Reviews

2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke

asimov's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

clarks_dad's review against another edition

2.0

This series is very rapidly taking a nose-dive. 2061 continues the story of Heywood Floyd as he returns to Earth in the wake of the Leonov mission and tries to find some meaning in his life in his elder years. The first half of 2061 reads like a novel of exploration. Floyd is tapped to be part of an all-star manned mission to Halley's Comet and as you'd come to expect, there's plenty of the accompanying scientific explication - Clarke never misses a teachable moment. Greater technological advances by 2061 greatly diminish the sense of foreboding and the heavy atmosphere that accompanied the claustrophobic [b:2001: A Space Odyssey|70535|2001 A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey, #1)|Arthur C. Clarke|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348775483s/70535.jpg|208362] and [b:2010: Odyssey Two|70539|2010 Odyssey Two (Space Odyssey, #2)|Arthur C. Clarke|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348084271s/70539.jpg|615175] and this time around, Clarke has to rely on the wonders of the cometscape (and they are, indeed, very, very wondrous) to rivet the reader. Sure, there's some danger alluded to, but unlike in the previous works, they never materialize.

After this marvelous scientific excursion, things begin to break down. Floyd's vacation is interrupted by a distress call from Europa. "Great!," you say, "time for some answers! What did that ominous message at the end of [b:2010: Odyssey Two|70539|2010 Odyssey Two (Space Odyssey, #2)|Arthur C. Clarke|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348084271s/70539.jpg|615175] mean? Maybe we'll get to see the Europans!" Nope, nope and nope sucker. Upon arrival in the narrative in the vicinity of that great planet of Clarkian mystery we are treated to the first in a long succession of passages stolen line-by-line from the previous books in the series. In particular, Floyd has a flashback to the last transmission of Tsein from book 2. Unlike its predecessors, there's no omnipresent sense of danger lurking just beyond the hull of the ship and one doesn't get the impression that the crew members of the Galaxy stranded on Europa are in any danger at all - let alone any inconvenience at all! As for why the ship was stranded in the first place, Clarke plays some not-so-imaginative geopolitics that aren't particularly interesting so much as ironic.

To top off the disappointment, the tale ends rather abruptly and more suggestively than the previous novels. There's very little progression of the monolith arc and we learn absolutely nothing new of value from Floyd's chats with the superentity named Halman. Like 2010, the story of 2061 feels like it doesn't even begin until the last third of the book. The first two-thirds are not necessarily wasted, but irrelevant diversions into scientifically imagined flights of fancy and re-hashes of the story to this point.

A waste of time. Read the first two books then move on with your life.

spindleshanks22's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

fantastiskfiktion's review against another edition

3.0

http://fantastiskfiktion.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/2010-2061-3001/

neilrcoulter's review against another edition

1.0

Even as part of a series that I've found mediocre at best, 2061 was a disappointing, awful book. Clarke demonstrates again how clumsy he is at creating and developing characters. The plot is unnecessary, and nothing of particular importance happens until the very end (which is also when Dave and Hal make their sole brief appearance). We're treated to the usual chauvinistic, awkward writing, this time with occasional random chapters about a gay couple on a space hospital (??).

It's interesting to me how as Clarke continued through this series, his vision of the future seems to have become less and less "on target." He had some uncannily accurate predictions in 2001, but now he has missed some directions that I would've thought might be more evident in the late 1980s. For example, he imagines a character wanting to look up a poem, but deciding against a computer search, because it would be too costly and take 10 minutes or more to find the answer. And can we really believe that in 2061 everyone on Earth will have forgotten the Beatles?? Clarke really missed the upcoming digital information revolution, and that makes his 2061 feel very wrong at a number of key points.

My reviews of the other books in the series:

2001: A Space Odyssey

2010: Odyssey Two

3001: The Final Odyssey

erikars's review against another edition

3.0

This was reasonably amusing but not, in my opinion, as good as the first two. I think part of the problem is that I am not particularly fond of the choppy narrative styles that all of the space odyssey books have. It is like "point of view 1", "point of view 2", "point of view 1", "point of view 3", "point of view 2", etc. I find the sudden changes disorienting.

kjn1995's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

thewritelucas's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

nickdleblanc's review against another edition

3.0

When ACC is describing the exploration of an alien world there is no one better. And this novel leaves you with an intriguing premise for the next installation. Beyond that, it suffers from a pattern of short vague chapters early on with teases for answers that are either easily figured out or so far down the road in the novel that you lose interest in them. Also, the edition I read was incredibly poorly edited.

Generally, average to slightly above average sci-fi by a writer who can be the best but often times in this novel is not.

torbort's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0