As an avid science fiction fan, I had voraciously devoured the earlier offerings from Arthur C Clarke, including the Space Odyssey series and Rendezvous with Rama. I had missed Rama II, but was tremendously thrilled when I came across a copy of Rama Revealed in our public library.
It is a massive book, which starts off with the escape of the heroine, Nicole from a prison, in a human colony on board the spacecraft named Rama. She is reunited with her husband Richard, and the couple are soon joined by their friends and children in a hideaway on board the enormous spacecraft. They then encounter another species-the super intelligent octospiders who inhabit the southern hemisphere of the spacecraft. They are biologists par compare, and have developed a symbiotic relationship with a number of other species, that work for them.
Increasing friction between the octospider and the main colony of humans, headed by a tyrant named Nakamura, leads to war, eventually forcing the super-intelligent Ramans who created the spacecraft to interfere. The climax of the book is supposed to be where the identity of the Ramans is revealed, and this is where the book falls flat on its back! Clarke indulges in a lot of philosophy at this juncture, confusing the reader and destroying what should have been a moment awaited with bated breath by the reader.
While the books holds together reasonably well till the end, most of the protagonists seem a little shallow and display paradoxical behaviour that does not go with their general character. Unlike other books of Arthur C Clarke, which are supported by solid science, this indulges in a lot of fantasy, much like the works of pre-Golden era science fiction writers. All in all, it makes a decent novel, but poor science fiction and is worth reading, not worth buying.