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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Woah... Upon completing this book I'm left feeling just like when I finished watching the movie, though perhaps slightly more satisfied.
Arthur C Clarke is such a classy, classic writer. The story just flows and despite the often tech heavy nature of the subject matter I never felt cold or distant from the... humanity of the story. This is truly one of the greatest science fiction books ever written. If you are seeking a book that explores the themes of evolution, technology, and the future of humanity then this should be at the absolute top of the pile and required reading.
Regarding the classic question, which is better - book vs movie? As is the case with great works of art... both! Though I prefer some of the choices and descriptions of sequences in the book, I completely understand why each creator made the choices they did and wouldn't change a thing.
Hard to fathom that I had never read this previously! Oh the shame! Without intending to, this year is turning into a year of reading classic books that I should have read a long time ago, that were made into famous movies. Crazy that also without realizing it until halfway through, I've read two that were made by Kubrick in a row.
Arthur C Clarke is such a classy, classic writer. The story just flows and despite the often tech heavy nature of the subject matter I never felt cold or distant from the... humanity of the story. This is truly one of the greatest science fiction books ever written. If you are seeking a book that explores the themes of evolution, technology, and the future of humanity then this should be at the absolute top of the pile and required reading.
Regarding the classic question, which is better - book vs movie? As is the case with great works of art... both! Though I prefer some of the choices and descriptions of sequences in the book, I completely understand why each creator made the choices they did and wouldn't change a thing.
Hard to fathom that I had never read this previously! Oh the shame! Without intending to, this year is turning into a year of reading classic books that I should have read a long time ago, that were made into famous movies. Crazy that also without realizing it until halfway through, I've read two that were made by Kubrick in a row.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This one surprised me. Sci-fi and I are still in the early stages of getting to know each other. Some books in the genre leave me a little underwhelmed, and some just bore me. But then comes along 2001: A Space Odyssey and blows all my previous bad experiences to cosmic smithereens. I read somewhere that the novel has a lot of technical detail: movement in weightlessness, sensory reaction to hibernation, psychological impacts of being stuck in a tin can floating through the vast nothingness... I was fully prepared to be bored. Was I ever wrong! It was indeed full of such details, but because of them I was completely immersed into the action and had no problems picturing what was going on (a rarity in sci-fi).
If I learned something from 2001, it's that I adore science fiction that describes early years of space exploration. I'd rather read a novel about first settlements on Mars, or scientists' wild dreams of sending first manned ship to Jupiter, than trying to comprehend a universe where hyperspace travel is as common as taking a cab, and huge cargo space ships haul generations worth of inhabitants to the planets populated with alien lifeforms. I want the book to express the desire to know "what's out there?", same as we experience today, rather than giving the straight-up answers. I want the wonder of the unknown, not the fantastical theories. It's so hard to find fiction that would restrain itself from going completely fantastical.
This was a believable, scientifically plausible exploration of space and what might exist out there. And I absolutely adored it.
If I learned something from 2001, it's that I adore science fiction that describes early years of space exploration. I'd rather read a novel about first settlements on Mars, or scientists' wild dreams of sending first manned ship to Jupiter, than trying to comprehend a universe where hyperspace travel is as common as taking a cab, and huge cargo space ships haul generations worth of inhabitants to the planets populated with alien lifeforms. I want the book to express the desire to know "what's out there?", same as we experience today, rather than giving the straight-up answers. I want the wonder of the unknown, not the fantastical theories. It's so hard to find fiction that would restrain itself from going completely fantastical.
This was a believable, scientifically plausible exploration of space and what might exist out there. And I absolutely adored it.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No