Arthur C. Clarke's time Oddysey series

[Morfius]

I just finished Arthur C. Clarke's time Oddysey series. and wish I had someone to discuss it with . . . .

 

[Lindley]

Read it. Pretty good, if begging for a sequel.

 

[stj]

Genghis Khan vs. Alexander the Great! What's not to like?

Seriously, as exciting as the above marquee is for the first volume, it doesn't fit well with the rest of the story. The trilogy is really a standalone (GK vs. AtG) and a two-parter set in the same fictional universe, I think. Of the two parter, the AIs aren't quite distinct enough in personality.

 

[Christopher]

One doesn't really expect Arthur C. Clarke characters to have much personality...

 

[Starbreaker]

Read it. Pretty good, if begging for a sequel.

I'm sure Kevin J. Anderson has one planned.

 

[diankra]

One doesn't really expect Arthur C. Clarke characters to have much personality...

Well, co-author Stephen Baxter had a lot to do with the actual writing of these books. But Steve can also let the technology get in the way of the characters on occasion....

Morfius... wish I could discuss them in more depth, but it's two years since the third one came out, so I might need a reread before I can comment properly (and at the moment, my head is full of Peter F Hamilton's Evolutionary Void as I try to work out how to review 700 pages in 200 words!). What I ultimimately found interesting was the way it played out as an alternative to the Space Odyssey sequence, with the Monolith builders hostile to emergent sentient life elsewhere. More interesting than 3001 (but then, what isn't?).

 

[Morfius]

the first two could easily be stand alones. Only vol 3 is dependant on the others.
I was genuinely surprised that the Chinese didn't build an interstellar ark in book two. I thought there should have been consequeses for the Chinese witholding boosters from saving the whole world.

and . . . I liked 3001