The Three-Body Problem

I'd rate this one a 1 in character development, but a 5 in some of the later sci-fi themes discussed. Almost any discussion of this book could be a spoiler, but I would say that it unravels in interesting ways I hadn't ever seen before. This one was actually translated from the Chinese version and is the first in a trilogy. I'm looking forward to the others in the series coming out to figure out where they take the story next.

This is definitely a SCIENCE fiction book. I felt dumb for about 75% of it, but the story and the vibe was amazing.

I especially liked the cultural background and it made me google a lot of Chinese history. I didn't expect this.

As someone who is only trying to get into sci-fi this year, I know my limitations well and I would never have picked up this critically acclaimed award winning book by my own volition. But one of my book clubs chose this as our May BOTM and I decided I should atleast give it a try. And after finishing it, I'm both blown away by it and also a bit sad, so let me try to articulate my thoughts.

It has not been easy to maintain focus for long periods of time on a book during this pandemic. Part of why I have been gravitating towards more short fiction these days, but when I committed to this book, I wanted to see it through. For someone who almost always finishes any sized book in just a few days, this one took me almost 20 days to read. While one part of the issue was the external circumstances, the other was the subject matter of the book itself. I found the idea of first contact with extra terrestrials very fascinating and there were some chapters which completely held my interest, but I couldn't sustain that for the whole book.

The translation of this book is excellent and it never had that choppy feeling that can sometimes occur in translations. And however it might have been in the original, the book never felt difficult to read (which was how I thought it would be for me). Even the story being told in two timelines felt very easy to follow. I especially found the chapters during the Cultural revolution very fascinating, because I'm not much aware of Chinese history and it felt like a very honest look at the struggles and lives of the people of the time, on both sides of the civil war. The book is also extremely science heavy, and while I could understand what was going on in the context of the story, I could not tell you a single thing about the physics that was discussed. There were paragraphs and chapters devoted to physics discussions, most of them going over my head.

What really impressed me and what I feel is the soul of the book is the philosophical questions it asks. We have a group of humans who are fed up of humanity because we are destroying nature and environment without a care; we have another group which still cherishes humanity and wants to do anything to survive. And the author discusses both their POVs without clearly judging any of them, because they all have their valid points to make. And then there is the important question of what will happen if we do make contact with extra terrestrials - should we expect them to be a higher evolved intelligence than us and hope to learn from them?? Is it even possible to coexist with an advanced civilization? And why do we humans who can't coexist with the people who live in other countries, who wage wars constantly and perpetuate mass killings of people, expect an outside civilization to be benevolent and grant us knowledge? These are some very interesting questions to ponder on and I know I'll be thinking about them for a while.

I was initially intimidated when I saw the cast of characters at the beginning, but I quickly understood who were the main influencers in the story and was able to follow along. However, being used to first person POVs, this third person narrative felt very distant and I couldn't connect to anyone. Even when I could objectively understand that something bad was gonna happen, I wasn't emotionally attached to any of them to care enough. Also, except one main protagonist, there are hardly any female characters around which I thought was a real miss; and among the ones who were present, I felt that none of them were shown in any good light.

In the end, this is a book that definitely deserves all the prestige bestowed on it because of the concepts and philosophies it discusses, in a mostly accessible manner. It is more of an introspective book than an action packed alien invasion adventure novel, so you should keep that in mind before deciding to pick it up. If you are someone who is new to sci-fi like me, I would suggest reading more science fiction novels before venturing into this series. But if you are a science/physics nerd, then this would probably feel like home. I still haven't decided if I want to continue with the series, but we shall see.

A perfect sci fi book to geek out over, can't wait to finish the trilogy!

TL;DR

Average in my opinion, the last part of the book is definitely the star of the show, when you learn some pretty big things about the universe and if we are alone or not in it. Up until then it was very boring, I don't think that our main protagonist is very interesting to follow him for most of the story. The science is pretty heavy on this one, I'm not a smart guy but I do like to check out and research a bit on every new thing that I've never heard or understand and I was googling constantly in this book. Some people may not like it but I like when it makes sense and it's not some magic thing invented by the author.

My Scoring System

I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:

✓ - Main Story: Boring until the second half of the book.

✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): Boring stuff with the cultural revolution, not interested in it at all. The part with the Trisolarians is interesing and their story and plan is amazing. The VR game part is trash, didn't like that at all.

X - Characters: The only good one is Da Shi and out of the 10 people we meet and interact with that's not good.

X - Setting/Ambiance: It's just normal day China, boring.

✓ - Ending: I liked it, was really enjoyable to read and I like where this is going.

Extensive Review

This has to be a cultural thing but I've read a few Asian authors so far and they all have a distinct way or writing dialogue that always seems off to me. I don't know how to explain it but if you give me a book without telling me anything about it I can tell if it was written by an Asian author. I don't like it at all. It has to be cultural becasue the same happens when I watch an Asian movie. The dialogue to me always seems like they're never genuine and they're always putting up a facade. It doesn't help that the characters are pretty bland to be honest.

So poor dialogue and a lot of infodumps, Cixin Lui is not very interested in showing you stuff, he's way more into telling you about it and in very exact detail stretch over whole pages to just talking about inconsequential stuff that isn't important.

The only good character is Da Shi, I liked every scene where he was involved in. Unfortunately he doens't show much in the story, towards the final part he gets more involved though.

There are some very cool scenes with some nanofiber our main protagonist invented that was amazing to read.

I really enjoyed this book. It's not every science fiction that gets really into the weeds of science and still makes it approachable. I would certainly give this book a 4.5 star rating if I could.

Olipa hurja. Tämä on pitkään ollut lukulistallani, vähintään Hugo-voitosta lähtien, mutta nyt suomennoksen – joka on onneksi tehty suoraan kiinasta – myötä sain vihdoin luettua. Eipä voi kuin toivoa, että jatko-osatkin suomennetaan, sen verran kiehtovaa kovaa scifiä tämä on. En viitsi puhua kirjan juonesta enempää, koska tämä on niitä kirjoja, joista pitää enemmän, jos tietää etukäteen vähemmän, mutta olipahan kiinnostava juttu.

Maybe it was the translation but the prose felt very klunky. I had my eyes rolling for the first few pages stumbling upon gems like “The rotting leaves made the water appear crimson, like blood”. Thank you, I have TV if I don't want to make mental leaps from one red liquid to another.

The novel really dragged on until the big reveal. (Spoiler ahead) The idea that an alien civilisation sees humanity as a threat and wants to launch a preemptive strike against us, just because of first contact is great. That they are interest group, or cults for and against making and keeping contact is great. But this we find out at almost at the end, which is then quickly finished by a stupid Ghost Ship style massacre. Ugh. Good ideas wasted.

I read this 4 years ago so I guess this review is delayed. I reread it again now and had the same feeling of wonder that I did last time. Also, probably one of the best foreign language translations in any of the books I have read.

Unless the Audible version I heard was a wildly lost translation, this is simply not a good nor well written book.

The many intriguing concepts (an extra ⭐ for the handful in there) were consistently undermined by overtly stale, flat characters and some laughably shlock counterparts to the intrigue (TriSolarans, wait, what?). All blended to create a singularly enervating experience.

So many wasted opportunites by an author who clearly struggles to either grasp, and most certainly express, the nuance of human emotions and experience.

I read a good chunk of this originally years ago, I was planning on picking this back learning the author supports uyghur “re-education” camps changed my mind. Plenty of authors who aren't bigots out there.

It generally just felt like the author threw a bunch of scifi concepts at the wall and hoped something would stick. By the end it was just a bunch of concepts scattered around in an attempt to make something that was greater than the sum of its parts; but, ultimately it failed and I didnt care at all about what happened - largely because the characters were extremely flat and left no impression on me and because I didn't care about the characters I didn't care about the impact of the overarching plot.  The only character with any personaity was 大史 (Big Shi) who overall had a fairly minor part to play. 

I really don't understand the people who have said this changed their world view. Now I've actually read it I'm keen to dive into that deeper. 

I was excited to read this as its so well regarded .... but it was just average. 

Attempted to read it again. This time actually listen to. I think I disengaged at almost the same spot somewhere in the middle. I love sci-fi but this... is... so... thoroughly... boooooring... can't force myself. Characters are without any meet, bone, soul or for the matter of fact - character. Doesn't help that the “game” idea reminds of the most cheesy and ridiculous holders episodes of Star Trek (I thoroughly hated these). Let it end in forever DNF category. I really do not understand what drove people to go through until the end and to praise it... The end is unreachable for me, thus whatever “genius” supposedly awaits there... well sorry... won't make it. These horrible, long monologues... impossible to digest and reminds me of the worst of school reading assignments

When my book club picked this book I was like, “Uh oh! Sounds boring!” But then I kind of got into it and when a friend asked how I liked it, I was like, “It wasn't as boring as I thought it would be!”

Parts of it were defo still kind of boring and dry but I could actively feel it making me use parts of my brain that I hadn't used in awhile. Definitely something different than what I'd normally read. Would definitely recommend to someone who notices scientific errors in less-rigorous works of science fiction.

One of the most refreshing and wondrous books I've read in a long time. This represents sci-fi at its best: not as a display case for “cool future technology”, but as a vehicle through which to explore how humanity engages with concepts beyond their understanding.

Rough intro to a great series.

The Three-Body Problem (The Three-Body Problem Book 1) by Cixin Liu

Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3VQ7LR0F860BR?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp

The problem with cold-calling aliens is that you don't know what you will call up. There are various kinds of first contact fiction scenarios. The most popular kind since the early 1970s is the least plausible. In that version, aliens are a God substitute. They are wiser and more powerful than we are and more than willing to solve our problems if we don't screw things up with our fallen natures. The far more likely scenario is that aliens are more like us and would treat us the same way we treated the natives of North America.

This book is fascinating in that it is by a Chinese author who places his story in mainland China. The epoch of the Red Terror plays a defining role in shaping his characters. I found that aspect of the story historically fascinating. Liu pulls no punches in describing that awful period with its waste of talent, torture, fanaticism, and stagnation. I was a little surprised to find a mainland Chinese author so openly critical of Chinese history. As a reader, it was a different setting from that which I was familiar with so it offered an engaging dimension to the story.

Ye Wenjie watches the Red Guard kill her astrophysicist father. She is exiled to a work brigade and then makes her way to Red Coast Base, which is a super-secret Chinese SETI facility. When she makes a revolutionary discovery and makes contact with an alien civilization, she ignores a warning from a rebellious alien and betrays the human race.

Despite this fact, Wenjie is a sympathetic character. We wonder how she could do such a thing, but it seems to me that she has been brutalized by history. Her answer does not seem irrational in light of that history, particularly since she assumes that the aliens must be wiser than the humans she knows.

The story is in fact presented as a mystery with historical flashbacks. The mystery is that leading scientists are killing themselves. The further mystery is that someone seems to be in control of the fundamental forces of the universe. The mystery aspect brings in two characters - Wang Miao, a nanoparticle researcher, and Shi Quiang, a police detective. Some reviewers found the character to be two-dimensional, but I thought Quiang was delightful as a profane, down-to-earth, but surprisingly insightful detective. Miao was also well-developed as an academic nerd who finds his world coming apart.

SPOILER. The McGuffin is, of course, that the first contact is with an alien civilization that must leave its solar system (the Trisolarian system) or face extinction. The Trisolarians are on their way. When they arrive in 400 years, they threaten to eradicate human beings like bugs, particularly since they have injected a “bug” into human reality that can defeat human scientific progress.

At least, humanity knows what is coming, having uncovered the network of traitors, some of whom think that the aliens are saviors, while others think that the alien plan to exterminate humanity is good. While that seems like an unlikely motivation, there are certainly human extinction movements and it may reflect Liu's view of Western decadence.

Liu has created a story filled with Lovecraftian existential terror. The universe is filled with malevolent powers whose attention humanity must not attract. We know about the Trisolarians, but what else is out there. Thus, Liu offers an answer to the Great Silence that has defeated the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The Great Silence exists because wise alien races know better than to send out an invitation to feast on them.

The book ends at that point. I am sufficiently intrigued to follow up on the next book.

Bbrilliant book. The ideas and follow through with it are pretty staggering. The blend of SF and History was brilliant to see and it allowed the word to become lived in, even if it was only devoted to particular aspects of Chinese/international communities. However, the dialogue at times can feel clunky and the science, particularly towards the last 50 pages became quite unrelenting and hard to track.

Nevertheless, highly recommend!

While it was intriguing to start, and seemed to hold great promise, I found the deep connections (I'm guessing) to Chinese culture made me feel like I was missing too much. I found it hard to relate to the characters and did not understand their motivations. Too bad, as I really wanted to give this author a fair chance.

Edit March 2025: Giving this book another try; updated review to follow.

Edit 04/05.2025: I attempted to read this a second time, given all of the praise and positive reviews, but ultimately, I had to give up once again. Although I made it to over 250 pages, the result was the same as indicated in my previous comments: I just could not find enough of an attachment to the characters and concepts in the book to finish.

The first book in the series is the most human, which entices you forward into the other two books which feature demanding physics concepts as their main characters. Enjoy this book and buckle up to learn in the next two.

Re-read. I love science fiction that actually reads like science!! I also listened on audiobook and it’s extremely funny how American the narrator Luke Daniels is. I don’t know why he read Da Shi like Harry DuBois, but I’m not complaining

Feels so good to be logging after a very long rut.

— full review later —-

Worth a read, if you're willing to overlook the slow first 50%.

Story: 7.0 / 10
Characters: 4.0
Setting: 4.0
Prose: 4.0

interesting but too technical for me. im sure a real intellectual would've enjoyed this novel than i, a humble smooth-brained peasant.

Ça c'est du tome 1 comme on les aime. Liu Cixin tu es ce chinois que tu penses être.