2010: Odyssey Two

With 2010, Arthur C. Clarke's ability to write interesting, believable, and likable characters has improved dramatically, particularly compared to the cardboard cutouts from Rendezvous with Rama, and the similarly bland characters (with the exception of HAL) from 2001. The book also does a great job of answering the remaining questions from the novelization of 2001.

As far as the book to the movie goes, it's something of a 50/50 split. The book is better at providing the answers then the movie is, and there are some stupid decisions that the characters make in the film which aren't made in the book (like sending Max in a manned pod out to the Monolith, instead of using an unmanned pod operated by remote). Also, the book manages to be semi-prescient by having giving China a space program that would have been somewhat unimaginable when the first film came out. However, the movie manages to be more reasonable by increasing the danger to the Leonov when SpoilerJupiter becomes a star.

All in all, 2010 is one of my favorite Arthur C. Clarke novels, and is definitely a worthy companion to 2001.

This was always one I enjoyed. We finally get some developments regarding the monolith and why HAL seemed to break down in 2001.

This isn't my first time reading it but I learn something new every time. This time I noticed two of the characters are bisexual. The scene where it comes up is handled well in that it's not a big deal, other than said character being dense that a love triangle is beginning to form so the rest of the crew kind of wants to nip it in the bud before it becomes a problem. It would have been cool if it was a little more open, but hey, this was written in 82 when bisexuality just wasn't discussed as much.

Clarke comes up with some fantastic worlds here and the plot moves well, though it begins to drag for a bit when they accomplish one primary task and now want to investigate the floating monolith. Then again, it's reflecting what's going on at the ship, which is waiting and testing but no reaction from the object. Still, it is satisfying how it wraps up.