two words: space elevator....

short plot description: in the not so far future a very determined engineer wants to build Earth's first space elevator on the site were about 2000 years earlier a king build another marvel of engineering but has to overcome many obstacles, both scientific and political...

my thoughts: Clarke at his best. Science is sound as always but also presented in a non-boring fashion, the subplot regarding the building of the palace 2000 years early is interesting, the characters don't annoy me in the way they sometimes do in a Clarke novel. Only the subplot regarding alien visitors (similar to the first Rama) feels tacked on and it seems to me that Clarke used this device only for some preaching of his opinions.

All in all a very good book for everyone who likes science based sci-fi