendezvous with Rama

Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 138 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

"Sir Arthur C. Clarke's" Rama II 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

There is a reason the "author's" name is in quotation marks. This book is probably 10% (or less) Clarke and 90% his co-author. It is bad. Lots of personal melodrama amongst the characters that is totally out of place in Sir Artuhr's classic work. I loved Rama, hated Rama II. Recycled it a quarter of the way through. I will not be continuing with the Rama series. Be warned.

Editorial Review:

Years ago, the enormous, enigmatic alien  spacecraft called Rama sailed through our solar system as  mind-boggling proof that life existed -- or  had existed -- elsewhere in the  universe. Now, at the dawn of the twenty-third century,  another ship is discovered hurtling toward us. A  crew of Earth's best and brightest minds is  assembled to rendezvous with the massive vessel. They  are armed with everything we know about Raman  technology and culture. But nothing can prepare them  for what they are about to encounter on board  Rama II: cosmic secrets that are  startling, sensational -- and perhaps even  deadly.


From the Paperback edition.