So a note as I work my way into the fourth book in Clarke’s series…  In 2001, the characters were very remote — real apes, real people, but only the barest frame of character development.  Even though we got to know Dr. Floyd and Dave Bowman enough to recognize the basic type of personality each possessed, and received a little background info on each, we knew them only in the surface sense.  The story was about the events, not the people.

In contrast, 3001 is almost completely focused on Frank Poole’s experience and observations, as he returns to humanity after a thousand year sleep.  His emotions, and experience while not as deeply explored as in, say, a Delaney or Le Guin novel, are how the events and circumstances are presented, as opposed to the first book where third-party narrative is how we learn what is happening from an “objective” viewpoint.  The third-party narrative in the fourth book is about what Frank is observing, feeling, experiencing.  Very different.

The middle books, 2010 and 2061, make the transition, with the second book being a little more “emotional” and the third book continuing in the same direction.

Perhaps Clarke’s own way of telling a story changed, perhaps he felt this particular story needed a different way of being told.  Who knows?  I like the trend, though.