Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9446 in Books
• Published on: 1997-11-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review

Then it came close enough for visual inspection.

"Goliath here", Chandler radioed Earthwards, his voice tinged with pride as well as solemnity. "We're bringing aboard a 1000-year-old astronaut. And I can guess who it is. "

Thus after drifting to an icy death in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the body of astronaut Frank Poole is recovered in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Preserved at near absolute zero, it is a simple task for medical science a millennium hence to restore Poole to life--though strangely for a novel which pits religion against science, the metaphysical implications of technological resurrection are unexamined --and the first half is devoted to Poole's integration into the society of the future. If anything he adjusts with far too little grief or culture shock: apart from mourning his dog, and learning how the new technology works, he faces no major difficulties. Still, the world of the future is drawn with broad, imaginative strokes and apart from a persistent continuity error which makes Poole 6 years old in 2001, this is fascinating stuff. The plot kicks into gear with the revelation that the famous black monoliths may ultimately not have humanity's interests at heart, leading to a perfunctorily presented struggle for survival. Clarke himself notes that the ending is functionally identical to that of Independence Day, though novel and film were created simultaneously. Not the hoped-for late classic, 3001: the Final Odyssey does provide the satisfaction of closure to Clarke's epic Odyssey Quartet.--Gary S. Dalkin

Synopsis
Now approaching the millennium, the light of Lucifer is extinguished and for the second time in four million years, the Monolith awakes. The limitless power of an alien technology has decided what part humanity must play in the evolution of the galaxy.

Customer Reviews

Rewarding, but not closely related to the series
3001 is a very good, well-written book. In my opinion, it's much better than 2061 but nowhere near the first two books in "Space Odyssey" series. Placed one thousand years after 2001's events, do not except too much of a sequel, the first half of it (or maybe more) is pretty much not "Space Odyssey" related but nevertheless is still a recommended book if you're a Clarke fan. I've read it 3 times and while it's not as rewarding as the first two books are after multiple readings, it's still worth bying it.

Weak, uninspired and a big let down
This is part iv in the Odyssey quartet, it is also the last part, and thank goodness.

2001 and 2010 built up an amazing world, one believable even and thought provoking. If you've read just these two, stop, go no further. There's no big revelation you've been looking for, you will not get answers and you will be dissatisfied with the finale you reach.

3001 is a trojan horse, a gift that looks like a spectacle, it's not. It's a short book that exists only to entertain A.C Clarke's ponderings on future technologies. It's a tale of a possible, far distant future, totally unrelated to the previous books. The problem is that there isn't a story, there's no narrative pushing the story forward.

Hitchcock always had his MacGuffin, the plot device that moved the story forward. This book doesn't have that. For half the book Poole (who was killed in 2001, only to be revived without explanation of how in 3001) does nothing other than 'discover' his new society (hence my remarks about Clarke's ponderings). It is only when he decides to go to Saturns moon and try and make contact with Bowman that things take off, though that may be an exagerration.

Bowman and Hal, who 'live' inside the Monolith on Saturn's moon have somewhere along become captives, now working on the monoliths whim, not their own. They warn that there may be a coming threat from the Monoliths. Who before were not bound by distances or time, are now restricted by communication at the speed of light.

The ending is weak, unclimatic, unemotional and unexplained (how do some computer virus' take down a computer that created manking, destroyed worlds and created suns). Neither Poole's, Bowman's, Hal's or Floyd's story arcs are really completed in any real way.

Once again, this already short book is made shorter by the re-use of chapters from previous books, which to me is a very cheap and easy way out.

With 2001 and 2010 Clarke set up a great narrative, with 2061 and 3001 he let it down.

Odyssey Four
Following on from '2001', '2010' and '2061', '3001' completes Clarke's series of alien contact, as Frank Poole is reanimated a thousand years into his future to confront alien monoliths once more.

When I first read this on publication in 1997 I hated it, thinking it a travesty of the original '2001: A Space Odyssey', however ten years later having re-read all four novels back to back I find myself a lot more impressed by it, with the ultimate showdown between humanity and the monoliths being a natural extention of the ongoing narrative of the earlier books, and the fact that certain aspects are open to debate (are the monoliths malfunctioning, or is this all another alien test?) adding to the fun.

Clarke's increasing habit of re-inserting entire (albeit small) chapters from previous novels does reach annoying heights here, though the argumet could be made he is refreshing readers memories of past events, but on the whole '3001 - The Final Odyseey' is an enjoyable ride, as Clarke paints an intruiging future life for humanity and brings the monolith tale to a close.

A solid finale.