Ok, we have all either read 2001 or seen the movie or both. I read the book years ago and have seen the film a couple of times. In September 2018, I thought it time to revisit the series. I could not actually remember if I had even read the other 3 books in the series. Perhaps I read 2001 so long ago that the sequels were not yet out. For completeness, they are
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2010: Odyssey Two (1982)
2061: Odyssey Three (1987)
3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
As 2001 was the only one of the books I had in hard copy, I decided to reread that, then listen to the subsequent 3 in audiobook form.
Ok, my thoughts! I liked 2001 just as much as when I first read it - it was very different and very imaginative. But I was greatly disappointed with the subsequent 3 books. It is interesting that Goodreads quotes the books as follows with regards to its five stars rating
2001: 4.5
2010: 4
2061: 3.5
3001: 3.5
It does confirm my view but I feel that the star ratings are somewhat inflated. The third and fourth books are padded out with lots of rather trivial and non-relevant info, I suspect, in an attempt to get enough pages to justify publishing it as a book. It reproduces slabs of info from the first two books verbatim, in the way of 'recall', especially with regard to the demise of the Chinese expedition to Jupiter from 2010. Please spare me!
I found much the same thing with Rendezvous with Rama (1973) which I also read and enjoyed immensely many years ago. The sequels, Rama II (1989), The Garden of Rama (1991) and Rama Revealed (1993) were much less satisfying. The pattern repeats.
So I recommend reading them for completeness, if you at at all a S/F fan, but I suspect that, given the wonderful S/F that has subsequently been written, you may find the series a bit dated and lacking.
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