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midici's review
3.0
It's been 9 years since David Bowman's trip to examine the artifact found hovering near Jupiter. The Monolith was found after and identical (yet smaller) monolith was excavated from the moon - an artifact that sent an undecipherable message to its twin. David and his crew were sent to examine Jupiter and its moon - and though David did not yet know it, the Monolith as well. This mission was almost derailed by the breakdown of the AI Hal who killed off everyone with the exception of Bowman. Bowman did manage to examine the Monolith - and discovered it served as a transport, a sort of warp in time and space that sent him flying though other, lost galaxies and civilizations before transforming him into an entity of pure energy.
This book follows on the heels of the last. A joint team of Russian and American astronauts are tasked with getting to the abandoned ship Discovery, finding out why Hal broke down, and more importantly finding out anything they can about Bowman's disappearance and the Monolith itself.
I was not much interested in the crew interactions, but the plot and descriptions of distant planets as they might be seen up close were great. The team on the ship Leonov plans to be the first there, but they are outstripped by a Chinese ship who made a rather daring decision to pack less fuel than necessary and refuel on Jupiter's moon Europa, a frozen water moon that can be harvested for fuel. Instead the light on the ship attracts life in the form of a large plant-like organism, whose efforts to reach the light end up destroying the ship and killing the crew.
The American/Russian team on Leonov mourn, but are unable to help. They continue on their mission. And this is when we reconnect with Bowman. Bowman has been reborn as a new entity and their presence near the monolith has him returning to Earth's solar system. He explores Earth at the behest of his creators, and takes the time to examine the life on Europa and the life on Jupiter - two of the more imaginative and interesting episodes in the book. The intelligence behind Bowman's transformation are highly evolved beings of energy, not matter, and they work to seed, encourage, and protect intelligent life. To this end they decide to transform Jupiter into a new sun, one that will encourage the life on Europa to grow and evolve.
In reality, turning Jupiter into a sun in a feat of geoengineering would probably put teh entire solar system into a tailspin - it's a large and important presence in our solar system. The book mentions its impact just in terms of light - nocturnal animals dying, permanent areas on Earth that no longer experience night, etc. It does not mention changing orbits of every planetary body due to changes in gravity and mass, but it is fiction.
Through Bowman the humans are sent a message that the new planets are there's to use as they wish - with the exception of Europa which they are not to travel to.
The reason for this is shown in the epilogue, set in the far future, showing the intelligent life in Europa slowly exploring their own world and wondering about what is happening on the planets near them - light and movement as signs of human occupation, and the occasional probe, always destroyed by a monolith, as an attempt to see when they will be allowed to make contact
This book follows on the heels of the last. A joint team of Russian and American astronauts are tasked with getting to the abandoned ship Discovery, finding out why Hal broke down, and more importantly finding out anything they can about Bowman's disappearance and the Monolith itself.
I was not much interested in the crew interactions, but the plot and descriptions of distant planets as they might be seen up close were great. The team on the ship Leonov plans to be the first there, but they are outstripped by a Chinese ship who made a rather daring decision to pack less fuel than necessary and refuel on Jupiter's moon Europa, a frozen water moon that can be harvested for fuel. Instead the light on the ship attracts life in the form of a large plant-like organism, whose efforts to reach the light end up destroying the ship and killing the crew.
The American/Russian team on Leonov mourn, but are unable to help. They continue on their mission. And this is when we reconnect with Bowman. Bowman has been reborn as a new entity and their presence near the monolith has him returning to Earth's solar system. He explores Earth at the behest of his creators, and takes the time to examine the life on Europa and the life on Jupiter - two of the more imaginative and interesting episodes in the book. The intelligence behind Bowman's transformation are highly evolved beings of energy, not matter, and they work to seed, encourage, and protect intelligent life. To this end they decide to transform Jupiter into a new sun, one that will encourage the life on Europa to grow and evolve.
In reality, turning Jupiter into a sun in a feat of geoengineering would probably put teh entire solar system into a tailspin - it's a large and important presence in our solar system. The book mentions its impact just in terms of light - nocturnal animals dying, permanent areas on Earth that no longer experience night, etc. It does not mention changing orbits of every planetary body due to changes in gravity and mass, but it is fiction.
Through Bowman the humans are sent a message that the new planets are there's to use as they wish - with the exception of Europa which they are not to travel to.
The reason for this is shown in the epilogue, set in the far future, showing the intelligent life in Europa slowly exploring their own world and wondering about what is happening on the planets near them - light and movement as signs of human occupation, and the occasional probe, always destroyed by a monolith, as an attempt to see when they will be allowed to make contact
agentnk_'s review
4.0
Better than I expected it to be, enjoyable, but it feels like it's missing something. wrap up of the HAL story line was much more fleshed-out than it was in the movie ( please note i watched the movie first before reading the book)
shadowhelm's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
aoswal's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
missknown's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
unrealpunk's review
3.5
This is a much more human-level typical space adventure than 2001 or Childhood's End, and human-level is not one of Clarke's strengths. (Although I will give him credit for at least attempting a bit more representation in 2010.) 2001 may be on a level that's nearly impossible for a sequel to match, but I was a bit disappointed by the relative lack of imagination, ambition, and polish of 2010. It's like a fictionalized, less awe-inspiring, less poetic version of parts of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, which was published before 2010. If you're contemplating reading 2010 and have never read Cosmos, I'd recommend getting Cosmos first; and the same for Pale Blue Dot. Hopefully 2061 and 3001 will advance the Monolith/Starchild mythology a bit further than this one does.
800slim's review
4.0
a very fine book.
short plot description: set (obviously) nine years after the events in "2001: A space odyssey" a joint crew of russians and americans are on their way to Jupiter to find out what happened to the first expedition...
In this book Clarke almost flawlessly integrates the concepts he wrote about in most of novels: space exploration, extraterrestrial intelligence and the development of mankind.
The science is typical for Clarke both accurate and neatly integrated into the plot and his enthusiasm for space exploration is highly infectious.
Minor flaws: this is not exactly an action-packed space opera and the characters could be better developed.
My advice: if you are new to Clarke read first "2001" and some of his short stories (where he really shines) then come back to this book, some parts do not make sense if you haven't read "2001"
short plot description: set (obviously) nine years after the events in "2001: A space odyssey" a joint crew of russians and americans are on their way to Jupiter to find out what happened to the first expedition...
In this book Clarke almost flawlessly integrates the concepts he wrote about in most of novels: space exploration, extraterrestrial intelligence and the development of mankind.
The science is typical for Clarke both accurate and neatly integrated into the plot and his enthusiasm for space exploration is highly infectious.
Minor flaws: this is not exactly an action-packed space opera and the characters could be better developed.
My advice: if you are new to Clarke read first "2001" and some of his short stories (where he really shines) then come back to this book, some parts do not make sense if you haven't read "2001"
billymac1962's review against another edition
5.0
The first time I read 2010 was around 1987. I know this because that was the year that 2061: Odyssey Three was published in hardcover, and upon finishing 2010, I raced out and bought the new hardcover to read next.
1987 was the time when I began a serious deep dive into science fiction, and reading in general for that matter. I was just out of a relationship that stopped just short of the altar, and my beloved grandparents had just passed away. Reading became an escape for me (it still is, whether things are good or otherwise), and after a colleague had turned me onto a couple of sci-fi favourites, I was severely hooked on the sense of wonderment that the genre could promise.
This series stands out as one of those, and one of my retirement plans was to revisit it. 2001: A Space Odyssey lost nothing over 40 years for me. The sense of wonderment was there in living colour, and I understood the book and movie much better than I had before.
Ditto for 2010. Something I found interesting, but had forgotten about, was the forward where Clarke explains that this book was a sequel to the movie, rather than his novel. Therefore, Saturn was out of the picture. This installment of the series focuses primarily on Jupiter, which now, is something that really enhances the story for me.
You see, I'm a bit obsessed with Jupiter. Always have been. But when the Juno spacecraft sent back mind-blowing photos of the gas giant a few years ago, I became a lot obsessed with it.
Arthur C. Clarke's vision of Jupiter's clouds and storms is of course dated, being 1982 when he wrote this, but despite that, the imagery and imagination he portrays here was something that easily fell in mind with what we now know about it. It's unfortunate that he is no longer with us. I can only imagine the picture he could paint with what those incredible photos show. Regardless, he paints some amazing pictures.
This is what I love about Clarke. I read sci-fi, as I mentioned for a sense of wonderment. But, there are authors out there who are so overly descriptive that it's difficult to get the scope and imagery in your mind before you glaze over. Clarke always had a gift of descriptiveness with a relative economy of words, and would use perfect analogies
that paints a perfect picture and a sense of awe. There have been many nights while in a Clarke novel that I have lain awake visualizing his scenes, particularly from this series and of course, Rendezvous With Rama.
There are still many books of his I haven't read. I have read all of his best, probably, but I believe I will dip into more of his stuff.
But, they will have to wait for my re-read of 2061!
Five stars for the second time.
1987 was the time when I began a serious deep dive into science fiction, and reading in general for that matter. I was just out of a relationship that stopped just short of the altar, and my beloved grandparents had just passed away. Reading became an escape for me (it still is, whether things are good or otherwise), and after a colleague had turned me onto a couple of sci-fi favourites, I was severely hooked on the sense of wonderment that the genre could promise.
This series stands out as one of those, and one of my retirement plans was to revisit it. 2001: A Space Odyssey lost nothing over 40 years for me. The sense of wonderment was there in living colour, and I understood the book and movie much better than I had before.
Ditto for 2010. Something I found interesting, but had forgotten about, was the forward where Clarke explains that this book was a sequel to the movie, rather than his novel. Therefore, Saturn was out of the picture. This installment of the series focuses primarily on Jupiter, which now, is something that really enhances the story for me.
You see, I'm a bit obsessed with Jupiter. Always have been. But when the Juno spacecraft sent back mind-blowing photos of the gas giant a few years ago, I became a lot obsessed with it.
Arthur C. Clarke's vision of Jupiter's clouds and storms is of course dated, being 1982 when he wrote this, but despite that, the imagery and imagination he portrays here was something that easily fell in mind with what we now know about it. It's unfortunate that he is no longer with us. I can only imagine the picture he could paint with what those incredible photos show. Regardless, he paints some amazing pictures.
This is what I love about Clarke. I read sci-fi, as I mentioned for a sense of wonderment. But, there are authors out there who are so overly descriptive that it's difficult to get the scope and imagery in your mind before you glaze over. Clarke always had a gift of descriptiveness with a relative economy of words, and would use perfect analogies
that paints a perfect picture and a sense of awe. There have been many nights while in a Clarke novel that I have lain awake visualizing his scenes, particularly from this series and of course, Rendezvous With Rama.
There are still many books of his I haven't read. I have read all of his best, probably, but I believe I will dip into more of his stuff.
But, they will have to wait for my re-read of 2061!
Five stars for the second time.