2010 Odyssey Two - Arthur C. Clarke

Advantages: If you liked the first you’ll like this
Disadvantages: Its not as good

...but will you succeed?. 2010 Odyssey Two, follows on from the film rather than the book of 2001 A Space Odyssey (the only real difference is that in the book it was Saturn and in the film it was Jupiter they were heading towards), as with a number of other sequals to classic books/films its not quite as good as the original. It is set, as the title suggests nine years after the first, and a mission is being assembled by the Americans to recover ...
...the end of the first book, however the Russians are also planning a mission to Jupiter, which will arrive there a year before the Americans, unknown to both the Chinese are as well, which results in the Americans and Russians joining forces. A race to Jupiter follows and the Chinese ship is destroyed by some kind of weed creature of one of Jupiter’s moons, the American/Russian mission manages to reactivate the Discovery and get HAL, the on ... Read review

Advantages: will stand the test of time.
Disadvantages: absolutely none

Way out in space, close to the moons of jupiter, the spacecraft Discovery floats, close to the alien monolith. The russian rescue craft Leonov is sent from earth, with a combined American and Russian scientific team on a mission to investigate the mysterios disappearance of the crew of the Discovery, and to recover the craft. This book is an excellent science fiction story. Although it is a few years old now, it has a sort of timeless quality which ... Read review