2010: Odyssey Two

Rating:
Summary: A tremendous tale- superior to 2001
Review: I reread this novel for the third time recently and enjoyed it every bit as much as I had the first two times. 2001 is more famous and the movie is far better known, but 2010 is my favorite sci-fi book outside Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.

My interest in learning about our solar system exploded after reading this novel. It is incredibly intriguing, you can visualize Jupiter and its moons up close, but you really are just dying to see them yourself. I feel like its such a tease, this is as close as I will ever get to experiencing the king of our solar system.

The descriptions of Europa are still highly accurate and you can't help but wonder how true the novel might really be. The ending was fantastic and quite unexpected, I really didn't see it coming.

What makes 2010 great I guess is the pacing. If there is any semblance of a "slow" part, it would be the beginning. After that the novel takes off and cannot be put down.

Best of all, 2010 does not have any of the mindbending trippy stuff that was at the end of 2001. I was quite thankful for that.

2061 and 3001 are also good reads, but it is 2010 that stands above the rest in Clarke's spectacular four part odyssey. I doubt that you'll be disappointed, and if you liked 2001, I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A followup on the first book
Review: I must admit, 2010 is a very interesting book.

The book seems to be more interested in explaning its cryptic predecessor rather than being its own book with its own storyline. The author apparantly wanted to leave the reader in wonder by leaving open many parts of the first book.

Rating:
Summary: Awsome
Review: 2010 is a great book; I couldn't put it down. It leaves you thirsty for more, and you just can't enough. If you have seen the movie then you will have a very good idea what is going on, but don't let that stop you from reading the book, because it is still even better then the movie. The movie to me was better then 2001 and so the book 2010 is just outstanding. I suggest that you read 2010 and get it for your collection because it is a classic in the SciFi genre.

Rating:
Summary: Best in the Series
Review: 2010 is better than the first book, in my opinion. The end is extremely fascinating and it adds much volume to the characters, especially the entity formerly know as Dave Bowman. It also explains much. His descriptions make the ice planet Europa interesting. Unfortunately, the last two in the series don't match this.

Rating:
Summary: 2010 not excellent, but still a good book
Review: This book is an indirect sequal to the original 2001 published in the 60's, but it was still a good book anyway. 2010 was about a joint effort between the US and USSR to study the enigma of the black monolith found by Io in 2001, and learn more about HAL's malfunction. The book seemed to drag on and on through the middle with little surprises here and there, but the surprises still made it worthy enough to wait until the big surprise in the end. The ultimate transformation of the king of the planets would open up the door for its much better sequal 2061. However, 2010 is still worth the time taken to read it, and still makes a much better science fiction book than most. I recomend it, especially if you are interested in the entire "Space Odyssey" series.

Rating:
Summary: The return of HAL 9000 and David Bowman!!!!!!!!
Review: This book is awesome, a great sequel to 2001:A Space Odyssey! Extremely scary, suspensful, exciting, and interesting, this book is a great read! This book is about an expedition to reach Discovery and, if possible, to bring it back to Earth. Discovery is the spaceship that David Bowman and Frank Poole used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. This ship was controlled by a super-computer, named HAL 9000. Read 2001:A Space Odyssey for more details. On this expedition, they fix HAL 9000 and he is now functional. There are lots of weird things that happen like contact with the Japanese spaceship Tsien, and DAVID BOWMAN RETURNS!!!!! If you want to read more, read 2010:Odyssey Two!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Very exciting!
Review: This book was very exciting and suspensful. I enjoyed it more than 2001 because it had more action.

I look forward to reading 2061.

Rating:
Summary: [Almost] among the greatest of science fiction.
Review: I hesitate between 5 and 4 stars for this book, but for the epilogue alone I have to give it 5. 2001 is one of my favorite books of all time, but I've never even made it through the entire movie, and I would have preferred it had Clarke chosen to make this book a sequel to the novel 2001 rather than the film. Still, the inconsitencies between the two novels can be forgiven, and there's a lot about this book I truly love.

There's much more room here for interaction between various characters than in 2001, and the American/Russian dynamic is both intriguing and entertaining -- and surprisingly optimistic from a Cold War writer. If the sweeping, universal themes of 2001 by far outmatch the climax of 2010, the simpler theme of life coming of age on another world hits a little closer to home. Clarke's surest move is in not attempting to duplicate the lonley and mysterious atmosphere of 2001, which is what really made that book for me -- instead he maintains a clearer, more obvious tone, but one that works better for this novel.

The book only falters seriously in the fourth part, when the author becomes seriously sidetracked by the chemical composition of Jupiter. No offense to Carl Sagan, but I DON'T CARE! Still, it doesn't go on long enough to drive the reader away from the book forever, so it's forgivable.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Far out! Outta this world!
Review: A great sequel to 2001. Good job, Mr. Clarke! I loved this book more than Harry Potter!

Rating:
Summary: A Great book, but no contest with 2001.
Review: First off, I would like to state that I was disappointed with Arthur Clarke's decision to make the book a sequel to the movie instead of to the novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The novel version is somewhat more interesting and complex and should have been the base for the sequel. That said, 2010 is a great book, although slow at times. There are many revelations about the nature of the monolith and it's new creations of Hal 9000 and Dave Bowman, while at the same time creating more questions than are answered. A novel worthy of Arthur Clarke.