2006-10-22
I am torn between Rendezvous with Rama (by Sir Arthur C. Clarke) and Nightfall (by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg) when it comes to deciding which is the best science fiction novel that I have read so far.
The characters are more real in Nightfall, when compared to those of Rendezvous with Rama, some of whom behave more like characters from fairy tales. On this ground, I could pick Nightfall, but we are talking about science fiction here; who cares about character development anyway.
Rendezvous with Rama is also dealing with a subject matter that would necessitate some fantastic devices for the story to move move forward; not that there is a story. In a way, the only really fantastic device is the "reactionless drive", which interestingly is left to the one of the mysteries that the book does not care to elaborate.
It is an exploration of the unknown exclusively from the view of the explorers, without being colored by any special knowledge about the explored or of the future. Nightfall is another look at the effect of another kind of encounter with the unknown, in a very different scale.
Furthermore, Rendezvous with Rama has one of the funniest summaries I could come up with:
A spaceship makes a refueling stop and leaves, while a few locals boards and inspect it.
In the end, I am still torn.
Labels: books, fiction, fun fiction
Posted by FiniteState42i @12:23
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