[Cygnus]

I recently read this series by Arthur C Clarke and though I loved it, I was really irritated by some things and I wonder if this has bothered anyone else.

2001 was great.. I finally understand that crazy movie now!

2010 was really weird getting into until I realized that Clarke had written the sequel to the movie not to the book. I was pretty peeved about that. I mean there were some pretty big details that were changed.. like Discovery is now orbiting a totally different planet and the whole final sequence was changed. I'm sure Clarke had his reasons, of course.

2061- No major complaints with this book. I like the character Heywood Floyd so I'm glad he's still around, even if he is 100+ years old.

3001- I listened to this on tape, and I didn't realize until halfway through that it was abridged. The issue I had with this book is that there is no mention of Heywood Floyd. Not to spoil the story for anyone, it just really seemed like he should've been mentioned. I'm not sure if this is an omission of Clarke's or the abridgement.

Just minor irritations with a great series. Offically the first science fiction series that I have ever read!

[Valeyard]

Ok, this topic is a little old but I just couldn't help adding my 2 cents.

2001 - is ok, helps clear some details of the movie. The description of the early humans I thought was excellent (even if the details are incorrect by what we know of early humands today), obviously a very hard subject to keep people interested considering there is no talking. Lacks the suspense and awe of the film thought. Of course its unfair to compare this book with such a brilliant film.

2010 - I loved it. Even though I saw it years after seeing the film and knowing exactly what was going to happen, it still kept me entertained and interested in the characters and events.

2061 - Awful. Clarke it seems started writing this before he had properly thought it out. Each chapter only goes for about 2-3 pages! Important events are only briefly described. A very poor book that had huge potential.

3001 - Starts off ok. Bringing back Frank Poole to link the story back to 2001 was a good (if implausible) idea. But then Clarke starts repeating ideas he's done in previous stories (such as the Hammer of God). The "climax" really fails too. There really is no sense of urgency to anything, so you never kept swept away in the concerns of the characters and events.