The Three-Body Problem
Ratings1,585
Average rating3.9
I had high hopes for this book, and Gods was I right. The Three-Body Problem is an amazing science fiction novel, and a marvelous introduction to Chinese hard sci-fi. It made me wish I were more of a science geek, so I could understand everything this book's about—even though Liu Cixin does explain everything in a very clear way, I couldn't help but want to have proper knowledge of everything. It's also the most interesting, fascinating story of alien invasion I've ever read, and you can bet I'll ready its sequels.
Also this, from the author's afterword:
“As a science fiction writer who began as a fan, I do not use my fiction as a disguised way to criticize the reality of the present. I feel that the greatest appeal of science fiction is the creation of numerous imaginary worlds outside of reality. I've always felt that the greatest and most beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights and novelists, but told by science. The stories told by science are far more magnificent, grand, involved, profound, thrilling, strange, terrifying, mysterious, even emotional, compared to the stories told by literature.”
Some heavy scientific talk presented in a fairly easy to understand package, set against a sci-fi background. The personification of hard sci-fi. I would say that the characters were pretty average, but the scientific imagination brought the whole story up a few notches.
Really enjoyed the Chinese perspective as well.
A generous 4. The overarching story is interesting, and it makes a change to read things from a Chinese point of view, however the prose has tendency to the “stolid” (another review described it as a summary of a story rather than a story, which I would agree with in places). Whether this comes from the original source or from the translation is impossible to say.
As others have also mentioned, the first 50% is a bit of a slog, although it picks up once all cards are on the table.
So, I'd recommend this as something that is interesting to read, but I am not sure I am inspired to read the next in the trilogy.
I really went into this book knowing nothing about it besdies it won a bunch of awards, so I really enjoyed the slow reveal of what is actually happening. At times, the in-depth physics was too much for me, but on the whole I thought it was an incredibly unique and insightful piece of science fiction that really deserved all the awards. As someone who reads a lot of books by western authors, the difference in narrative structure and cultural references were refreshing. My concept of modern China is pretty fuzzy, I'll admit, so it's interesting to see a book by a Chinese author portraying Chinese history and future through a critical lens Ken Liu's translation was very helpful in explaining a lot of the cultural nuances without taking away from Cixin Liu's story. I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into book 2 right away, but definitely logging it on my to-read list for the future.
I was really looking forward to this book and I think I just ... don't get it.
I talked to my father-in-law, who is Serbian, a while back about how he enjoys reading Russian/slavic authors, even in English, because their thoughts are structured in a familiar way to him – I felt the opposite here, wondering if what was being said would click more with me if I had grown up in China. That's not a criticism, really, just an observation. Much of the book felt like it was told as an allegory that I just wasn't getting, or a fable with a moral that went over my head. The characters all seem motivated by some emotional resonance with the Three Body game that I feel expected to understand, but I definitely don't.
The surface story, beyond any attempt at finding a deeper meaning, was intriguing but ultimately underwhelming. Like I said, I feel like there's more meaning beneath it all but I don't feel particularly compelled to continue the trilogy because I suspect it would be similarly lost on me.
Rating 3.5.
A darkly sinister story with some really original ideas. However I found that some of the detailed “technical” explanation got in the way of the story flow.
Looking forward to reading the second installment
It was difficult for me to get deeply involved in this story. Perhaps the cultural differences were just too much for me to identify with the characters. Several of the science fiction elements didn't seem any more believable than light sabers. Nevertheless, the story was good enough for me to continue reading it.
Me gustó la historia, la idea es muy original y muy interesante y se desarrolla bastante, pero... bueno los personajes no te dicen mucho en realidad, el mejor logrado es el de Ye, y eso gracias a que conocemos su historia desde el comienzo, aparte de eso ninguno más se desarrolla demasiado.
La narración se me hizo lenta en partes y la CF dura se nota bastante, aunque en otros casos eso me ha gustado hoy se me hizo un poco cuesta arriba.
Lo mejor el final...... que te deja en vilo y obligado a leer la continuación...ojala mejoren algunos aspectos y se haga mas fluido.
Por momentos muy brillante, pero no llega a las 4 *
3,5 es de justicia yo creo.
Desde mi punto de vista es bastante irregular, engancha pero se va diluyendo poco a poco.recomendable sin duda pero no creo que fundamental.
Eso sí, en algún momento genial, me ha recordado en algo que no soy capaz de describir a “Los Propios Dioses” de Asimov, sólo por eso merece la pena su lectura.
Lo bueno:
- La cantidad de ciencia, especialmente fisica. Lo bien que esta encaja en la historia y lo bien explicada que esta.
- Muchas ideas originales
- El final
Lo malo:
- El lenguaje es bastante bleh
- Las conversaciones a veces son artificiales. Lo que hace ver a los personajes artificiales
- Todo esta narrado en tercera persona aunque a veces sean explicaciones de una persona sobre su propio pasado. Algo asi:
- wenxia : “dejame contarte sobre lo que paso esos años:
- “Aquellos años Wenxia era una pequeña....”
Fijate como ha cambiado la narracion otra vez a tercera persona.
Wow, what an amazing, inventive, unique read. Doesn't dumb down the science, it was totally out of my league science wise, I felt like I needed Physics for Dummies on hand at all times.
I really really agree with Akiva here. This book is a mysteriously compelling mess of really astonishingly cool ideas, weirdly inconsistent plot pacing, and characters I found myself really liking even though they don't make a ton of sense.
At its best moments it reminded me of the more existentially-disturbing Greg Egan stories, e.g. Dark Integers. In some ways it's basically a three-star book: it's overly-expository and doesn't completely live up to its promise; but I'm giving it a star back for the sheer scale and ambition of its ideas. Really hard to put down because you can't stop thinking about what the next twist will be.
Second time though similar feelings as the first. Amazing ideas, decent plot, not great dialogue. I'm not sure if this is a writing or translation issue. I still enjoyed it, and second time through, knowing those things allowed me to lean in and enjoy it more. Excited to read the other books in the series which were not released when I first read this.
I can see why people liked this, and why it won the Hugo - it's a deep, intellectually-driven sci-fi novel that explores some interesting philosophical space. However, at the same time I wasn't able to feel an emotional connection to any of the characters, or anything that happens to them.
Very bad writing; no idea how this got nominated for both Nebula and Hugo
My first book from a Chinese author and not only that, also the first sci-fi I read from any east-asian author ever. A very interesting and different approach to sci-fi. Not all perfect, but definitely worth reading and good enough that I will read the rest of this series.
First half is great, second half is so so, feels rushed and without any satisfying conclusion at all.
The fun ideas in this book keep it together, just barely. The characterizations are pretty weak, the plot cobbled together, and deux ex machinas abound. But it's still totally fun, and has some interesting ideas about what first contact could turn out to entail (spoiler alert: factionalized earthlings and aliens, and war). I'll read the sequel just to explore some more of the ideas, for pretty much the same reasons I've enjoyed Philip K. Dick books–crazy ideas, clunky writing.
This novel both pleased and irritated me. Early on I wondered where the story was going as there were seemingly unconnected events involving Chinese history and some people who did incomprehensible things. But slowly, perhaps too slowly (I really would have preferred a faster pace), things began to come together. In the end, I have to say that [b:The Three-Body Problem 20518872 The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth's Past, #1) Liu Cixin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415428227l/20518872.SY75.jpg 25696480], though convoluted and overly pedantic, is good science fiction.Liu provides one possible answer to Fermi's question. (“Where are they?”) After reading it, I have to think, perhaps we shouldn't be shouting "Here we are." to the stars.3+ stars.Liu said a lot of interesting things in his author's postscript for the American edition. Two in particular stick in my mind.- Reality brands each of us with its indelible mark. Every era puts invisible shackles on those who have lived through it, and I can only dance in my chains.- But for the universe outside the solar system, we should be ever vigilant, and be ready to attribute the worst of intentions to any Others that might exist in space. For a fragile civilization like ours, this is without a doubt the most responsible path.
This kept gravitating between liking it (3) and really liking it (4). I loved the sino-centric point of view, the context of the cultural revolution, I loved the attention to the science, the concept of the three body world. However I really had a problem with the very very weak motivation that would drive a whole section of the Human population to support blindly the alien cause.
Also there is another narrative problem that I have
{SPOLER ALERT]
How do the Earth characters know about the existence, now on earth, of the Sophons? That kind of information would never have been sent because the whole point was conceeling the existance of the sophons in the first place.
Maybe I missed that part but it seems critical to the narrative.
On the whole, however I do look forward to the second part.