Finished My First Clarke Novel

RE: the disagreement over whether The City and the Stars is the hardest of hard sf or outright fantasy - I can't believe no one has invoked Clarke's Third Law!

If a story is set so far in the future that all technology is so advanced it might as well be magic, the distinction between sf and fantasy naturally becomes fuzzy. I would call City sf because it reeks of conceptual breakthrough, but Alvin's odyssey has the flavor of fable or myth, starting with his "virgin" birth!
 
weirdside said:
I'm slogging my way through all the books that have won both the Hugo and Nebula, and I just finished Rendezvous with Rama. I found it enjoyable, albeit lacking conflict. The science was spot on and not too overblown like it is in most modern hard sf pieces, which was very refreshing. I just thought that the characters and plot lacked a lot of depth. I was never worried that something would go wrong. It did evoke a sense of wonder and adventure, another thing that is sorely missing from modern sf. Are the other Rama books worth reading?
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Well, I've just finished reading "The City and the Stars" and although weirdside above is talking about a different book, his comments are almost spot on for what I felt about this book. It seemed that Clarke was far more concerned with exploring interesting ideas to bother much with the characters and plot. It lacked narrative tension in my opinion.

Ideas and concepts are very important in SF, yes. I just think it could have been a much better book had he put a little more effort into those other areas too.

So, I'm wondering where to go next with Clarke? One of the other two in the SF masterworks series: "Childhood's End" or "Rendevous With Rama"? Weirdside's comments on Rama are steering me away from that one though. Or something else entirely?
 
**ancient thread disclaimer :)**

I started reading Clarke only a year ago.... and never realized he wrote soooo much stuff!!
 
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