High-grade

Well here we are again with the last installment of a once promising series that lost its way and descended into ennui. Who could forget the fantabulous 2001 or the almost as good 2010. Somehow the literary aspects of the series seem to decline as the plot advances. Gone is the initial sense of wonder and mystery; never present is interesting character development.

This last gasp seems to try but the old spark is gone. Clark again tries to give us his vision of a glorious future rampant with technology and neat doohickies. But the real story is the tale of the monoliths and how we must desperately tell the makers of same that we are not the backwards race they may have originally considered us to be. Otherwise they might do bad things to us.

Which begs the question - why in the world would an intelligent lifeform send the monoliths to uncivilized worlds and expect a progressive civilization of harmony and peace? That question, like many others, is never raised much less answered. All in all, I am glad Clarke wrote the series but a more visionary 2061 and a more literal 3001 would have been a major accomplishment.

As usual for Clarke, the science is pretty good. Unfortunately, there's so much time spent dropping names of famous scientists, events, etc, that it's distracting. By analogy, could we discern between the important people at the end of the 10th century as opposed to those in the 9th or 11th? Of course, not, unless you're a professor of history specialising in that time period. There is such a character in 3001, but it seems tacked on. More interesting is the subplot with the monolith and the contact with Dave/Hal.

Sure, there are incosistencies, as pointed out by others, but none so major as the Saturn/Jupiter shift between 2001 and 2010 (i.e. 2010 is a sequel to 2001 the movie, not 2001 the book), but, like Asimov, Clarke never lets a little thing like continuity get in the way of writing a story the way he thinks it should be written at the time he's writing it. That he's forthcoming and honest about it makes me tend to ignore it.

Looking at the total of the story at the end, you can't help but feel a little nostalgia for this particular little universe Clarke has created. While not up to the standards of 2001 and 2010, I don't think it would suffer a comparison with 2061. It really is time for this storyline to terminate, and I am encouraged that he's called this one the Final Odyssey.

It explained alot and I liked it.

This book was not as entertaining as I thought it would be. Typical stereotypes of boys not thinking girls are as good at sports.

I just think that this book did not fit with all the other books in the series. I wasn't thrilled with the first part of the book but did thouroughly enjoy the ending--especially the potato chip part. Maybe the writer could have used a theme other than the circus. Poor Bobo.

the book does not come with an answer section which is vital in order for this type of book to be worthwhile for the home student.