This was a great story. It just seemed like it was only loosely related to the rest of the Odyssey series. All the main players are there (Heywood Floyd, Dave Bowman and Hal) but this seems more like a standalone story about a space rescue with a little bit of the Odyssey mythos sprinkled in as an afterthought.

So I loved the first two books in the series. I especially had respect for the idea that Aurthur changed things between the books to make the storyline better to which he let us know about in the introduction. That was great, at least better than some writers who want to change things and just make weird unbelievable ways for those changes to happen.
...but this book overall I found kins of boring. I mean, the premise was good with the story of Europa developing more and more, and I will tell you that I loved the ending, but I also will warn that then ending of the entire book gives you a scenario that you are looking forward to in the next bok, 3001, but then when you get to 3001, they did not play on that scenario at all and that was a little disappointing.

Overall, if you like the first two books, you might as well finish the series and read this one and 3001, but at literature, this is not the best or most inventive. If you were not the excited about the first and second books, go ahead and pass on the last two, don't waste your time.

I resisted reading this book for a while based on the overwhelming negative reviews but it deffinately is a worthy sequel to the odyssey series. As usual Clarke uses lots of science fact to paint a possible fictional story as to the next step in how Europa fits into earth's future.

In the book, humans have stayed away from Europa as per the last message sent from Discovery by Bowman or the ETs who made him. But something has appeared on the "night side" of the planet and someone hijacks a ship forcing it to land on Europa.

Why would someone want to land on Europa after the warning? Will there be any consequences for landing? What do they find on Europa? What life? Does the hijacker find what they were looking for on the surface of Europa?

Read and find out!

Rendezvous With Rama was written in 1972, when he had some writing skills still. Skip this empty fluff and go with the 1st Rama book - it's 5 stars.

It can't be helped! With the existence of 2001: A Space Odyssey and its "sequel", 2010: Odyssey Two, and that return to the original characters in 3001: Final Odyssey, it is only natural to fit 2061: Odyssey Three in a "rankings continuum." I put them in this order: 2001, 2010, 3001, and 2061. At first blush, this may seem I didn't like 2061. Not so! 2061 is a Halley of a tale, with adventure, intrigue, science, rescues, deaths, and more. It's just in such grandeur company!

In 2061, Heywood Floyd, an architect of the original mission and a crewmember in 2010, gets the only gift that can exceed a lifetime of grand adventures. He gets invited to participate in a landing on Halley's comet. This is adventuresome in itself, but when a sister ship crash lands on Europa (yes, THAT Europa: "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS - EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE"), the adventures continue. The Monolith and its agents hath spoken, haven't they?

Floyd gets the captain to try a highly novel method of refueling the ship, then it is off to the rescue. Do Floyd and Bowman meet up again? Does the Monolith react? Is the rescue successful?

You'll find these answers in 2061.

Finally, I have to say that if you felt that the story was slowing down, from the original 2001 through 2010, and now with 2061, please don't let it keep you from looking over 3001. A thousand years later! What new technologies will humans have? Hint: they are good at thawing out freeze-dried humans.

Enjoy.