Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Voyager
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 1997
Cover Design: Chris Moore
The fourth and final part in Arthur C. Clarke’s Odyssey series was published in 1997. Almost 30 year after the first book, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The final book is set early in the 4th millennium and tells the story of humanity’s last encounter with the monoliths that seem to have influenced the evolution of the species. Rapidly nearing the year in which the first book is set, it was clear that most of Clarke’s visions for the year 2001 would remain imagination so once again one could question the need for further sequels in this series. On the other hand, after the ending of 2061: Odyssey Three he couldn’t very well not have written one. The result is entertaining but definitely not a must read.
In the year 3001 an ice mining operation in the outer solar system comes across the space pod with the body of Frank Poole in it. Poole has been set adrift by HAL in 2001 and has somehow escaped Jupiter (or Saturn’s depending on which version of the story you wish to follow) gravitational pull. His pod is intercepted when he is about the exit the solar system. Fourth millennium technology has sufficiently advanced to revive the commander from his icy sleep. It takes Poole quite a while to get adjusted to the future he’s awakened to. His unique insights in 20th century history, now looked upon as a dark period in human history indeed, makes him something of a celebrity.
Being kept as a museum piece doesn’t really suit Poole however, he soon longs to return to space. And it is just as well that he does. On a trip to Ganymede he meets a man who thinks Frank is ideally suited to re-establish contact with the monolith on Europa. The moon has not been visited since the 2061 crash landing of the spacecraft Galaxy and the monolith’s experiments to encourage intelligent life on the moon seems to be progressing at astonishing speed. Arriving at Europa Poole finds Bowman/HAL is indeed inclined to talk and what they have to say is quite worrying.
Again, 3001 is far from consistent with the previous books in the series. The main plot lines are in a way, but many of the details have been changed. The epilogue of 2061 for instance is a direct contradiction of the end of 3001. By the time Clarke wrote 3001 the USSR had also fallen and Clarke acknowledges that in 3001. In earlier books it lasted a lot longer. There’s a number of dates of events in earlier books that change as well. I called it a sequel earlier but the continuous revisions of Clarke’s future history makes the word sequel inadequate. I understand that a great literary term for changes like this is retroactive continuity. Whatever you want to call it, don’t expect the books to make sense as a series. They do not, they are not written to either. It’ll only confuse you to consider them as such.
A large part of the novel is devoted to Poole adjusting to life in 31st century. There’s a number of interesting observations about the culture shock Poole endures and how future generations might look upon the 20th century. Star Trek is still a source of great amusement for instance, but he also covers things like war, circumcision of both men and women and religion. While I agree with Clarke to an extend some of the judgments the characters pass are harsh indeed. Especially on the topic of religion. Clarke was not known for his patience with religious faith despite scientific proof to the contrary. If you are a religious person you may not enjoy his observations.
There are of course a number of highly interesting technological developments in the books. I enjoyed his expansion of the space elevator concept and the descriptions of Star City. A human structure that reaches geostationary orbit from the planet surface. It may be a challenge, even if buckytubes are sufficiently strong to build an elevator, to come up with the stuff in sufficient quantities to build what Clarke has in mind. I also liked his reference to thermal pollution. The concept is currently limited to river water that serves as cooling for power plants but if we do discover virtually unlimited power supply, it will absolutely become a problem.
I thought the plot on the whole rather thin. In fact, he only manages to make it a novel of decent length (by 1990s standards) by including something like 20 pages of references to research and acknowledgments. Poole’s character is certainly interesting but on the whole Clarke doesn’t add much to the story, or add much to what we already know about the monoliths. It doesn’t help that book has an open end. It may be the final book but Clarke suggests it is not the final encounter with the monoliths. I guess it is fair to say history has caught up with this series and was done with it sooner than Clarke was. If you enjoy Clarke’s writing 3001: The Final Odyssey certainly isn’t a punishment to read, on the other hand it isn’t the highlight of his career either. Obligatory only for fans of the series.
