Rating: 
Summary: Terrible Odyssey
Review: This book doesn't conclude the series at all. I got to the end, and thought, "This can't be the end." It isn't that bad of a book, but goes nowhere, instead just mentioning predictions and techno-wiz wonders that could be in the future, but gives no explanation. You can't figure out what half of the things are, until characters use them enough it becomes obvious. There could be a lot of possible continuations of this plot, and it stopped in the middle. This is just the first half of the story! It doesn't even end, just breaks off with the future ahead. I was expecting something to happen, but it didn't. Sure, it explained everything that happened later, but that was all it was, having no plot line at all.
Rating: 
Summary: good way to end the series
Review: I finished reading the last of the series in about two days and have decided that it is an ok book. It is not like the first three books that ACC wrote but I don't think any author tries to make his/her books like a previous one. It is a good read and can keep a readers interests. A comment to the other reviewers of this book...I find it amazing that you have such limited minds when it comes to sci-fi. Upon reading your comments I can tell that you can only see maybe one or two years in the future. Why are the genetic ideas set forth in this book so unbelievable, we are starting on cloning right now. As for the comment about circumcision in a review..when you think about it. If an alien saw us today I can imagine their horror at seeing how we cut ourselves in order to promote hygine. If you look at current opinions of doctors, circumcision is unneccesary in today's modern society. I cannot see this practice surviving till 3001 either. I saw nothing in this novel that was far fetched. It is only far fetched if you keep your mind locked in 20th century thinking. I suspect that we as a civilization will accomplish the technological and medical concepts of this book way before 3001 and a whole lot more!
Rating:
Summary: A Wretched Waste Of Time
Review: 3001 is a thin little book which spends 80% of the time marvelling at all the technological achievements made since 2001. Almost zero attention is devoted to the mystery of the monolith, actual characterization is marginal at best, provocative theological questions are quickly mentioned then ignored, major developments are summarized in a trivial second-hand fashion totally bereft of any depth--and the ending is manages to be arrogant, simplistic AND boring at the same time. It's pretty clear dollar signs were dancing in ACC's head when he wrote this claptrap. He should have titled the book "3001: All Right I Wrote Another One--Now Quit Bothering Me"
Rating:
Summary: Oh man, hold your nose!
Review: ACC should have stopped at 2001, a truly great read from one of the best movies of all time. Each book in the series went down from there. This one doesn't even deserve one star! It sucked so hard that I read it in one sitting, since I knew I would never come back to it if I put it down. It is horrendous, no lie!
Rating:
Summary: terrible
Review: This book, to put is plainly, is stupid. Once you get past a few of the interesting concepts that are discussed in the beginning, it becomes a chore to read the book. 2061, although not fantastic, was a solid conclusion to possibly the greatest science fiction epic of all time. Clarke has tarnished the series with the publication of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Embarrassing
Review: This book doesn't deserve even 1 star. It is at such an opposite extreme of quality to the original novel, one must assume that Arthur Clarke didn't really write it. Astronauts coming back from the dead? Circumcision? Computer viruses locked in a vault in the moon? Please. Beyond stupid. The only -- and not even remotely saving -- grace was a few interesting ideas about what future technology might look like.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Never mind the other non-discript comments,this fourth part is good. A trip back to Clarke at his best.I did'nt put it down.I am not going to bore anyone with self important views, if you liked 2001 etc, you will like this.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: I wouldn't have bothered with this--because I found "2010" also disappointing--except that I thought a contemplation of the next one thousand years might be an appropriate way to celebrate the end of these one thousand years. This book is short on plot and long on sociological and technological speculation. I never read "2061", and I read "2010" and "2001" many years ago, so probably I'm confused, but I expected Frank Poole, the protagonist, to be a man of my time. This would have made his immersion into the future much more satisfying for me. About evolution: it is "unproven" only to the extent everything in science is ultimately, to the extent it is unproven that the earth is an oblate spheroid and not "flat" or that it orbits the sun and not vice versa. There is an enormous body of unambiguous evidence to support evolution. Practically speaking, evolution is a plain fact, not a theory. On the other hand, natural selection, Darwin's supposed motivating force behind evolution IS, properly speaking, a theory, and the "2001" books don't find it adequate to explain evolution entirely. They accept the simple fact of evolution but imagine it guided by a superior intelligence. They have this in common with the dogma of most respectable Christian denominations (in contradistinction to the Evangelists, Fundamentalists, and various other fringe sects). And perhaps there is something in the human psyche that responds to an apocalyptic vision. This supposition might explain the enormous appeal of Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" and his "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the relative lack of appeal of "3001: The Final Odyssey". Recommended: Fred Hoyle's "October the First is Too Late" and his "The Black Cloud".
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment¿
Review: If you've read the previous books you don't need this one. It has a lot of bad surprises. But I'll start from the beginning: The good stuff: I like the idea about the Firstborn, and Clarke's vision of the fourth millenium (here we can still see some of the old Clarke). But that is all. Everything else is bad. The bad stuff: In the valediction, Clarke said that he disregarded some elements of the previous books, but came up with some new elements, probably more important. Unfortunately, he disregarded everything that made the books what they are, everything that made them the best sci-fi books, everything that made them different from the rest. Instead we get a typical Hollywood blockbuster where the good guys always win (it's like making Contact 2, where suddenly the aliens want to destroy the humans, but we have a John Rambo character who's gonna kill them). One of the changes is that Bowman, who previously was a star child, is now a computer emulation in the monolith subsystems. If you remember from the ending of 2061, Bowman and Hal took Heywood Floyd with them, so that he can help them develop intelligent life on Europa. Now we have a completely different situation: it's like they never took Floyd with them, and now the Monolith is developing the life on Europa, while Bowman is only used from time to time to monitor the situation on Earth. Now it seems that he's been awake for only fifty years. And the Monolith, the creator of life, the object powerful enough to destroy an entire planet, is destroyed by a computer virus probably written in c or assembler. I'm sorry, but this just wasn't satisfying revelation and conclusion of the Odyssey series. If you've watched the movies, or read the previous books, you'd certainly expect a more intelligent ending with an idea, that suits the previous stories. I don't see much of the old Clarke here. It's like some cult director, who would accept every change of the script for money, and by doing that he's putting his reputation in question. If you love the previous books, don't read this one. It's better to accept 2061, or even 2010 as the finale.
Rating:
Summary: This book is the worst piece of writing i have read
Review: whatever u do! don't buy this book! It is a total waste of money and you will not enjoy it. Save the money and go eat lunch at McDonalds. At least it will taste good.
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