Just wondering because I’m almost halfway through this book and I’m comtemplating if I want to finish it or not because quite frankly I’m getting a little tired of the Author discribing how tthe future is. It’s like yeah, I get it, the fututre is cool, now get to the story… Geez!
So basically what I’m asking; is all this going somewhere? Does it get better? or should I just cut my losses and put the book down now?
It’s been a while since I read it, so my memory is a bit sketchy, but this is what I think.
There is a bit of a plot to that book. A bit. Personally I liked it, but you’re right, it’s more what the future is like more than anything else. The way the plot works out, it’s all explained and finished pretty quick (and personally I don’t like how they solved the ‘problem’, it doesn’t seem that simple to me), so if you want to find out what the plot is, hang on. Otherwise, yeah, put it down. It isn’t as good as the earlier books.
Actually, on second thought, I think the future stuff is the plot, bad as it is. If you’re looking for a climax, you probably won’t find it.
Be warned, the ending is truly, truly lame.
I 'd read literally all of Clarke’s fiction up to the mid-80s and a good chunk of the non-fiction. 3001 was when I utterly gave up on his recent stuff.
The highlight of the book is its imaginative future. I remember reading to the middle and stopping. Then about two years later I read it again to the finish. The ending is good and it clarifies the ending in Space Odyssey 2001.
You will regret not finishing it. I don’t know if that is better than regretting finishing it. You should not though. The ending is pleasant. That is all I remember though, the pleasant feeling after finishing it.
It’s a pretty lousy book. And the ending isn’t any less preposterous when used by a respected author like Arthur C. Clarke than when it was used by a certain silly blockbuster sci-fi movie.
(I actually liked the movie in question, because at least it was fun.)
True – because we find out that
David Bowman didn’t really fall into a faster-than-light stargate that whisked him across the galaxy. His mind “joined” with the TMA-2 monolith and what he was seeing were scenes generated entirely inside the monolith itself. So, lucky us, the aliens that built the monoliths don’t actually have faster-than-light travel or communications capability.
Put me in the “Clarke has some good ideas, but figured he was going to die before he got all the details worked out, so he slapped this thing together pretty quickly” group. It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, but it’s not exactly what one would call good, either.
Most of the book is a description of the future, with a fair bit of sanctimonous ranting about how horrible the 20th century and religion are. I made it through, but it’s probably Clarke’s worst solo effort. I also agree that the ending is truely lame, and sounds like Clarke couldn’t have been bothered to think up a good one…or had been watching too much Indpendence Day before he wrote that part.
The problem is that the ending of 3001 totally contradicts 2001 (and 2010 for that matter.) The dates are also all screwed up, but that is what happens when you write a sequel at about the time the original novel is set. I should reread it sometime, but I’m not sure I can stand to.
On the other hand - Clarke’s collaborations with Stephen Baxter (which I know are mostly Baxter) have been great- the best young author old author pairings I’ve seen. Far better than the dreadful Benford sequel to Against the Fall of Night.
His pairings with Gentry Lee on the other hand left a lot to be desired. I don’t recall needing to know what anal beads were in the original Rama!
Which is odd, because it seems that we do. At least over a distance of 600 yards, at the moment.
No, we don’t. Quantum teleportation (which is what I assume you’re talking about) allows for many strange effects, but faster-than-light communication is not among them.
Damn! I went ahaed and finished the book.
I feel SO violated.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be the one in the corner, curled up in the fetal positon…
Gee, what took you so long. I wrote off Clarke in, ohhh… 1983 or thereabouts. :dubious:
Sadly, not even the monoliths were powerful enough to keep Clarke from writing this book.
Actually, I stopped reading the new novels round about when he started collaborating with Gentry Lee in 1987. I made an exception for 3001 on sentimental grounds.
Actually I recal an interview clark did a couple years ago where he stated he never intended to write the sequels, and particularly 3001. But the publishers kept throwing money at him until he said yes. (that was almost word for word what he said too. :D)
Needless to say he wasn’t really into it as much as he wouldve been for the original eh?
Being charitable, I assume Clarke let Lee even go near his stuff because Lee used to work for NASA. But Lee is the one writer who makes Pel Torro (author of that classic, Galaxy 666. In fact, I’d prefer to reread Galaxy 666 than Cradle the non-Rama collaboration. There is one sentence in that book which must be the worst ever written in the English language. I’d dig it up and post it, but I think the hamsters would all die of shock. :eek:
That’s not a counterexample, since Baxter probably wrote most of it. Most of it was just okay, but the ending of this book was just outstanding!