I love stories about alien artifacts and Rendezvous with Rama is always heralded as one of the classics of that particular subgenre. The problem is that it is not a good book. There is basically no characterization and the utopian future Clarke describes feels so silly that it's painful to read. That these world-building parts feel forced in does not help.

I started the book with high expectations but was disappointed about 40 pages in. I felt no connection to any of the characters; mainly because there are none. They are just names that drive the story. So I gave up and read the summary on Wikipedia. If you are curious about this book, I suggest you skip it entirely and be content with the summary.