ALT.SF4M

  Scathing review!

   • x***********l@e********k.net
     07/05/2000 00:00:000 UTC

     Thought y'all might enjoy this scathing review from Issue 14 of

     Word of Mouth, our free book review newsletter. Subscription

     instructions are at the end, if you're interested --

     REVIEW BY: David Uhl

     TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF & YOUR READING HABITS: I am married,

     father of one, Chemical Engineer. I have never been successfully

     indicted and enjoy outdoor sex.

     TITLE OF BOOK: 3001: Final Odyssey

     AUTHOR: Arthur C. Clarke

     PAGES/PUBLISHER/COPYRIGHT DATE: 352/Del Rey/1997

     GENRE: Science Fiction

     WHAT IS STORY ABOUT (PLOT): Frank Pool (one of the astronauts killed

     and his body set adrift in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is found floating in

     orbit around Jupiter. His dead carcass is revived, he has to find his

     place in a new age. About the only thing that happens in the book,

     other than a fair amount of sanctimonius preaching against religion,

     violence, the prison system, the nation state, etc., is that Frank

     makes contact with David Bowerman (the only surviving astronaut that

     disappeared at the end of 2001). David Bowerman had become one with

     the black monolith (an extraterrestrial device) and his ship's

     computer

     a thousand years earlier. The three of them figure out that the

     monolith is about to do something so they beat it to the punch with a

     computer virus.

     WHAT I FOUND COMPELLING ABOUT IT (CHARACTERS, IDEAS, WRITING STYLE,

     ETC.); Very little. Clarke spends most of the book rambling about

     the

     way things ought to be (sounds like a Rush Limbaugh book). He slams a

     host of what he considers the world's problems; pollution, religion,

     violence, religion, unequal distribution of the world's resources,

     religion and freedom of thought. All without ever developing any

     social commentary. The plot doesn't really get going until about page

     250 and no conflict at all until the last 2 or 3 chapters (when we

     find out the monolith is about to do something). About the only

     interesting thing in the entire book is the afterword, where he offers

     "evidence" for some of his predictions, a bizaare half-hearted apology

     to anyone who believes in a god or gods. Clarke has totally lost it.

     2001: A Space Odyssey was a great book. Each succeeding book was

     worse

     than the previous. 3001 is without a doubt the worst book I ever

     finished. It was so bad I had to go back and reread the ending for

     this review because I had forgotten what the ending was. Aditionally,

     Clarke reused several chapters from earlier books in the series.

     Filler material?

     HOW IT MADE ME FEEL: It's sad that a writer like Clarke has fallen so

     low as to write this drivel.

     CAUTIONS (HARD TO GET INTO, DIFFICULT WORDS, HARD DIALOGUE, ETC.):

     Very little substance to this book. It reads like an advertisment

     for an Ivy league college. If you feel you must read it, read 2001

     and 2010 first.

     OVERALL RATING: negative infinity

     ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD (PURCHASING INFO, FIRST PARAGRAPH,

     FIRST PAGE, BACK COVER BLURB, WHATEVER ELSE!): Get the book from your

     library if you wish to read it. It is a total waste of money if you

     buy it.

     Copyright (c) 2000 David Uhl

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