Josh

As one of the most well regarded hard Science Fiction written in the last decade I was quite excited to read this. In some ways it lived up to those lofty expectations and in others it didn't. I quite enjoyed the themes of the book. Those centering around Science, religion, and human nature. The first and third being the stronger themes in my opinion.

I was invested in the book from the start, because the backdrop of the first chapters it that of the Chinese revolution. I absolutely love historical fiction so this was an unexpected bonus. In the middle of the book the author lays out a vision for the Three-Body Problem. I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice to say I found both the visual representation painted and the Science presented very compelling and at this point I was absolutely hooked...or so I thought.

In the latter chapters of the book they are almost entirely an info dump that personally I found very hard to follow. Not just because the concepts themselves are advanced, but because there's just so much information being presented in a short time. This left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth at the book ending. While it ends on hopeful note, this did little to alleviate the disinterest the handful of chapters previously had brought about. Still not enough to damper the joy I had with reading about the actual Three-Body Problem. 

The biggest issue I have with the book though isn't specific to any one part of the novel but rather it's the characterization. The characters come across as very flat and devoid of emotion for the most part. I can understand why the author chose the particular style he did in 3rd person, but for someone who is as character driven as they are story driven, it leaves something to be desired to say the least. Characters and even prose suffering in hard Science is not unusual. Often times it feels like the scientific ideas take front and center over everything else. That's something I do think this novel runs into as well.

It's definitely good enough that I'll be checking out the next book in the trilogy at least, but with as praised as it is within the Sci-Fi community, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.

When I decided to start reading this book I noticed there was some debate on whether this was adult or young adult. So I went in thinking that it lied somewhere in between the two as some books happen to do. I think the opposite is true though. Of the three books in this omnibus I do think they lie in between, but in between middle grade and young adult.

As one would likely expect from that, you have a very fast paced and easy to read adventure that might have more action than actually warranted. For the negatives I found that the story overall is fairly simplistic, lacking in complexity, and did feel very repetitive across the books as there is a very clear formula repeated through each. The characters themselves while they do have some depth, barring a few exceptions don't really develop much and some of them felt rather one dimensional to me.

These are all pretty big negatives yet, I enjoyed this omnibus for the following reasons. The magic system is interesting as it mirrors something close to animism and I thought the author did a great job with the world building around this premise across all three books. By the time I finished each book I understood the world just a bit more . I was also so caught up in several battles that I could feel the blood pumping in my veins. That is too say the action writing was quite enjoyable albeit there may be a touch too much of it. But none of this is what I enjoyed the most in the series.

What I enjoyed the most was the banter and sarcasm largely from Eli, but some of the other characters at times as well. There were a plethora of instances where I legitimately laughed out loud. This is something I value very highly and the main reason I gave 3 stars. 

Would I recommend this to any of my adult friends? Probably not, because humor is such an individual thing and if you don't enjoy that aspect of the series, I don't think it really offers anything else worthwhile.

Basically after three books, I'm tired of the relationship drama between Robin and Matthew. That's how the book opens with their wedding ceremony and all the drama/tension that it entails because Strike is there etc. 

It doesn't help that each book grows in page length, which hasn't benefited the books in any way imo, but rather the opposite. So after a couple pages of holding this heavy book and reading yet more drama, “I'm over this” is what came to mind so I won't be continuing the series further.

In the last book the ending gave me hope that this was going to end up being something I'd greatly enjoy. Yet, through 300 pages this is not the case. Instead the novel got incredibly repetitive with Mare's inner monologues. “Cal....I have feelings for you but I can't” “Maven...I have feelings for you but I can't.” “I can't trust anyone and I'm so sad.” “No one trusts me and I'm so sad.”

The words change a bit, but these same monologues are repeated over and over and over again. I'm just not really interested when it's offering me nothing from a character standpoint but wallowing. Still I don't think it deservers one star because the plot is interesting. Unfortunately though for me, it can't overcome the characters so this will be my first DNF of 2023.