3001: The Final Odyssey

This one was a bit disappointing. I was excited when I picked it up, since I learned early on that Frank had been rescued and was alive. My first reaction was something like "what? okay, maybe this could be interesting." But the more I read, the more it felt like an afterthought. I picture people asking the author what happened to Frank over the years, and that maybe prompted this fourth book. Just a guess on my part.

This one took me a long time to get through. Out of the four books, it was the hardest to read. I don't know if my expectations were just too high after that ending in the third book. 2061 set such a high bar that 3001 had a hard time living up to it. Still, the story holds together and probably makes sense on its own terms.

Part of me feels like 2061 should have been the final book in the series, and let my imagination run wild with the ending forever instead of closing it out with this one.

I've only read this one once so far. I plan to reread the whole series someday, and I'll give this one another try then. Three stars for now. That could change once I read it again.