3001 The Final Odyssey

Rating:
Summary: Drfter from beyand
Review: Forgoten, but still alive comes Frank Pool who Drifts endlessly in the darkness of space. Comes a novel which stands alone. I have never read the other odysseys before, but I can tell that this odyssey realy picks up were 2001 left off. Frank now must catch up with currient evens before faceing the ananomy one last time. This book does not need the other odysseys as what I hear of and takes us on the advenhure one last time.

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Summary: worst book ever written
Review: Whenever people around me are talking about bad books, I bring this one up and say that it is the worst book ever written. Still not convinced that it's bad? Consider this. I'm an Arthur C. Clarke fan!!!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting conclusion to the series, a bit light on plot.
Review: I agree with some of the other reviews which claims that the plot is pretty light--almost non-existent. However, I rather liked the book, his treatment of religion is worth the price by itself. The technological details were pretty fascinating, as usual, but overall I guess I'd have to say 2061 made a better ending to the 2001 series. If I look at 3001 as a stand-alone book, it seems much more fulfilling.

Rating:
Summary: Great view of tomorrow, but poor to the series...
Review: Author Arther C. Clarke exhibits a wonderfuly vivid look into tomorrow with outstanding concepts and ideas that when really given the time to think about, make sense. However, I believe Mr. Clarke looses track of the story many times, and when he finaly gets back to the point he tries to make, he does it in a quick like gesture. Overal, a disapointing book to end the "Odyssy" series, but a marvelous look into the third millineum.

Rating:
Summary: 3 stars for science fiction; only 1 for a logical plot.
Review: It is a millenium after the original 2001 saga that featured poorly communicative monolithic slabs of extraterrestrial technology causing havoc to an ill-fated spaceship on a voyage to Jupiter. Well, those monoliths are making trouble again. This time they are out to destroy the solar system, or at least the humans who inhabit it. But the technologically inferior humans try to outsmart their digital adversary with ancient computer viruses produced by terrorists with an adolescent mindset. Ignore the problem of operating system compatibility; the real leap of faith involves how the program is uploaded to the monoliths' server's cpu.

Rating:
Summary: Nice try at reliving the glory days
Review: I found this book too far fetched, even for the grand imagination that I have. The plot was too focused on the human aspects of Frank Poole and not focused enough on the thing that made the 2000 series great -- the monolith. It seems to me that Clarke expended too much energy on introspection and human drama. The fabricated plot surrounding the Monolith seems like it was put in there to give a semblance of credibility to the fact that this story really shouldn't take place. All in all a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: A little dissapointing...
Review: 3001 would probably have been allright as a stand-alone, but it read like Clarke didn't really have anything left to say about the monoliths. All through the book, I was thinking, "OK, this is all interesting: all the future predictions and gadgets, but when do we get to the monolith?!?" I really got interested when they discovered the monolith's plans, but nothing ever came of it. They had ONE meeting about it where they figured out how to solve the issue (trying not to give anything away to anyone who hasn't read it), Frank had ONE conversation with Dave and they implemented their solution. I thought the humans were going to get into a real good conflict with the monolith, but instead all I got was that weak spectacle at the end when the monolith was defeated. So basically, interesting view of the future, but Clarke seemed to be trying too hard to fit it into the 2001 series.

Rating:
Summary: Flat characters, major inconsistencies, flat ending
Review: **WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED 2061, THERE MIGHT BE A SPOILER OR TWO WITHIN THE REVIEW** 3001 is NOT a masterpiece. No, it is not absolutely terrible, but fans of the odyssey series are sure to hate it. That is because of the major, simply unignorable inconsistencies that contradict the other books that this book has. The very weak plot and out-of-the-blue, anticlimatic ending does not help, either. The premise of the novel sounds quite intriguing: Frank Poole, the famous astronaut in 2001 who was presumably killed by HAL, actually survives in a "frozen before actual death" state, drifting away from the solar system, almost a thousand years hence. The plot of the book sets itself up, and proceeds, immediately. Frank Poole is dicovered in the first few pages, and, with the enormous databases of information that the year 3001 has, is identified immediately. He is treated, and told what has happened to him as quickly as possible (page 18). Thus, Frank is truly a time-traveler, and the ideas that this premise leaves suggests intriguing possibilities. Frank, experiencing no culture-shock, finds out how society has advanced: the colonization and terraforming of Venus, needle-like towers that sprout from the earth into space where people live, the Internet access through the mind, and more. The problem that many people may have with this novel, however, is that this is, in essence, the entire plot. Frank represents us; he is a cardboard character that is viewing the world a thousand years hence, and that is all he really does. After a while, this could get boring. And what about Dave, HAL, and Floyd? Floyd does not even make an appearance in this book, Dave and HAL have been severely cheapened. The star-child originally had the ability to travel anywhere through time and space at complete free will (his time-travelling abilities can be evidenced in 2010). Now, Dave--now fused with HAL, cannot travel faster than the speed of light. There are other, even greater inconsistencies that render this book not a true sequel to the former novels, but an independent story that borrows many elements from the previous sagas. Characterisation is weak, of course, but Clarke normally compensates for this by creating a good story. The story, however, is far from great. It goes nowhere until the third quarter, and then, when events appear to become exciting, the story shortly fizzles afterward. There are other ways in which Clarke has, in the past, compensated for weak characters. One way, for example, is to characterise a supercomputer (HAL), turning a "mere" inanimate object into a complex character. Another way to show a charcter coming through is when an extraordinary event has happened to him. When Frank finds out what happened to Dave, that could be considered an extraordinary event. But Clarke does not take advantage of this opportunity to show Mr. Poole as more than just a cardboard cutout. Where is the shocked reaction, the dismay, and the disbelief? Where is the "this just can't be happening!" feeling? Making a crude paraphrase of Frank's genuine reaction: "This is what happened to him? I don't believe it! Amazing! I hope I can try to contact him." That's it! Frank is equally one-dimensional when he actually MEETS his old commander. No tears, no incredulity, etc. This book could have been so much better, so much more complex. Instead it leaves something that is much to be desired.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, but not the best of Arthur C. Clarke
Review: I love Arthur C. Clarke, I think he is the best writer in the world. This book is soft, and easy to read, but is not the best title, Arthur C. Clarke have a lot of other books. My sugestion buy this book, read this book, but buy others Arthur C. Clarke books. You will love.

Rating:
Summary: I want my money back.
Review: The book was joke. AC Clarke should have saved his energy...but what the hell. He made money.