There's a scene towards the end of the sixth Harry Potter book where Harry and Dumbledore find a small basin of water with a much-needed magical item at the bottom of it. The water is cursed, though, and they can't simply reach in and grab the item, nor scoop out the water; the water has to be drunk in its totality before the item can be attained. And you just know that water's going to taste bad. Think the purified essence of a thousand Domino's pizzas and then multiply that by three. Yes, that bad. Anyway, Dumbledore realises what has to be done and makes Harry promise to keep feeding him the water, glass by painful glass, and not to stop no matter what happens. Well sure enough it gets unpleasant, immediately they start Dumbledore starts begging Harry to stop, weeping and ranting; Harry meanwhile pleads, cajoles, and lies to his headmaster in order to get him to drink one more glass, one more glass, one more glass. Reading The Garden of Rama is pretty much that: I'd promised myself I was going to finish the Rama series and so had to get through this book, and so I persevered through it all, shovelling page after page of toxic drivel down my throat no matter how bad it got.

I'm afraid this review isn't going to have much structure or narrative flow. There were too many things wrong with the book to make this anything more than a long list of free flowing criticisms. Besides, the book didn't bother having any structure or narrative flow so feel free to pretend that my review itself is some kind of meta-criticism if you .

Where to start? Well, the title makes no sense for one. In Rendezvous with Rama the main characters rendezvoused with a spacecraft dubbed Rama. In Rama II an identical looking spacecraft, dubbed Rama II, came to the solar system to be investigated. And in Rama Revealed I assume the secrets of the whole Rama thing will be, well, revealed (although see below). So then, this book must be about some great big vegetable patch in the spacecraft, right? Alas not. A settlement built within the ship is christened New Eden, and they have plants and stuff there, but that's pretty much the only relation to any garden in the book. Maybe this first criticism is overly pedantic, but it seems the choice of title here was either overly mundane or meaningless.

Next on my gripe list is the acknowledgements section (yes, we haven't made it to page one yet). Gentry Lee thanks his wife for "conversations about the nature of the female" since the book is primarily told from Nicole Wakefield's perspective. Indeed the first part of the book is told as excerpts from her journal. So does Gentry Lee manage to transcend sex differences in this journal section? Do his wife's suggestions seamlessly meld into a convincing catalogue of thoughts from a woman trapped in an alien environment and getting pregnant left, right, and centre? No. No, no, and no. Instead we get utterly bog-standard first person prose, except every ten pages or so there will be a cringe inducing paragraph along the lines of "So my husband didn't put the toilet seat down today. What is it with men and not doing that? Huh? As a woman it really gets my goat. You know what I'm talking about ladies, oh yes." I've no doubt Mrs Lee gave her husband numerous insights into "the nature of the female" but he hasn't used them to make a believable character, he's just shoehorned a few of these bad stand-up routines into the main text.

And while we're talking about the believability of our esteemed protagonist Nicole, let me ask you a question, dear reader. If you had to start the human civilisation again from scratch, how many people do you think you'd need to ensure enough genetic diversity to make the new civilisation tenable? I seem to recall a figure mentioned in The Matrix Reloaded for the number of humans needed to rebuild Zion is twenty three. Stephen Baxter makes this a big plot point at the end of Ark and agonises that forty six people with maximal genetic variation might just be okay. A quick straw poll amongst my friends with backgrounds in the biological sciences reckoned that quite a bit more than that would be needed. There's evidence that the human population fell to less than 15 000 once, and that maybe 500-1000 humans could breed their way away from extinction. So, with all that in mind, how many people does Dr Nicole des Jardins Wakefield, hero of Garden of Rama, think are necessary to breed their way out of trouble? Fifteen thousand, the actual human population after the Toba eruption? Maybe one thousand, which some research suggests is a safe minimum? Perhaps only one hundred and sixty as determined by American anthropologist John Moore? Or only one hundred, as suggested by my biology friends after three glasses of wine and two minutes to think about the problem? Maybe Baxter was right with forty six, or the Wachowski brothers with twenty three? Well, Dr Nicole, what's your answer? Two.

I'm sorry, what? There are three adults on Rama at the start of the book — two men and one woman. Nicole and her husband Richard have two daughters at which point Nicole starts wondering about how her daughters are going to continue the species. Clearly they need a man, preferably one each. So, she decides, she needs to pop out a couple of sons. Luckily, though, "one of [her] major areas of specialty during [her] medical training was genetics, especially hereditary defects." Phew! Looks she'll realise the futility of all this and stop dooming all these kids to a lonely future in space. But no! There's more. At this point of the book Nicole is 41 years old and worries how many more babies she can have. She decides she has to have a son and preferably with Michael, the other guy on Rama with her. So then the next generation will consist of two girls and a guy, all of them either half- or full-siblings. And obviously that's a genetically viable group if ever I saw one. To be fair, Nicole doesn't just want kids with Michael to get some more genetic diversity, that'd be silly, she also picks him because both of her husband's kids are girls, while two out of the three kids that Michael has had back on Earth were boys, so having a son would be pretty much guaranteed with Mike but nigh on impossible with Dick. And here was me thinking it was fifty/fifty with both of them.

So Nicole tells her (emotionally insecure and already quite jealous) husband she wants to get it on with Michael for scientific purposes, i.e. so their daughters will have a half-brother to shag later in life. And then she's surprised when he gets upset. Aggh! Stop, Harry, I can't take anymore! Later, after having had two sons with Michael, Richard shows up and she has a third daughter with him. Her main concern? That she's already paired up in her mind her two daughters and two sons, so daughter number three doesn't have a brother to make babies with. Aggh! No more, Harry! Please! The folly of the whole thing is only pointed out to her later by her thirteen year old daughter, who decides to marry seventy-two year old Uncle Michael, because marrying her half-brothers would be incest. Aggh! Enough, enough! And on a tangentially related note, Michael's two sons with Nicole sometimes refer to him as dad and sometimes as Uncle Michael, and similarly they sometimes call Richard dad and sometimes Uncle Richard. Why?

Part two of the book reveals the purpose of Rama, how it was made, and so on. Most of the big questions are answered, which leaves one major question: what exactly is left to be revealed in Rama Revealed? We don't yet know who the over-arching authority is behind the whole thing, but it's some alien or another and frankly I don't think "It turns out Rama was built by Zylorgs from planet Herpes" is particularly fulfilling. On the subject of Rama's mission, it seems fundamentally flawed. It's supposed to catalogue the spacefaring species of the galaxy by flying through star systems, luring these species aboard, and then taking them back to The Node. From there Rama is refitted with biomes to support larger numbers of these species and messages are sent to each of these species' planets to the effect of "We're coming back, prepare a few thousand of your species to come and live on Rama for an unspecified length of time. Then the whole thing flies back around the galaxy, picking up these species for observation. Frankly this sounds a rubbish way for an ultra advanced society to study other species, as proved by the fact that Rama only "captured" its three humans by a huge fluke.

Rama's mission is only slightly less believable than Earth's reaction to it. The human race of the original Rendezvous with Rama has spread across the solar system and, excitable Mercurians aside, the biggest problem it seems to face is an overabundance of petty bureaucracy. Gentry Lee ruthlessly deconstructs this world in Rama II, with a huge economic slump occurring just after the first novel's events that sets Earth back a century or so and obliterates its space programme. By the time Rama II begins, seventy years after its predecessor, the slump has lifted enough for a mediocre space programme to exist, but the military still decide to destroy Rama when it comes near Earth. Their missiles are ruthlessly efficient at tracking the spacecraft as they try (and fail) to obliterate it, but in this book it's claimed that Earth had believed the craft was destroyed. Apparently they fired their nuclear missiles at it and then everyone started staring at the ground saying "Yup, I'm so sure we destroyed that thing I'm not even going to look up and check."

So when Earth is informed in the 2240s, forty years after Rama II, that they need to send two thousand individuals to Rama, do they rejoice at the chance to redeem themselves, to fix past mistakes, to send their best and brightest to discover the secrets of the Universe? No, the shady council that rules the world decides it's all a hoax perpetrated by those pesky Chinese, so they send their best and brightest and a whole ship full of rapists and murderers to Mars. If there happens to be a honking great spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars then they'll board that, if not they'll start a new Martian colony. Of course they don't tell all these people going to Mars that they might end up in an alien spaceship until they're actually in the alien spaceship.

Of these two thousand people it seems that about twelve are half-decent human beings, that's including Nicole, Richard, and some of their kids. Since the kids were in stasis for their entire teenage lives they all have to deal with being, essentially, a child in an adult's body. Gentry Lee obviously deals with this in a delicate and thought-provoking manner: Patrick is shy with girls, Eleanor is perfectly fine, and Katie becomes a nymphomaniac. Wow! Of these twelve normal people, half are unceremoniously killed in a scene near the end of the book, and the humans in the colony happily let a Japanese mob boss take over. No one seems bothered that there's little food, the weather system is broken, and a hundred other problems, because the mob boss starts a war with another biome in Rama. Such flagrant clichés can work if they're told well, alas that's not the case here.

Despite the three hundred or so five star here on Goodreads, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who struggled to find the resolve to finish this book. The editors apparently had the same problem. As the book goes on more and more typoes start appearing: spelling errors, punctuation where it doesn't belong, and so on. One of the few solaces I could take was that this book is trashy pop science fiction, not hard science fiction, so powering through its six hundred pages was not difficult, just unpleasant.

With all that in mind, I'm now off to read Rama Revealed, hopeful in the knowledge that things surely can't get worse. Can they?fiction82 s2 comments bsc94 33

This is where the Rama series ends for me. A lot of the Rama mystery is gone. Clarke appears to be completely absent in this one and Lee is just not cut out to fly solo.

The first quarter was interesting. There was still some focus on the Rama mystery. The rest of the book, however, is tedious and pointless as it focuses on the human society aboard Rama. Basically society breaks down and ridiculousness ensues.

This is not what I wanted in a Rama sequel. I wanted to learn more (but not too much) about Rama. I did not want to spend most of the novel exploring the interaction between unlikable and clichéd characters.audiobook fiction read-2008 ...more26 s Osman171 9

Loved the first Rama novel; number 2 something of a disappointment- this one is a major let down. What I d in the first 2 is the mystery and the sense of weird erieness; the inexplicable killings and the strange surreal architecture; also the loneliness and emptiness.

These elements do appear in the first half of this book- I loved the description of Nichole venturing ito the Avian lair and walking down miles of empty corridor before coming to a solitary door. Yup these bits make me tingled with anticipation...

However i was cruely let down because the 2nd half is a sort of commune experience in which 2000 people are crammed on board Rama and it becomes one of those 'all-the-characters-rub-along'. There's no sci-fi at all, it's all character unraveling done so badly as to be incredibly dull. I didn't care for any of these boring non-entities and found myself skipping huge chunks of back-story (which lost nothing as far as narrative was concerned)

And don't even get me started on the rissible HIV/AIDS analogue- talk about clumbsy preaching.

So- all in all a dud. Over long, boring. My editorial advice would have been cut out all the character work and stick with the sci-fi.

Could do better boys

Over and Out 20 s James FieldAuthor 27 books63

The first 10% and the last 10% of this story are solid sci-fi in typical Arthur C. Clarke style (five stars). The middle 80% is adult romance, presumably written by Gentry Lee (two stars).
This is book three in the Rama series. The first was great, the second was disappointing, and the third was a boring struggle to reach the end. I don't know if I'll ever read the fourth (final) book in the series.
Average score: 2.6 rounded up to 3.
17 s Palmyrah260 63

Vile. Clumsily written by a dullard and carelessly edited by a sluggard. Read Lee's review near the top of the list if you really are still curious. 9 s DenisAuthor 1 book27

Un the first sequel, aptly titled, "Rama II", this third instalment refers less to Clarke's original novel, "Rendez-vous with Rama". This is set nine months after Rama II which is set 70 years after the first appearance of the mysterious artifact that cruised through our solar system. While Nicole des Jardins, husband Richard Wakefield and Michael O'Toole were stranded on Rama II headed somewhere near Sirius, they have between then five children. These become our new cast characters for the rest of the series.

There is very little left of Clarke's original idea here; the mysterious sense of wonder. The story is now completely in the hands of Gentry Lee, it seems. This has been replaced by some odd and sometimes ridiculous segments. Rama III is basically an experiment set up by some advance alien entity. The members of this experiment are colonist bound to colonize Mars, but no, they are told that they will not go to Mars and will be observed while being transported to another galaxy! When there should have been panic and rioting, no one seems to mind...

The novel is broken down into segments, almost as if this was a collection of novellas set in Lee's version of the Rama world. The first segment is written in the form of a journal written by Nichole. At first, I thought this was a fine idea; changing up the narrative style and such, but in its first person form, it became more of a tell rather than show situation. Some later segments, the "Mircat" segment in particular, with its crazy descriptions of alien beings was almost unreadable for me. And when Gentry Lee goes on about sexual situations, well...

However, whether I it or not, accepting where Lee is taking this mammoth of a thing, it is, overall, actually not too bad. There is enough there to keep me interested. I will keep on going.

"Rama IV Revealed", here I come. hardcover7 s Nadienne Williams352 47

Book 67 / 121 for 2022: "Garden of Rama"

My copy of Garden of Rama self-proclaims itself to be the sequel to Rama II, and I find that to be very appropriate, as this series has long divested itself of the original Rendezvous with Rama, leaving itÂ’s shattered corpse by the wayside, whilst dressing itself in its skin some sort of Edgar suit.

Content Warming: More pederasty, bordering on pedophilia. More racial slurs and insults (weÂ’re branching out from Rama II). And the use of the r-word repeatedly to describe a differently abled child.

Again, Rama II, I must reflect that there is no reason why this novel should take place in 2245 (aside from the fact that Rama II took place in 2200, because Rendezvous with Rama took place in 2131). The people, their ideals, the way they talk and act, the socio-political situation, the seeming level of technology scream mid 1990Â’s to me. Case in point, we have a Japanese mother who disparages her daughter (whoÂ’s on her way to a Peace Demonstration in Hiroshima for the 300th anniversary of the bomb drop) for going into a big city unchaperonedÂ…because when mother was that age, a woman would never dream of that. Really, mom? There were no unchaperoned young ladies walking around Japan in the good old days of 2215?

The novel is also weird in that it has severe tonal shifts. The first quarter or so is told in the form of first-person journal entries from Nicole des Jardin (now Wakefield), who has since become something of a main character, as she relates the 12 years or so that she, Richard Wakefield, Michael OÂ’Toole, and their children (yes, they bone and have kids), spend on Rama II as it travels from our solar system to Sirius. She ends up having two daughters with Richard, and then determines that she needs to start having kids with Michael, because if they end up staying on Rama II much longer, they need to keep the Human race going, and she wants to prevent inbreeding problemsÂ…although, mechanically, sheÂ’s really only kicking the can down the road one degree, cause those kids are all going to be half-siblings, but whatevs. So, she then has two sons with Michael, and then another daughter with Richard.

Oh, also we learn that the whole interior of Rama being frozen until it gets close enough to a star which warms up the hull, which melts the sea, which makes it habitable inside, is all for show, as after Rama leaves a star system, refreezing on the way out, it accelerates to relativistic speeds ( ½ light speed) and then everything remelts and becomes temperate inside again. Why?

Then, they arrive in Sirius, and we begin section two of the book, which goes back to third person. It turns out that Rama II is part of an extensive gathering operation for some still unrevealed super “advanced” race to learn about others, so it goes out on collecting expeditions. We also see a space station capable of fitting Rama inside of it, as well as a triangular space station, consisting of three sphere connected by three tubes…keeping the three theme…however, we throw that out the window because we see two other collecting ships, one of which is shaped a 5-pointed star and the other a wheel with spokes, so fuck the “everything in threes / triple redundancy” thing…although there are three ships (at least here), how you subdivide a star into three equal sections is beyond me. Here, the whole family is observed, provided for, grows up a bit, and then Nicole and Richard are brought in to help design a colony for Humans on Rama, because it’s going back. They are told that they need to collect 2,000 Human colonists, voluntarily, and if they don’t, they’ll be taken by force; because the Rama aliens are super benevolent guys, for realsies.

So, then some stuff happens and then we go back to Earth. The government, which is no longer global, since China and Korea got together to declare independence, and all of South America has pretty much united under a new Brazilian military dictatorship and declared independenceÂ…but the rest of the Earth is under the Council of Governments, who get the message about 2,000 colonists. They lie, of course, and say that they are going to recolonize Mars and need volunteers. Apparently, these 2,000 need to be a cross-section of Humanity, so people are gathered from all over the planet, and all walks of life, including criminals, and sent to Mars. However, instead they board Rama, which then leaves towards Tau Ceti.

Of course, after a few years, things have gone to crap, as a crime boss was among the 2,000 and he was able to build a casino and a hotel in the colony and used all that money to buy the government and pass laws he wants and kill his opposition. Okay, so this whole sequence leads to so many questions. Somehow, within the space of a year, this colony of Humans from all over the planet were able to decide on a constitution and put it into place. Also, for some reason, even though they are living in a colony where everything is provided for them, they decided to create a free market economy in the colony. Which means that they had to deliberately manufacture (complete with artificial scarcity) a form of currency that they then decided needed to have a fluctuating value and be distributed unevenly so that they could buy things from each otherÂ…in a completely closed environment that lacked nothing. Also, why they hell would they let anyone build a hotel and who the hell is it for? There arenÂ’t any tourists. Everyone has a place to live. The colony isnÂ’t very big and thereÂ’s free public transit all over the place, so even if you were drunk, you donÂ’t need a place to crash? And even if you did, it canÂ’t be that many people?

The whole colony eventually turns into the worst parts of Earth, and the Humans even go to war when they find out that there are other aliens in other habitats inside Rama II. Oh, also thereÂ’s something a Rama after action report which is broadcast back to the Rama aliens letting them know that the usual subliminal transmissions which make other races more docile doesnÂ’t seem to work on Humans. So, the aliens who want to observe how other races develop, with minimal interference, not only threaten to kidnap thousands of individuals if they arenÂ’t cooperated with, they also broadcast mind-control rays?

Oh, and Rama didnÂ’t refreeze after getting back to Earth (well, Mars). So, again, it freezes up for show? See, this is why reboots are awful. They are universally internally inconsistent.

Also, everyone keeps saying that there are three Rama spacecraft, but near as I can tell, thereÂ’s one and only one. Rama II is literally Rama III, and there is no indication whatsoever to counter-indicate that Rama II is not Rama I.

Near the end, our protagonists lament that, a la “The Matrix”, Humans just must naturally reject utopian conditions and thrive on conflict. Okay, but no. You created the conditions to completely undo utopia. You allowed the colonists to create a completely artificial “free market” economy and then deliberately deprived people of the benefits of said utopia. It wasn’t there was a “rejection of the programming.” You all got to Rama. Said “this place is nice” and then within a year said, “we need money.” And, even worse, their decided upon government then started collecting taxes to pay for projects public works and funding programs…in a colony that literally had everything already built, ready to inhabit, with near unlimited resources. Why?

So, the pederasty comes in a couple of places. Right before they leave to go back to Earth to kidnap people, the Rama aliens tell them that a breeding pair of Humans needs to remain behind, so, Michael (who is in his 70s by now) and Simone (who is Nicole and Richard’s oldest daughter, and 13), stay behind, get married, and have sex. But it’s totally okay, because both Nicole and Richard recognize that Simone is “super mature” for her age. Later, as they go back to Earth, everyone is put in suspended animation, but not really, by which I mean, their brains are asleep, but their bodies still age. So, their other daughters, who are 10 and 6, turn into adults on the way back to Earth, but are still functionally 10 and 6. However, the 10 year old (who appears in her mid-twenties) goes hard into drinking and drugs and boning everyone, and that’s completely inappropriate say her parents because she’s too young, however, their other daughter, the 6 year old (who appears 18), falls in love with a doctor (who was one of the criminal colonists – convicted of double homicide – but it’s okay because he killed a young black teenager and his attorney in court right after the kid was found not guilty for killing and raping the doctor’s wife). But that relationship is totally okay because, again, the 6-year-old is just so sweet and mature guys…she’s an old soul, and really gets me.

How did these novels win awards?!?!?!?science-fiction6 s Christopher1,154 34

In space, nobody can get an erection.

That's the takeaway from the first third of The Garden Of Rama where the three surviving astronauts (Nicole, Richard, Michael) from Rama II try, and try, and try, and try, to conceive and repopulate the human race as it exists in a giant space tube.

The notion of a unorthodox family unit forming on the Rama spacecraft seemed promising as eventually children are had by Nicole and Richard. But the train goes off the rails when Nicole decides she REALLY needs to bang Michael to attempt to keep the species going (even though Earth still, , exists and stuff). So we get a LOT of description of their attempts and his failures. Great.

Unsurprisingly, Richard gets upset. Surprisingly, he leaves his sort of-wife and his actual for YEARS and treks off elsewhere in the spacecraft. Eventually Nicole and Michael conceive and Richard returns. So that was a useful first 200 pages.

Eventually we learn that Rama was built to catalog and study the various spacefaring species in the galaxy and it is heading back to earth to pick up roughly 2000 subjects for inspection/study. Nicole is given the task of sending a message back to earth to inform humanity of this fact and to tell them to make sure people are ready because, in no uncertain terms, that 2000 humans WILL be getting on the ship. This leaves one with the distinct impression of a mass kidnapping.

Earth suspects the message is a hoax and decides to send 2000 convicts to either (a) board the ship if it's real or (b) start a colony on Mars if it's a hoax. Well, it's option (a) now we have a ship with 2000 assholes + a family of 7.

Then there are Japanese mob bosses, rape accusations, AIDS- infectious diseases, prostitutes, attempted genocide against other beings on Rama, a mass-shooting at a wedding, hallucinations while tiny robots spout Shakespeare...oh hell, I give up.

I'll suffer through the final volume just to say I've completed it, but uggh. I'm done. 6 s Devero4,209

Più opera di gentry Lee che di A.C. Clarke, questo romanzo segue a Rama II e prelude al finale Rama Revealed. Molte parti sono alquanto noiose, seppure necessarie per comprendere la psicologia dei protagonisti. Altre invece sono pura sci-fi, tipo la parte dei mirmecogatti. Nel complesso è sufficiente, ma siamo lontani dalla preminenza delle idee del primo, insuperabile, Incontro con Rama.
In parte romanzo familiare, in parte romanzo criminale e specchio della mancanza di lungimiranza umana più che della stupidità umana, affronta diversi temi (religione, etica, morale, egoismo) ma senza andare troppo a fondo a nessuno di questi. Detto ciò, tre stelle scarse le merita.5 s Jim Razinha1,362 72

Torn on this one...the story might have gotten three stars for being a relatively mindless read with fairly good flow, it was still mightily flawed. First, two men should not presume to write first person from a female perspective - even if one of those men claims to have bounced the story off of his wife; the first quarter of the book was in the form of diary entries of a carryover female character from Rama II...and reminded me of early sci-fi sexism. The second quarter was decent enough science fiction, but the entire last half of the book was a tiresome play on the failings of the human race, replete with a ton of caricatures and cardboard characters. And if the authors's bludgeoning polemic wasn't enough, what made them write dialogue using 20th century slurs and prejudices when the story takes pace 200 years in the future? I am guessing that much of this came from Gentry Lee, but then Clarke typically was weak on human interactions. I think I'll need to put some time between this one and Rama Revealed (I'm stubborn - I still intend to read as much Clark this year as I can.)5 s Xabi19902,017 1,078

8/10. Media de los 20 libros leídos dela autor : 7/10

Hablar sobre Clarke da casi vergüenza. Porque, ¿Quién soy yo para hablar de uno de los mas grandes de la CF?. Pero bueno, aparte de todas las alabanzas decir qe de su muy extensa producción, incuidas sus sagas de Rama o 2001, siempre me quedaré como favorita con su colección de reñatos "Cuentos de la taberna del Ciervo Blanco", geniales. Y tal vez con sus "Cuentos de la lejana Tierra" (a la que incluso Mike Oldfield le ha dedicado un album entero).
Tercera parte del clásico "Cita con Rama", donde se mantiene el interés y seguimos enterándonos de misterios de estas naves.4 s Ana807 682

The book is good. I still the story. I'm still giving it 4 stars. The rest from now on will probably be spoilers.

I am sticking with my 4 star rating for the third time in the Rama series, even though this book is completely different from the first two. The present work translates more a social experiment (what would happen if you take a cross section of 2000 humans that would perfectly resemble Earth's genetic, social and cultural population and you plant them on an alien spaceship in an environment so close to their home that they forget where they are) than a SF work. It has elements of SF - spaceship, aliens, higher intelligence, but it suffered some kind of metamorphosis between the initial expression and the current one. The story is very much character driven by now, and you are invested in Nicole and Richard's lives, with all their children (enough to make the plot of the book thicken, if you know what I mean) and their connection with other humans, billions of kilometers away from Earth.

I can't shake the feeling that some of this book is a bit of a filler, whilst you're waiting for the main action to happen, but I can't be overly critical about it, because I find Clarke's writing to be rather good, and I am still gripped by the story, still in need to find out what happens to them in the future. I think readers who are familiar with longer series go through this quite a lot, because to be frank no author can keep his public's attention at the same level for so many pages on end.

In the end, I'm very pleased with the third book as well, and am currently starting the fourth. about-murders creatures-spirits ebook ...more5 s David (???) 302 162

SUPERB!
Looking much forward to read its following book.
This book gave me thoughts (once again) to ponder about the human situation towards itself and its attitude towards other species. Gave me the shudders!!
At another instance, it also pointed out about the pleasures (and possible rewards) of experiencing things anew.
A Fantastic Book, in a Fantastic Series! :) :)allegorical arthur-c-clarke british-writing ...more4 s Filip Marinkovi?75 9

Ima jedan genijalan pasus pred kraj knjige koji savršeno opisuje svetsku politi?ku scenu 2023. godine. Artur Klark je, zapravo, vidovit.4 s ?????? ??????233 125

????? ??? ?? ?? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? (Rama II) ???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????.
??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ?????? ? ???? ?????? ?? ?? ?????? ?????? ? ????? ?????????? ??? ? ????? ???? ? ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ? ?????????? ????. ???? ???? ? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ????. ??? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ???????.
???? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?? ?????.3 s1 comment Laura165 3

Mainly, this book was very boring and not a hard sci-fi book at all. We do learn about a new alien species, but the social/political drama overshadows it all. The main character is a woman, which usually I appreciate, but not in this book. Nicole is a over the top mary sue type character, we are expected to believe that she is a gold medal Olympian astronaut, who also had an affair with the King of England?! Several times in the book it mentions that her daughter from the affair could technically be a princess. * insert eye-roll here*

All Nicole cared about are her children, and she was not knowledgeable in hard science, so every time her husband or uncle Michael explain something, she interrupted with something , “ I don't get that, but you guys are so brilliant! “ So annoying. The characters and society were all very cliche, with the good characters being over the top perfect, and the bad characters being so evil with no background on their motivations.


It also disturbed me that the good girl characters in the book were all shown as pure and naive, and ended up getting married. While Katie, the bad sheep of the family, is shown being promiscuous and smoking a cigarette. The book doesn't explore the fact that she feels alienated by her mom, who self-admittedly favors Ella more than her! Katie is always shown acting snotty while everyone freaks out over her bad manners. You would think no-one had ever been rude to a member of the family before, or argued, except with Katie.

* Major spoilers* Basically the martyr Nicole was executed by the big bad corrupt government for opposing them, and the society has gone to shit. We are given hope that Nicole's husband Richard will arrive and some how save everyone but they kind of leave that open ended. Basically, this book is not worth reading, especially if you are science-fiction fan. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full reviewnear-future oppressed-society sci-fi ...more2 s Ed Tinkertoy278 4

This is part three of the series and my second time reading it. Again, I just didn't remember things the way the book presents them. In this book the family has reached the Node, been informed by the aliens that they are to be studies as are all other species the aliens can find anywhere in the universe.

Meanwhile, the family has expanded to 5 kids. They are then informed that they can all leave the Node to go back to their solar system except two must remain at the Node. The oldest person agrees to stay and also the oldest daughter stays to serve as the mating pair for study. The two are married even thought they are 40 years apart in age.

A member of the group makes a video that is broadcast to Earth telling them they will return and inviting them to provide 2000 people to live in Rama when it returns. The spacecraft is reconfigured with robots to handle most chores. Houses and cites are built in Rama and it leaves for Mars with the family in suspended animation.

The 2000 people selected enter Rama and things go great until one of the people decides he wants to be in charge of the civilization and take steps to eliminate all of his competitors. The society crumbles, things are destroyed, and the family finally escapes to another part of the spacecraft to prevent executions and prosecutions.

I can't put the book down. Now into the last part and it's as exciting as the first time I read it 15 years ago.

I still enjoyed this book on my third reading of it about 12 years after the last reading. There are so many deatils that I just did not remember. read-again4 s Robert Devoe13 7

When I read this novel as a teenager, I loved it, as I totally enthralled with the Rama series and the writings of Arthur C. Clarke in general.

As I read this book a second time as an adult, I realized that this book is really just lousy, and it was extremely evident that this was not in any part written by the master author Mr. Clarke, but instead was ly written entirely by Gentry Lee and signed off on by Mr. Clarke's agent for some quick cash.

This "Sci-Fi" novel is better suited for a drinking game, where you drink every time you read the words 'tears', 'cry', 'crying', 'cried', and so on. I assure you, you will be completely drunk for the duration.

I give this book two stars instead of one because the writing itself is fine, it's just the overall story, and the insult to the much better Rama 1 and 2. Things do get a little better in Rama 4 thankfully, but not much better. 3 s Cyrus43

I blame myself a bit for this one. After reading "Rendezvous" I thought how tragic it was that Arthur Clark, who has such an interest in humanity seems to have so little interest in humans as individuals. All the wonders of Rama, and nothing to bring it home on any kind of real personal level.

Enter Rama II, with something that very much resembles characters with lives and motivations, even if they were inexpertly handled; a trifle soap operatic at times even. It's nothing but the characters for far too long, and anything that made them endearing or interesting in the previous book has been sucked away. As has the wonder. And the grammar.

This is probably only the second time in my life I've just consciously put a book down, never to return. I felt myself going blind as my eyes were slowly sacrificing themselves to save my mind.read-in-20143 s Todd MartinAuthor 4 books76

The Garden of Rama is the third installment of a four part series. It's better than the second book, but nowhere near as good as the first.

On the positive side:
- It accurately portrays humans as the dysfunctional assholes they are.
- A bit of the mystery that can be found in the first book is re-introduced.

On the negative:
- The plot quite literally goes nowhere (the ship travels to Sirius only to turn right back around and return to Earth).
- The characters are uninteresting.
- There's quite a bit of cheesy nonsense (Abe Lincoln, Albert Einstein, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María to name but a few).

Since there's one more book I suppose I must press on and finish the series. fiction3 s Frank Miscavitch2

This book makes me uncomfortable. There are many cultural nuances that I find unnecessary and oddly pushed by the protagonist in the book. I understand social paradigms go out the window in the created universe but the premise of them doesn't need to be there. It in no way adds to the story or universe created by the series and is infact quite creepy.

Unfortunately you need to read it to get to the finale which is only marginally better.3 s Bill970 376

OK, Arthur, how about cutting to the chase? Actually, this was OK, but not as good as the previous two. I haven't heard much about the last novel, Rama Revealed, but I think I've had enough already. science-fiction3 s Nathan6

This book could have been a third shorter and it probably would have been a fun read. Remove all the sexual content and stick to the scifi and youÂ’ve got a decent story. I read the first few pages of book four and IÂ’m intrigued to see how the story ends but IÂ’ll leave that one on my shelf for a while. Easily the weakest of the first three Rama books. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review2 s Katrine Austin419 20

Updated August 2020 - did not reread, left the past memory be :)

Plowed through this series in high school, loved it, quite memorable.2 s Lars Dradrach899

After giving up on the series many years ago I recently decided to give it a go again hoping my adult, more mature mind would be better prepared for some of the unpleasant topics.

And here we go again, less than half way though I have to call it a day...

ThereÂ’s nothing wrong with posing provocative or even indecent notions if itÂ’s linked to the narrative, but here it seems unnecessary and just stupid.

Gentry lee thanks his wife and some other women in the foreword for providing an insight into the minds of women, maybe he should have talked with someone else or just listened more, because Nicole or female main character is totally unbelievable and makes some choices which are totally unbelievable.

“Let’s have some more children in outer space, without any concern about which kind of life they are going to live’
“Let’s have children with 2 different men, so the children can have (healthy) children with each other”
“Let’s marry our 13 year old daughter to our 71 year old colleague”

And then thereÂ’s the religious nonsense which becomes more and more prominent as the series progresses.

To many good books out there to waste more time with this one.

audiobook complete-the-list started-given-up2 s Greg Sidor29 8

This is the third in the series and I've read them one after another. "The Garden of Rama" is by far the weakest entry. The first book focused on the mystery of the craft and its absent creators. "Rama II" followed another expedition that delved deeper into the craft. The third installment gets hung up on humans who aren't that interesting, and predictable themes that don't fit into a series about enigmatic aliens.

As strange as it sounds, "The Garden of Rama" needed less of a human element. Nicole, Michael and Richard have a slew of kids. Not only does it seem cruel to bring children into the isolation of Rama, but there are so many that it's hard to care about any of the new characters.

When more humans arrive it just compounds the problems with the book. Bringing common themes into Rama just takes away the mystery.

I will read "Rama Revealed," but for now I'm taking a break. Just a little too disappointed to keep the commitment right now.2 s Ira Livingston503 6

What can I say about this volume, it is a fascinating examination of what happens to the crew of Rama II. How the crew has children, becomes a multiple parent system with half-brothers/sisters.

That was all in the first third of the book and was extremely mind blowing as a reader trying to figure out what you would have done in their shoes. ItÂ’s written with a scientific flare, keeping one examining it with an open mind.

However, the book then is turned over to Larry who seems obsessed with sex and all the fetish, cliched and bad things about the human race.

As Rama returns to pick up a larger group of colonists to study, it seems they are all stereotypical types of the worst that humans have to offer, eventually breaking out and battling the other Rama-ites. It seems his writing style just doesnÂ’t hold to the beginning of the book.

I still want to see where book four goes, but for me this was a tough one to finish and I would not really recommend it.

2 s LKM286 30

Sooo, disappointing. Enjoyed reading about the parts about Rama, totally disd the whole human parts of it and specially towards the end. And hated how suddenly when people are found alone on strange lands/ships/planets where they might never see another living person, they immediately think "Oh my, how are we EVER gonna populate this place? Lets get it on!"
Nevermind at the point they still could have explored a lot more of Rama's secrets, or minded their survival even more than they did, or even tried to interact more with other species, etc. No no, lets propagate our species first.
Also totally miffed about insertion of typical human reaction ("shoot first, ask later"). Since we're doing sci-fi, can we 'fictionize' it a bit more and pretend humans actually think?2 s prince_of_gypsies3

Shit was gross enough with all the talk of potential incest.
Three people sure as hell donÂ’t provide a gene-pool big enough for descendants not dying from taking a shit.

But then the child-bride thing started. Incredibly creepy and utterly disgusting.

FOURTEEN YEAR OLDS ARE NOT “YOUNG WOMEN”, THEY ARE CHILDREN.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. TO EVEN NEED TO SPELL THAT OUT!
Piss of with “mAtuRE” or “iN mANy WaYs OLdEr”.

Abandoned it after that section of the book.
Second one was messy, but this one is inexcusably repulsive.
Seriously wish I had just stopped after the first one.

EDIT: After reading some other IÂ’m pleased to find out Clarke wasnÂ’t particularly involved with this garbage. My heart rests easy now that I can just consider this trashy fanfic written by a hack named Gentry Lee. Creepass-dipshit can rot in literary hell.2 s Ata47

Under the cover of the 1936 Olympics mobster hitman Paul Schumann is targeting Reinhard Ernst, a key figure in the rearmament of Germany. Taunt and filled with historical 'snap shots' this book will appeal to both fans of historical fiction and WW II 'what-ifers.' Very imersive and filled with attention to detail. An above average 'histo-fic' thriller. Could be a very good movie if the right actors were in it! adventure favorites fiction ...more34 s Paul Weiss1,317 354

A high speed thriller set in pre-war 1936 Berlin

Paul Schumann, a notorious hit man for the New York Mafia, has finally been nabbed. But the feds have offered him a choice - accept a dangerous undercover government assignment in pre-war Germany or never see the outside of a prison again! The job is to assassinate Reinhard Ernst, the Nazi genius responsible for Hitler's re-armament program who is systematically defying the terms of Germany's WW I surrender, engineering a key component of Hitler's incendiary rise to power and providing him with the matches to light the fuse to WW II.

But when the operation fails, Schumann finds himself in the sights of Willi Kohl, Berlin's best homicide detective; a police operative who Schumann is dismayed to discover is far smarter and far more efficient than any of his North American opposite numbers.

GARDEN OF BEASTS is a fascinating historical thriller that is part psychological and part suspense with significant servings of provocative discussion about the meaning of good and evil. The historical context of the story is impeccably detailed and absolutely fascinating - the sights, sounds and geography of pre-war Berlin; brownshirts; the social milieu and attitudes of everyday German folks living with the combination of hope, fear, patriotism, terror and awe that Hitler must have inspired as he consolidated his dictatorial grip on the Germans; Jesse Owens humbling performance in the 1936 Olympics; and much more.

Is Paul Schumann a hero, an anti-hero or just plain villain? Deaver kindly leaves it to his readers to make their own decision. I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip as well as the ultimate destination.

While I may be reading much more into it than Deaver intended, I thought I'd give him kudos for what I think is an exceptionally clever title. GARDEN OF BEASTS could be said to be a loose translation of "Tiergarten" which is generally much more simply translated as "zoo". Much of the action in GARDEN OF BEASTS took place around Berlin's Tiergarten. For my money, I believe that Deaver was using the English translation to characterize the behaviour of his cast under the stress of war. See if you don't agree after you've read it.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weisshistorical-fiction psychological-thriller suspense-thriller29 s1 comment Peter201 18

Unusual setting for a modern thriller in pre-WW2 Nazi Berlin, with ‘personal appearances’ by Hitler, Göring, Goebbels et al. An American hitman is sent to Berlin to take out the man who is rebuilding Germany’s military. Weak and somewhat nebulous pretext for storyline but the characters in the action-packed and twisting story are well drawn and authentic. The background of societal and political break-up and brutalisation under Hitler and his henchmen is especially well realised. fiction reviewed26 s5 comments RJ - Slayer of Trolls924 199

Set in pre-WWII Berlin at the time of the 1936 Olympics games, a New York hitman hunts a fictional high-level German functionary with the hopes of derailing the German rearmament. DeaverÂ’s style doesnÂ’t include the same subtleties found in, say, Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem by Philip Kerr, and the plot, while entertaining, sometimes strains credibility. However the main characters are memorable, the setting is well-researched, and the story moves along at an entertaining pace.21 s Razvan Banciu1,265 93

A strange work from Deaver, as this book reminds me of William Diehl (both of them among my favorites) and John le Carre. Fiction goes together with real persons and facts, the plot looks promising, but there are a few facts I less:
- Schumann is too clumsy and non-vigilant, as he involves in the fight with the SD guys
- there is a lot of ambiguity about Clayborn, Taggert and their purposes
- the action looks somehow impromptu with no pattern at all
- the escape of seven boys(!!!) from Germany is idyllic.
As I've seen, most of the readers have given four stars, but my expectations from Deaver are greater, so I've chosen only three. The truth is, as usual, probably in the middle...14 s Nancy428

This was an interesting novel set in Berlin during the 1936 Olympics. Paul Schumann was a "button man" for the mob. The Feds gave him a choice of prison or going to Germany to assassinate the key official in rearming the German military. Paul was chosen because he spoke fluent German, was a meticulous planner, intelligent, and interestingly enough, an avid reader (the Feds thought this was a key factor in determining his intellectual capacity).

Schumann travels to the Olympics with the US Olympic team under the cover of a sportswriter. He is boxer and is fortunately, very knowledgeable about sports. His mission in Berlin is compromised from be beginning and nothing is what it seems. Being fluent in the German language does not make him blend into Berlin a native. A murder during his attempt to make contact with an American agent has Schumann being hunted relentlessly by an German police detective and the Gestapo while trying to accomplish his objective. There were many twists and turns in the plot and it keep you interested to the last page.

Although this is a work of fiction, it is believable. I enjoyed the characters - many were interesting because of their quirks.15 s David1,124 21

Garden of Beasts was a pleasant surprise. I have read and enjoyed the Lincoln Rhyme series by Deaver, but the setting of Germany in 1936 was presented so powerfully that I was left shaking my head. Characterization was very, very important in this novel as we follow American Gangster Paul Schumman, a hired killer, who is blackmailed into an assasination plot. The goal is to assasinate one of Hitler's men who is responsible for the rearming plan for Germany. The character is fictional, an amalgamation of several of Hitler's henchmen.

Then, there is Kriminal Police investigator who is gentle, patient, and insightful. He cleverly gets on Paul's trail rather quickly.

However, the clever thing is how much Deaver knows about Germany's black market, food and clothing substitutes, the fear of being denounced, the pride in a country attempting to rebuild, and the attitude towards Jews and other so-called races. Deaver pulls back the curtain of a nation torn by national pride and fear of being called an enemy of the state. I was thrilled and felt as if I was being educated about the terrible inflaction, black marketering, and the multiple agnecies and para-military organizations.

Put this one on your list, folks.. Because Deaver carefully carves out a calculated thriller with some very interesting and unforeseen twists and turns. Characters evolve as the story progresses and the story unfolds, twists and then roller coasters to a satisfying conclusion that is NOT what the reader saw coming.

completed10 s Eric_W1,930 384

Paul Schumann is a mob hit man. He’s set up by the Feds and captured then offered a choice between working for them to assassinate a key Nazi official, Reinhold Ernst, or face the gas chamber. Sent to Germany under the cover of a journalist following the Olympics in Berlin, he’s soon involved in a serious cat-and-mouse game for a Nazi sympathizer has sent an anonymous note to the German High Command indicating that a “Russian” (Paul is supposed to use a forged Russian passport to escape following the assassination) will cause some damage to some unnamed important official.

Paul has been chosen because he speaks almost native German and is a very careful, precise hitman. But he doesn’t have the cultural background of Nazi Germany in 1936 and little things, whistling for a taxi, which no German would have done, provide clues for his pursuers. Deaver must have done considerable research to provide details the “Hitler clothing” that help provide a good sense of time and place.) For example: Morgan said softly, “Don’t use that word here. It will give you away. ‘Nazi’ is Bavarian slang for ‘simpleton.’ The proper abbreviation is ‘Nazo,’ but you don’t hear that much either. Say ‘National Socialist.’ Some people use the initials, NSDAP. Or you can refer to the ‘Party.’ And say it reverently. . . .

After Paul and his contact are forced to kill an SA agent, Inspector Kohl (a brilliant cop who expertly maneuvers his way across the conflicting SD, Gestapo, SA, and SS interference which threaten to muck up his investigation) enters the case and now Paul is being sought by multiple agencies sometimes working at cross-purposes. And can Paul trust his American handlers? Great plot, well executed.

Everything in the novel rings true except the conversations between Ernst, Himmler, Hitler, and Goering. A couple other minor things that bugged me. We’re all used to the phrases “Heil, Hitler,” and “Grüß Gott”, but here both are translated quite literally so they come out “Hail Hitler” and “Greeting God” which, ironically, rang very false to my ear. Better to have left them in their German form. But I quibble. Very engaging story.mysteries-and-thrillers7 s stephanie1,106 452

i wasn't sure what to expect, given that a) i love deaver, b) usually dis historical fiction, and c) know a crap load about the interwar period in germany.

turns out it was surprisingly good. i mean, it won awards, but see the second two points up there. normally i wouldn't even read this, but. i am glad i did. i wasn't sure what the twists were going to be, or how, given that we all know how history plays out.

i d that deaver created a fictional character for the enemy, because it didn't detract from the reality of the story. i wasn't distracted thinking, but how do you KNOW that about goring/goebbels/himmler or "but that's just wrong!"

paul is a character i felt ambivalent about, but understood, in a weird way. the story kept rolling, and there were excellent secondary characters, classic deaver twists, and an ending that made me seriously, seriously happy. 2012 historical-fiction modern-euro-history ...more6 s Eoin DempseyAuthor 20 books894

Great novel. The detail was incredible and the storyline was excellent. Loved it. 4 s Nupur TustinAuthor 19 books110

Absolutely superb! Garden of Beasts is set in 1936, Germany and provides a vivid sense of life under Hitler and the Nazis in that time. Deaver skilfully captures nuances of German speech and, in fact, the essence of an entire culture. I enjoyed the historical aspect of it every bit as much as the thriller/mystery plot.

And, yes, Deaver delivers a series of stunning surprises in a beautifully complex and layered plot.

The German characters--both historic figures such as Hitler and Goering as well as fictitious characters Inspector Kohl--come across as living, breathing people. A particularly difficult feat for a writer given what we know about the Nazis.

4 s JohnnyAuthor 10 books130

Jeffrey Deaver may be the master of psychological thrillers, but Garden of Beasts doesn’t fit that formula from my perspective. Garden of Beasts is, indeed, a thriller, but it is more of a procedural thriller set in a historical era—Berlin of 1936, the year of the Berlin Olympics. Naturally, the Olympic Stadium plays a role in the story, as do the transvestite servers at the Aryan Club, and the Tiergarten (from which the book gets its name—a double entendre on the garden and the National Socialists in charge of the country). Interestingly enough, at least to me, Deaver made it a special point to translate even familiar German phrases “Heil Hitler!” and “Gott im Himmel!” into colloquial English. This was both jarring and effective as it demonstrated both the protagonist’s fluency with German (even though he was from the U.S.) and that, in spite of the language foreign to most of Deaver’s readers, these “beasts” were also human.

The essence of the story is that a hit man has been recruited by certain interests in the U.S. government to “touch off” an important Nazi official. The official is fictitious, named Reinhard Ernst (probably after the “Reinhardt Program” in the early ‘30s in which the country was trying to rebuild its infrastructure). The fictional official, Helmut Schacht in real life, was in charge of coordinating both the civilian and war effort economies. Un Schacht who ran afoul of Hitler by not moving fast enough on armament, Ernst is the master of both coordinating logistics for the war industry, but also disguising the efforts from those entrusted with supervising the terms of the Versailles treaty.

For those who immediately discount the use of an organized crime figure in a covert government plot, let me remind them of Lucky Luciano’s role in keeping the longshoremen and maritime industry in line so that the war effort moved smoothly. It isn’t, to borrow a phrase from a popular film, entirely “inconceivable.” In fact, one grows rather to this hit man when one discovers the source of his involvement with organized crime and his personal philosophy. As his government recruiters indicate: “’Jimmy Coughlin told us you said one time that you only kill other killers. What’d you say? That you only ‘correct God’s mistakes?’ That’s what we need.” (p. 12)

Now, what I thought was unique about this thriller involved quick cuts between the procedural preparations for the assassination and a coincidental (but intriguing) pursuit of the pursuer that occurs as a result of a killing to cover the assassinÂ’s tracks. Instead of a stupid police inspector clumsily tracing the assassin, a very bright inspector keeps closing the gap while being constantly frustrated by the refusal of the Gestapo to share any information. He believes he is tracing a murderer rather than a threat to state security. Although Garden of Beasts has the expected spy, counterspy, and betrayal tropes, this competent but hamstring investigation adds significant tension to the story.

Further, instead of the typical James Bond-style romantic liaison, there is a point where an attractive German woman affirms: “I’d rather share my country with ten thousand killers than to share my bed with one.” (p. 325) Deaver refuses to position all Germans as either helpless or villains. Rather, this rather strong woman and other characters (including the persistent police inspector
Autor del comentario:
=================================

Under the cover of the 1936 Olympics mobster hitman Paul Schumann is targeting Reinhard Ernst, a key figure in the rearmament of Germany. Taunt and filled with historical 'snap shots' this book will appeal to both fans of historical fiction and WW II 'what-ifers.' Very imersive and filled with attention to detail. An above average 'histo-fic' thriller. Could be a very good movie if the right actors were in it! adventure favorites fiction ...more34 s Paul Weiss1,317 354

A high speed thriller set in pre-war 1936 Berlin

Paul Schumann, a notorious hit man for the New York Mafia, has finally been nabbed. But the feds have offered him a choice - accept a dangerous undercover government assignment in pre-war Germany or never see the outside of a prison again! The job is to assassinate Reinhard Ernst, the Nazi genius responsible for Hitler's re-armament program who is systematically defying the terms of Germany's WW I surrender, engineering a key component of Hitler's incendiary rise to power and providing him with the matches to light the fuse to WW II.

But when the operation fails, Schumann finds himself in the sights of Willi Kohl, Berlin's best homicide detective; a police operative who Schumann is dismayed to discover is far smarter and far more efficient than any of his North American opposite numbers.

GARDEN OF BEASTS is a fascinating historical thriller that is part psychological and part suspense with significant servings of provocative discussion about the meaning of good and evil. The historical context of the story is impeccably detailed and absolutely fascinating - the sights, sounds and geography of pre-war Berlin; brownshirts; the social milieu and attitudes of everyday German folks living with the combination of hope, fear, patriotism, terror and awe that Hitler must have inspired as he consolidated his dictatorial grip on the Germans; Jesse Owens humbling performance in the 1936 Olympics; and much more.

Is Paul Schumann a hero, an anti-hero or just plain villain? Deaver kindly leaves it to his readers to make their own decision. I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip as well as the ultimate destination.

While I may be reading much more into it than Deaver intended, I thought I'd give him kudos for what I think is an exceptionally clever title. GARDEN OF BEASTS could be said to be a loose translation of "Tiergarten" which is generally much more simply translated as "zoo". Much of the action in GARDEN OF BEASTS took place around Berlin's Tiergarten. For my money, I believe that Deaver was using the English translation to characterize the behaviour of his cast under the stress of war. See if you don't agree after you've read it.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weisshistorical-fiction psychological-thriller suspense-thriller29 s1 comment Peter201 18

Unusual setting for a modern thriller in pre-WW2 Nazi Berlin, with ‘personal appearances’ by Hitler, Göring, Goebbels et al. An American hitman is sent to Berlin to take out the man who is rebuilding Germany’s military. Weak and somewhat nebulous pretext for storyline but the characters in the action-packed and twisting story are well drawn and authentic. The background of societal and political break-up and brutalisation under Hitler and his henchmen is especially well realised. fiction reviewed26 s5 comments RJ - Slayer of Trolls924 199

Set in pre-WWII Berlin at the time of the 1936 Olympics games, a New York hitman hunts a fictional high-level German functionary with the hopes of derailing the German rearmament. DeaverÂ’s style doesnÂ’t include the same subtleties found in, say, Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem by Philip Kerr, and the plot, while entertaining, sometimes strains credibility. However the main characters are memorable, the setting is well-researched, and the story moves along at an entertaining pace.21 s Razvan Banciu1,265 93

A strange work from Deaver, as this book reminds me of William Diehl (both of them among my favorites) and John le Carre. Fiction goes together with real persons and facts, the plot looks promising, but there are a few facts I less:
- Schumann is too clumsy and non-vigilant, as he involves in the fight with the SD guys
- there is a lot of ambiguity about Clayborn, Taggert and their purposes
- the action looks somehow impromptu with no pattern at all
- the escape of seven boys(!!!) from Germany is idyllic.
As I've seen, most of the readers have given four stars, but my expectations from Deaver are greater, so I've chosen only three. The truth is, as usual, probably in the middle...14 s Nancy428

This was an interesting novel set in Berlin during the 1936 Olympics. Paul Schumann was a "button man" for the mob. The Feds gave him a choice of prison or going to Germany to assassinate the key official in rearming the German military. Paul was chosen because he spoke fluent German, was a meticulous planner, intelligent, and interestingly enough, an avid reader (the Feds thought this was a key factor in determining his intellectual capacity).

Schumann travels to the Olympics with the US Olympic team under the cover of a sportswriter. He is boxer and is fortunately, very knowledgeable about sports. His mission in Berlin is compromised from be beginning and nothing is what it seems. Being fluent in the German language does not make him blend into Berlin a native. A murder during his attempt to make contact with an American agent has Schumann being hunted relentlessly by an German police detective and the Gestapo while trying to accomplish his objective. There were many twists and turns in the plot and it keep you interested to the last page.

Although this is a work of fiction, it is believable. I enjoyed the characters - many were interesting because of their quirks.15 s David1,124 21

Garden of Beasts was a pleasant surprise. I have read and enjoyed the Lincoln Rhyme series by Deaver, but the setting of Germany in 1936 was presented so powerfully that I was left shaking my head. Characterization was very, very important in this novel as we follow American Gangster Paul Schumman, a hired killer, who is blackmailed into an assasination plot. The goal is to assasinate one of Hitler's men who is responsible for the rearming plan for Germany. The character is fictional, an amalgamation of several of Hitler's henchmen.

Then, there is Kriminal Police investigator who is gentle, patient, and insightful. He cleverly gets on Paul's trail rather quickly.

However, the clever thing is how much Deaver knows about Germany's black market, food and clothing substitutes, the fear of being denounced, the pride in a country attempting to rebuild, and the attitude towards Jews and other so-called races. Deaver pulls back the curtain of a nation torn by national pride and fear of being called an enemy of the state. I was thrilled and felt as if I was being educated about the terrible inflaction, black marketering, and the multiple agnecies and para-military organizations.

Put this one on your list, folks.. Because Deaver carefully carves out a calculated thriller with some very interesting and unforeseen twists and turns. Characters evolve as the story progresses and the story unfolds, twists and then roller coasters to a satisfying conclusion that is NOT what the reader saw coming.

completed10 s Eric_W1,930 384

Paul Schumann is a mob hit man. He’s set up by the Feds and captured then offered a choice between working for them to assassinate a key Nazi official, Reinhold Ernst, or face the gas chamber. Sent to Germany under the cover of a journalist following the Olympics in Berlin, he’s soon involved in a serious cat-and-mouse game for a Nazi sympathizer has sent an anonymous note to the German High Command indicating that a “Russian” (Paul is supposed to use a forged Russian passport to escape following the assassination) will cause some damage to some unnamed important official.

Paul has been chosen because he speaks almost native German and is a very careful, precise hitman. But he doesn’t have the cultural background of Nazi Germany in 1936 and little things, whistling for a taxi, which no German would have done, provide clues for his pursuers. Deaver must have done considerable research to provide details the “Hitler clothing” that help provide a good sense of time and place.) For example: Morgan said softly, “Don’t use that word here. It will give you away. ‘Nazi’ is Bavarian slang for ‘simpleton.’ The proper abbreviation is ‘Nazo,’ but you don’t hear that much either. Say ‘National Socialist.’ Some people use the initials, NSDAP. Or you can refer to the ‘Party.’ And say it reverently. . . .

After Paul and his contact are forced to kill an SA agent, Inspector Kohl (a brilliant cop who expertly maneuvers his way across the conflicting SD, Gestapo, SA, and SS interference which threaten to muck up his investigation) enters the case and now Paul is being sought by multiple agencies sometimes working at cross-purposes. And can Paul trust his American handlers? Great plot, well executed.

Everything in the novel rings true except the conversations between Ernst, Himmler, Hitler, and Goering. A couple other minor things that bugged me. We’re all used to the phrases “Heil, Hitler,” and “Grüß Gott”, but here both are translated quite literally so they come out “Hail Hitler” and “Greeting God” which, ironically, rang very false to my ear. Better to have left them in their German form. But I quibble. Very engaging story.mysteries-and-thrillers7 s stephanie1,106 452

i wasn't sure what to expect, given that a) i love deaver, b) usually dis historical fiction, and c) know a crap load about the interwar period in germany.

turns out it was surprisingly good. i mean, it won awards, but see the second two points up there. normally i wouldn't even read this, but. i am glad i did. i wasn't sure what the twists were going to be, or how, given that we all know how history plays out.

i d that deaver created a fictional character for the enemy, because it didn't detract from the reality of the story. i wasn't distracted thinking, but how do you KNOW that about goring/goebbels/himmler or "but that's just wrong!"

paul is a character i felt ambivalent about, but understood, in a weird way. the story kept rolling, and there were excellent secondary characters, classic deaver twists, and an ending that made me seriously, seriously happy. 2012 historical-fiction modern-euro-history ...more6 s Eoin DempseyAuthor 20 books894

Great novel. The detail was incredible and the storyline was excellent. Loved it. 4 s Nupur TustinAuthor 19 books110

Absolutely superb! Garden of Beasts is set in 1936, Germany and provides a vivid sense of life under Hitler and the Nazis in that time. Deaver skilfully captures nuances of German speech and, in fact, the essence of an entire culture. I enjoyed the historical aspect of it every bit as much as the thriller/mystery plot.

And, yes, Deaver delivers a series of stunning surprises in a beautifully complex and layered plot.

The German characters--both historic figures such as Hitler and Goering as well as fictitious characters Inspector Kohl--come across as living, breathing people. A particularly difficult feat for a writer given what we know about the Nazis.

4 s JohnnyAuthor 10 books130

Jeffrey Deaver may be the master of psychological thrillers, but Garden of Beasts doesn’t fit that formula from my perspective. Garden of Beasts is, indeed, a thriller, but it is more of a procedural thriller set in a historical era—Berlin of 1936, the year of the Berlin Olympics. Naturally, the Olympic Stadium plays a role in the story, as do the transvestite servers at the Aryan Club, and the Tiergarten (from which the book gets its name—a double entendre on the garden and the National Socialists in charge of the country). Interestingly enough, at least to me, Deaver made it a special point to translate even familiar German phrases “Heil Hitler!” and “Gott im Himmel!” into colloquial English. This was both jarring and effective as it demonstrated both the protagonist’s fluency with German (even though he was from the U.S.) and that, in spite of the language foreign to most of Deaver’s readers, these “beasts” were also human.

The essence of the story is that a hit man has been recruited by certain interests in the U.S. government to “touch off” an important Nazi official. The official is fictitious, named Reinhard Ernst (probably after the “Reinhardt Program” in the early ‘30s in which the country was trying to rebuild its infrastructure). The fictional official, Helmut Schacht in real life, was in charge of coordinating both the civilian and war effort economies. Un Schacht who ran afoul of Hitler by not moving fast enough on armament, Ernst is the master of both coordinating logistics for the war industry, but also disguising the efforts from those entrusted with supervising the terms of the Versailles treaty.

For those who immediately discount the use of an organized crime figure in a covert government plot, let me remind them of Lucky Luciano’s role in keeping the longshoremen and maritime industry in line so that the war effort moved smoothly. It isn’t, to borrow a phrase from a popular film, entirely “inconceivable.” In fact, one grows rather to this hit man when one discovers the source of his involvement with organized crime and his personal philosophy. As his government recruiters indicate: “’Jimmy Coughlin told us you said one time that you only kill other killers. What’d you say? That you only ‘correct God’s mistakes?’ That’s what we need.” (p. 12)

Now, what I thought was unique about this thriller involved quick cuts between the procedural preparations for the assassination and a coincidental (but intriguing) pursuit of the pursuer that occurs as a result of a killing to cover the assassinÂ’s tracks. Instead of a stupid police inspector clumsily tracing the assassin, a very bright inspector keeps closing the gap while being constantly frustrated by the refusal of the Gestapo to share any information. He believes he is tracing a murderer rather than a threat to state security. Although Garden of Beasts has the expected spy, counterspy, and betrayal tropes, this competent but hamstring investigation adds significant tension to the story.

Further, instead of the typical James Bond-style romantic liaison, there is a point where an attractive German woman affirms: “I’d rather share my country with ten thousand killers than to share my bed with one.” (p. 325) Deaver refuses to position all Germans as either helpless or villains. Rather, this rather strong woman and other characters (including the persistent police inspector), there is always a glimmer of hope that this monstrous situation would not last and Germany would be returned to sanity and culture.

In some ways, Garden of Beasts is a typical thriller, but it is the human touch and the cinematic deftness of the author’s perspective that keeps one turning pages. It is certainly a work of fiction, but the verisimilitude of the human experience resonates profoundly. In addition to depictions of actual historical figures, even the fictitious characters are real (even though, in the words of Elie Wiesel with regard to fictional events, “…are true, even thoughthey never happened.”).
historical-fiction thriller3 s Strawberry Fields224 51

I have been a fan of Jeffery Deaver for quite a while. I love his Lincoln Rhyme series and he has also written Kathryn Dance and some stand alone novels. They are always in the crime/thriller genre. So I was at the library picking up books that I currently had on hold and was perusing the shelves for books by authors that always a win for me and stumbled across this book and checked it out on a whim.

As I first started reading this book I really didn't think I would it because it was not what I expected at all. I read the first couple of chapters more than once because I wasn't getting into it and kept thinking maybe I was missing something. I almost just closed the book and putting it the pile of completed books to go back to the library unread. One night I decided to give it a good go, so I plowed through, and I am so glad I did. By the third chapter and beyond I was riveted.

This book is so different from Deaver's consistent style I was thoroughly impressed with this divergent gem. As I was rating this book I see that it is given overall less than 4 stars, and I can't imagine why. To me, this is Deaver's work I have read, and I have read a lot of his books.

It is set in Germany at the time of the Olympics in 1936 and a hit man has been confronted by our government. He has a choice. He can go to prison for the multiple murders he has perpetrated or he can accept and offer to have his record expunged, be paid a nice hefty fee and live out his life. In exchange he assassinate a high ranking government official in Germany close to Hitler, the one who is in charge of mobilizing Hitler's new army. No one took Hitler seriously as a leader, but this guy was considered a threat. The hit man, Paul, was of course privately funded since technically our government couldn't be involved in such a plight and the Olympics was a perfect to carry out the deed since so many foreigners would be in Germany for the games. The story is cat and mouse. When Paul starts discovering the real truth of the magnitude of Hitler's plan and insanity it becomes less of a job to do and more of a moral mission. The threat of him being discovered or being reported to SS is ever present and it seems very few people are trustworthy, and there are a few he has to trust to give him the information he needs and the arms to carry out the deed. There are so many things going on with all the characters in this story is intriguing. The characters are so well developed and intensely passionate either for or against what Hitler is doing in their country that we see a different side of Germany and how so many people were fooled into believing that Hitler was a messiah, not the crazed loon that he actually was. At this point in Germany, there were still plenty of people who knew him for he was, but the slow seduction of the people was already in place, and Hitler controlled the children. You imprint a certain system ideology to the kids and teach in school what you want them to know and you have their loyalty, regardless of how the parents feel. It was in this way that Hitler was able to rise to power, by reaching the children first. Paul is appalled by what he sees and now what was a job has become a personal mission.

I highly recommend this book. It is still in the thriller genre but NOT what you would expect from Deaver. I was pleasantly surprised. To say it once again, I believe this is Deaver's best work.2 s Ed896 118

I'm not so sure that Deaver shouldn't stick to his Lincoln Rhyme/Amelia Sachs novels. They are so much better than his other efforts.

This story started off as a two star effort at best, ended as a four star offering hence the three stars I gave it.

I'm not sure why I endured through the almost childish early part of the story. I guess I'm a sucker for WW II novels, especially if they involve intrigue.

Staged against the backdrop of the preparation for the 1936 Olympics, the protagonist Paul Schumann, is a hitman with a heart of gold. He only rubs out people who God mistakenly put on earth. As he tries to carry out his assignment, assassinating Reinhard Ernst, the man in charge of Germany's military build-up, a deed which will clear him of all his past crimes, he is constantly put in the position of making choices that cause him problems.

Throughout the book, he is pursued by Willi Kohl, Germany's premier detective, as a murder suspect. He also becomes a target of the entire German police establishment when it is discovered what he's in Germany to do. He also manages to fall in love with his landlady and hook up with a con-man who saves his life on more than one occasion.

As always with Deaver's books, the plot has a great number of twists and surprises. I would suggest that the plotting is the real strength of this story and wanting to know "what happens next" is what kept me going early in the book.

Much the background of a painting, the evils of Nazism are portrayed as a never-ending theme. In the end, we discover who are really the "good guys" and the "bad guys" but it's not always clear in the middle of the book.

I cannot unreservedly recommend a book of 542 pages as a quick read but once you get into it, I suspect you will want to finish it quickly, if for no other reason, than to unravel the plot. reviewed spy-political-thriller4 s Huaerzeng Suobao2

Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver is an extremely thrilling read. Originally, I was searching the shelves at my local library for Chalice of Blood by Peter Tremayne, when at the corner of my eye, I see a book with a small swastika logo. Interested, I gravitate towards the book and read the summary. The book is about a “button-man” named Paul. I how Deaver uses a slang to a hit-man. It gives a lighter tone to a dark occupation. Paul only assassinates other mobsters, all while claiming he’s merely “correcting God’s mistakes.” While on the surface Paul’s mentality may seem excusable, heroic even. This ideology brings up the question, “what gives you the right to choose who dies and who lives?” This type of “righteous” killing and brilliant tactics piques the interest of the government, and they ask Paul to become a covert agent, infiltrate Germany as a sports writer for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and “touch off” (kill) one of Germany’s and Hitler’s most important man. If he accepts, Paul will be pardoned and get the financial means to restore his life. If he refuses, his fate will be the electric chair.

With such an intense summary, I knew the book would be good, but the thrilling rush of adrenaline I got while reading the book was amazing. Deaver creates a vivid cat-and-mouse chase between Paul, the man he's to kill and a detective that realizes PaulÂ’s true motives in Germany.
3 s Charles4

This was my first Deaver book and I found it to be a compelling read, perhaps because of my special interest in the events surrounding WW II. Paul Shuman is an American hit man recruited by a group hoping to derail German military preparations for war despite the limitations imposed on Germany after WW I by the Versailles Treaty. Sent to Germany under the cover of the American Olympic delegation, he is charged with assassinating the mastermind of the German rearmament. After arriving in Germany just prior to the opening of the 1936 Olympics, Shuman encounters a series of mishaps, including the assassination of his undercover contact and being pursued by both the Gestapo and the German civil police. The plot takes numerous twists and turns before a surprising final twist when all seems about to be lost. The author succeeds in creating fascinating characters and provides thoughtful insights into their thoughts and perspectives thorough a chaotic and historic period in Germany and the world. I look forward to sampling other books from this author.3 s Jaksen1,442 72

Great book. Great read. Worth the time. Set in 1936 Germany, as that nation prepares for war, (though pretending not to be), and against the backdrop of the Olympics, there are references throughout which are true to the events of the period. The MC is great, not perfect, but very able, and the cast of characters around him are realistic, non-stereotypic, and range from good people trying to live through horrific times to the truly sadistic, many of whom rose to power. There are plot twists; action; great descriptions; a love story; and insight into what drove the men who drove Germany to such a twisted and evil climax that it all had to come crumbling down. But of course, a lot of that's in the future, the 'stuff' we readers know that Paul Schumann, MC, and those around him do not.

I love Jeffery Deaver's books. I need to read more of them. He is def. going on my list.3 s Karen567 15

This stand alone novel is quite different from the other Deaver I have read. Set against the backdrop of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, an American mob hit man is hired to "eliminate" someone in Hitler's inner circle. But there is a complicating "accidental" murder. One of the few remaining honest, hard working German detectives who has not bought into Nazism, is assigned to that case, and finds himself possibly in out of his depth. Meanwhile, the sympathetic hit man is having his own misadventures. Who may be connected to whom? Read it and find out!3 s Marti1,759 22

I was used to the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver, but this book was a pleasure to read. For some reason, I am fascinated by World War II, and though fictional, there was a terrific feeling of what it would have been to be in Berlin at the time of the Olympics. It is very strange to be rooting for a killer, but Paul Schumann was sent to do a righteous act. The civil policeman Kohl is an intelligent and interesting character. Ernst is portrayed as both a loving grandfather, and a ruthless, inhuman person. This book is over 500 pages, but worth it. =====3 s Jessica Buzzard245 6

Rounded up to 3.52021-reading-challenge3 s Lilanthi115

I am a big fan of Lincoln Rhyme adventures...but the tactics began to get a wee bit predictable.Plus,History is not a subject I or know much about..so I picked this book with doubt,but I'm so glad I did..cos'I really enjoyed it.
Jeffry Deaver, the amazing master of plots and schemes and criminal investigations does it again!
Paul Schumann..the button man...has to accomplish the mission of correcting God's mistakes in Berlin.
While a lowly Inspector Whilly Kohle with surprising knack and foresight..tries to track him down.
The background is the Olympics in Germany...Hitler and his stooges...persecution of innocents..preparation for world war II
The whole story with all its action, epic twists and turns, dangers and betrayals...span over just 2-3 days!
Amazing story!

An intersting quote I want to record:-
“He was the Michelangelo in the art of hoarding credit, plundering glory and deflecting blame.” page 483 referring to Police Chief Himmler..which so reminds me of contemporary beasts!2 s Linda Hart746 175

Almost 4 stars, but really a "guy book" with fast moving, if unbelievable, storyline. Not especially well written. There is another book, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, by Erik Larson. That is the book I thought I was picking up at the library & it is supposed to be fantastic. I will read it, but will have to wait as it has 13 holds on it before my name.2 s Owlsinger340

An excellent look into the lives of "everyday" people caught up in the webs of spying and denouncements, black market dealings and smuggling, and the difficulties of just surviving as the National Socialists consolidate their political, military, and even municipal powers under Hitler et al. Set in the run-up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Deaver manages to work in a couple of the U.S.' star athletes as an undercover operation unfolds. Great pacing and suspenseful storytelling. 2 s AbeAuthor 9 books9


A good story. The setting is Germany in 1936. Although a work of fiction, the author provides good insight about living conditions during HitlerÂ’s rise to power. The story if full of intrigue and keeps the pages turning. I highly recommend it.
2 s Michael Strahlman62 2

My favorite JD book. An interesting and believable insight into Nazi Germany. Particularly heartbreaking was the scene where the protagonist sees the officers leading the boys into the chamber.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review2 s Conrad176 2

A departure for Deaver, but there is no departure from his excellent writing. He is unmatched in his ability to tell a story.2 s Barb988 21

I loved this book. It kept you guessing and on edge until the last page! pretty realistic, i loved it!2018 cd fiction ...more2 s Shreerag Plakazhi174 8

Standard boilerpot thriller with enough substance to keep you interested. Jeffery Deaver is a master.easy-reads2 s Grada (BoekenTrol)1,978 3

It occurs, that in 2015 I have read the Dutch version of this book already. Its title was 'Burning Ice'. Loved it, that's for sure.

Here's my ten cents on the book: If I weren't already a huge fan of Jeffery Deaver, I absolutely would be after reading this book.

It is something completely different, compared to the other books by him I've read, but very interesting. Whether the plot (American hitman is hired/forced to try to assasinate a high-ranked German officer) is plausible, I don't know. Maybe in mordern times, but I'm not sure if things that were done in the late 1930's.
Nevertheless this book is great: the description of the stmosphere, of how ordinary people live their lives in pre-war Germany; the tension is nearly tangible while reading.
This is how I imagine live back then would have been.

Absolutely recommended!bookcrossing crime-thrillers-espionage dutch_language ...more1 Tom Walsh683 16

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