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From Library Journal
In this fourth and final book in a 30-year publishing odyssey (following 2001, 2010, and 2061), 2001 astronaut Frank Poole, presumed dead and adrift in deep space near Jupiter, is recovered alive in the year 3001. Intent on saving humanity, he returns to Jupiter's satellite, Europa, to contact partner Dave Bowman, whose mind has become absorbed by a third monolith. Unfortunately, Clarke uses this book as a vehicle to showcase scientific ideas and breakthroughs at the expense of the story, spending too much time catching up Poole on what he's missed in the last 1000 years while failing to develop fully the current situation and rushing the conclusion. Recommended only to complete the quartet.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
At the opening of the third millennium, humanity is spreading
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Captain Dimitri Chandler [M2973.04.21/93.106//Mars//SpaceAcad3005]-or "Dim" to his very best friends-was understandably annoyed. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Captain Dimitri Chandler [M2973.04.21/93.106//Mars//SpaceAcad3005]-or "Dim" to his very best friends-was understandably annoyed. Read the first page
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
The worst book I've ever read,
By
This review is from: 3001 The Final Odyssey (Mass Market Paperback)
The reason science-fiction exists is largely to comment on modern issues by placing them in a sci-fi context (well, that and the neat-o laser guns), but this book goes so overboard. There really isn't any story, David Poole's character isn't memorable enough to be even a cliche, the science is foolish. Instead it's mostly David Poole wandering around what Mr. Clarke considers to be a utopia. Basically it's an excuse for Mr. Clarke to deliver self-righteous sermons about the 20th century, that are unfailingly childish and annoying. For example, nobody in the future is religious, they even shrink from the mention of god. The reason why is because a past pope released secret church documents on the cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition. People around the world were so shocked at the hypocricy that they simultaneously gave up on religion. I remember another utopia of Clarke's in Childhood's End, where racial difficulties were ended by black people being commonly referred to with a certain racial epithet, but not complaining about it. Both these examples are childish, offensive, and don't even make any sense - how did they make it past an editor? I read this book because I enjoyed the author when I was very young. Now I know better, and believe this to be the worst book I've ever read, by an author who has no real talents other than milking his association with Stanley Kubrick's 2001.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Skip it,
By
This review is from: 3001 The Final Odyssey (Mass Market Paperback)
If Arthur C. Clarke had ended his 2001 series as a trilogy with the fine 2061: Odyssey 3, I would have been OK with that. I say that now. I didn't say that then. Then, I desperately wanted to know what happened next. Now, I'd rather forget.I pre-ordered this book many, many years ago thanks to a coupon I found inside my PC game Rama. That's how much of a diehard fan I was. (The book still arrived weeks after it was released!) I read The Final Odyssey in three days, three days of waiting for something monumental to happen. When it finally did, it was a "that's it?" moment. I said to my friends, "I think Clarke's lost it. I think it's time to retire." They advised me to write him a fan letter expressing my disappointment with his Final Odyssey. I said no. Why put the man through that? (I will first let you know that, like previous installments such as 3001, Clarke has ret-conned certain events so they no longer happen when they originally did. Since, when he wrote the book, it was obvious we wouldn't have a moon mission in 2001, he pushed all dates further into the future.) In 3001, the origin of the monoliths is finally clarified. They were planted here by a spacefaring species who promote intelligence everywhere, in the hopes of improving the odds of survival. We pretty much knew this from previous books. We did not need this spelled out. However, the monoliths are machines, and as such, they can break down. Millions of years later, the corpse of Frank Poole (from the first book) is discovered and brought back to life. Yes, in the countless empty cubic parsecs of space, they found a needle in the haystack. If you can swallow that tale, then bringing a 1000 year old cadaver back to life shouldn't be a stretch. The next few chapters of the book are spent acclimating Mr. Poole to the year 3001 and all the wonderful advances we will make by then. Clarke revisits many ideas that he promoted decades earlier, such as space elevators. Much of this felt very similar to the previous Clarke solo work, The Hammer of God, which I felt was superior to 3001. However, all is not well. The monolith (now capable of only slower-than-light communication, contradicting David Bowman's journey in the first book) has reported back to its masters, that humans are not worthy of survival. The monolith, therefore must be destroyed. With the help of Halman (the fused personalities of HAL and Bowman) who resides in the monolith, they plan on infecting it with...computer viruses. That's right. Halman is infected in the process, and somehow stored for a future time if we ever discover how to disinfect him. And so our tale ends, with the alien monolith masters knowing what has happened and deciding to grant us a reprieve until "the last days". The book ends with a resounding thud. Clearly, everything that was needed to be said was said in the first three books. Final Odyssey unfortunately tarnishes an otherwise fine series with an unnecessary anticlimatic ending. 2 stars. Only worth reading if you're diehard.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Space Oddessy 3001,
This review is from: 3001 The Final Odyssey (Mass Market Paperback)
I bought this book for my 17 yr old son who has read all the previous books in the series. He loved the others but tells me this one wasn't as good. In his opinion it didn't have the magic of the ones that came before it.
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