3001 The Final Odyssey

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not exciting
Review: If you read 2001, 2010, 2061 you have to read 3001. Some interesting questions are raised but there is little excitment and it is not overly imaginative. The ending was disappointing, similar to a recent, highly publicized, sci-fi movie. A quick, calm, comfortable read.

Rating:
Summary: Better than 2061, weak ending though.
Review: If you read the others in the series, then you will want to read this one as well. If not, then read the others first, or this will make no sense. I enjoyed his weaving of many ideas from other Clarke stories. The ending was very weak tough, never resolving the central questions of the other books: Who build the Monoliths? Where are they now? Will mankind ever take a place with them? (as to the last, Mr. Clarke seems to think not.) Recycling HAL and Dave Bowman was not bad, and thawing Frank Poole was a great device for spanning the time between books. Clarke remains one of the great SciFi writers and this book does his historic reputation no harm.

Rating:
Summary: A pitiful ending to an otherwise fantastic series
Review: 3001: The Final Odyssey is a simply horrible ending to what has been one of the greatest series in science fiction. By answering nearly all of the questions and tying up neatly all the loose ends from 2001 et. al., this book effectively destroys that wonderful sense of mystery and intrigue that was the heart of what made the other three Odysseys such wonderful books. It's a similar effect to if the X-Files suddenly revealed all of its secrets, except the Odysseys are longer running (and, in my opinion, even better). Also I was hoping to finally see HAL return (after his disconnection in 2001 and abandonment around Jupiter in 2010), but instead all we get is this awful quasi-Dave Bowman who's really rather uninteresting as Clarke's characters go. I did like the long vision of the future in this; I always like to see the perspectives on it of great authors like Clarke, but it takes up far too much of the book to be significant (only about half of 3001 is actually concerned with the plot; the other half is just Poole's experiences with the future). Finally I thought the plot in general of Poole returning was a bit weak; surely Arthur C. Clarke could have invented something more imaginative than that dime-novel trash. Overall I think 3001 was a pathetic ending to what has been one of the greatest series in science fiction history, and wish Clarke had simply left well enough alone with 2061 and not destroyed the whole core of the series with this trash

Rating:
Summary: Clarke's End
Review: What I've always admired about Arthur C. Clarke's writing is the sheer poetry he managed to meld so successfully with the narrative. The city glowing like a jewel on the desert in "The City and the Stars." The arrival of our primal fears in "Childhood's End." The wonder of the artifact in "Rendevouz with Rama." Sadly, most of the poetry and the wonder was missing from his later, collaborative books. And although Clarke's physical difficulties have prevented him from writing more single-author novels in the past few years, I wish he had passed on authorship of 3001 to someone else. Then I would have been able to remember him from his past triumphs. Although 3001 would have rated a 7 or 8 from a lessor author, from the past master it is a 3 at best. The narrative is rudely broken by what must be Clarke's thoughts of the world at present. Circumcision and religion may play a valid point in any novel, but the way they are addressed in 3001 reminds me more of Gernsback's polemeic Ralph 124C41+ than it does of the Clarke I look forward to reading. His opinions interrupt the narrative and do so in a way that doesn't advance the story line. Unforgivable in an author of his stature. Most of his 40-year-old short stories evoke more of a sense of wonder than this novel does. The mind "sees" the printed words in a book. 3001 requires significant allowance for myopia and astigmatism. Wait for the paperback. Or better yet, wait for the Sci-Fi Channel adoption of the book. It couldn't be worse. Unfortunately, it might even be better.

Rating:
Summary: "The Final Odyssey?"--I'd like more!
Review: This novel may not be as action packed as previous works, but Arthur C. Clarke again demonstrates his craft of placing the human spirit, emotions, desires, and faults into a culture and time of technology far advanced. It is not the speculative technologies that capture the reader but how the human experience remains true no matter the time frame. I highly recommend 3001: The Final Odyssey along with the entire body of work by Arthur C. Clarke

Rating:
Summary: Was this sequel really necessary?
Review: I remember 9 years ago and upon finishing reading 2061: Odyssey 3, my reaction was the whole book was Clarkes answer to the challenge of using the characters of the original novel to the last one -- in that case it was the 100+ year old Haywood Floyd. Now Clarke has went a step beyond, he is reviving dead charaters to play along. The Author reminds us again that like the other Odyssey sequels this book takes place in a somewhat different universe than the others, Haywood is now gone - I guess that answers my question about how necessary are these sequels. And again, all the mystic traces that have made 2001 (the book and the movie) what it is have been wiped out. The ending, oh boy! I was under the impression the makers of the monoliths would at least include a good version of ...., er, a certain utility familiar to all computer user,.... . Clarke himself seems apologetic about the silly ending in the books notes (if it is one indeed - who knows if he is considering an "Odyssey: The Next Generation" series). I'm not gonna kid any Clarke fans, go get the book. Others will be happier watching 2001 again.

Rating:
Summary: So far so good
Review: The book so far has followed a Clarke tradition of carefully yet vaguely describing an odd scenario that probably will not exist. I will finish this book as soon as possible given the well done story setup

Rating:
Summary: Disjointed addition to the classic series...
Review: Some of the scenery was very well depicted, but on the whole I found the latest iteration of the 2001 series disappointing.
There was little of Clark's characteristic technological speculation, despite the huge opportunity the setting offere. In fact this was eclipsed by the novel's sociological crystal ball gazing, which was actually a high point that could have been further developed. The lack of scientific depth was worsened by annoying references to popular science and (worse) culture from our times...
In addition the formidable alien devices and transhuman protagonists he had built up in the first two books were somewhat cheapened in this novel, which was far too short.
Still, it wasn't as bad as 2063 and I'll be first in line for 4001 when the time comes...

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately, the monliths are beginning to show their age.
Review: The best part of the book are the first few pages and the last page. The mystical mystery has faded into space noise. The guy HAL killed gets unfrozen and spends the whole book on catching up with what he missed in the past 1000 years. Still remember "Childhoods End" as the all time greatest sf ever written.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant visit with old friends.
Review: A nice new chapter to the saga, albeit a short one when you consider a couple chapters are rehashed from earlier books. As a fan it was nice to see the old characters again. An interesting look at the future but by no means ground breaking. Mr. Clarke seems to like his early stories a lot to keep revisiting them (the several Rama books and 2001 sequels). For someone not familiar with the series, I would give it a 2. A good read for fans.