Hardcover, 400 pages
English language
Published Sept. 12, 2014 by Tor Books.
Within the context of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a military project sends messages to alien worlds. A nearby alien society receives these messages and makes plans to invade Earth.
I really liked the beginning. The atmosphere is great. But the more you learn about the world the boringer it gets. All the characters stay kind of flat.
The start is kind of boring, but from page 100 onwards the book grabs you and wont let you escape.Really good
I was surprised to read a Chinese sci-fi novel, but it's an interesting perspective on it. At first I thought this is going to be all about China, being for or against the CCP regime and a bit of sci-fi sprinkled on it, but it was the opposite!
The parts that were leaning on it being in China were great, it's a different view on how to write sci-fi, which is usually VERY centered on the US. I hope for more non-US authors in the sci-fi world, there's a lot to explore here.
The ending surprised me, because I read through it much faster than I thought. This should be a good thing, but I only noticed how far in I was, because I couldn't believe that this is how it's gonna end. It was a bit disappointing, but it's a trilogy, so and it felt very much …
I was surprised to read a Chinese sci-fi novel, but it's an interesting perspective on it. At first I thought this is going to be all about China, being for or against the CCP regime and a bit of sci-fi sprinkled on it, but it was the opposite!
The parts that were leaning on it being in China were great, it's a different view on how to write sci-fi, which is usually VERY centered on the US. I hope for more non-US authors in the sci-fi world, there's a lot to explore here.
The ending surprised me, because I read through it much faster than I thought. This should be a good thing, but I only noticed how far in I was, because I couldn't believe that this is how it's gonna end. It was a bit disappointing, but it's a trilogy, so and it felt very much written in such a way to build upon.
I'm not sure if I will read the rest, but I'd say it's okay. I'm not sure why people are into this story so much, it read a bit wooden at times, but that could be owing to it being a translation. Maybe people are just eager to read something non-US, which I totally get.
Intéressant début dans cette trilogie.
La préface de l'éditeur français divulgache violemment une bonne partie du bouquin, mais je connaissais déjà le thème du livre.
Le rythme est saccadé. L'exposition avec retour dans le passé un peu forcé. La fin un peu trop rapide.
On verra ce que donne la suite.
Intéressant début dans cette trilogie.
La préface de l'éditeur français divulgache violemment une bonne partie du bouquin, mais je connaissais déjà le thème du livre.
Le rythme est saccadé. L'exposition avec retour dans le passé un peu forcé. La fin un peu trop rapide.
On verra ce que donne la suite.
Empecé con muchas ganas este ganador del Premio Hugo de 2015. Ciencia ficción "hard", de una cultura un tanto exótica para mí como la china, y con aplauso unánime de la crítica, prometía mucho. Y no es que sea una mala lectura ni mucho menos, pero me ha acabado decepcionando bastante.
Se dice que el autor está muy influido por Asimov, Clarke y similares, y la verdad es que sí: la trama contiene muchos elementos que podían haber sido originales en los años 60, pero que desde luego hoy en día no lo son, al menos en Occidente. El personaje principal es bastante plano; los secundarios, que tenían mimbres para ser interesantes, acaban resultando estereotípicos; el hecho de que la novela acabe en un "continuará" (es el primer libro de una trilogía) no ayuda tampoco a la redondez de la trama.
En otros aspectos donde se ven influencias de otros …
Empecé con muchas ganas este ganador del Premio Hugo de 2015. Ciencia ficción "hard", de una cultura un tanto exótica para mí como la china, y con aplauso unánime de la crítica, prometía mucho. Y no es que sea una mala lectura ni mucho menos, pero me ha acabado decepcionando bastante.
Se dice que el autor está muy influido por Asimov, Clarke y similares, y la verdad es que sí: la trama contiene muchos elementos que podían haber sido originales en los años 60, pero que desde luego hoy en día no lo son, al menos en Occidente. El personaje principal es bastante plano; los secundarios, que tenían mimbres para ser interesantes, acaban resultando estereotípicos; el hecho de que la novela acabe en un "continuará" (es el primer libro de una trilogía) no ayuda tampoco a la redondez de la trama.
En otros aspectos donde se ven influencias de otros autores, los extraterrestres, lejanos y enigmáticos pero a la vez muy humanos, me recuerdan poderosamente a los de Los Propios Dioses; el juego de realidad virtual no puede menos de sonarnos a Ender... Pero todo ello con menos fuerza que las referencias originales.
Curiosamente, donde me parece que el libro se vuelve más vivo y brillante es en sus regresiones sobre China, la Revolución Cultural y su evolución posterior. Quizás es simplemente por mi desconocimiento sobre el tema, pero los capítulos centrados en ese tema se me hicieron mucho más interesantes.
El libro se lee bien, entretiene y es de lectura ágil, pero esperaba algo más. No sé si continuaré con los otros dos libros de la trilogía, tocará pensarlo.
writing — 2/5, idea — 4/5. in the end i did enjoy listening to "the three-body problem".
writing — 2/5, idea — 4/5. in the end i did enjoy listening to "the three-body problem".
Ca n'est pas tous les jours que je suis à ce point éloigné de l'opinion consensuelle.
Donc, ce roman raconte une histoire assez confuse mettant en scène des scientifiques chinois, un jeu en réalité virtuel, le problème à trois corps qui donne son titre au roman et d'autres éléments.
Encore aujourd'hui, je ne comprend pas la mode qui encense ce roman.
En effet, je trouve que l'histoire s'y déploie avec une mollesse terrible : après cent premières pages d'exposition d'un personnage de femme scientifique malmenée par la révolution culturelle, on enchaîne avec un physicien qui se retrouve mêlé à une opération confidentielle, pour sauter à de sombres histoires de jeu ouvrant la porte à une société secrète, le tout pour conclure par des extra-terrestres "beaucoup trop forts". Franchement, la plupart des éléments m'ont paru mous.
Et ce ne sont pas les personnages en carton pâte qui ont aidé. Je n'ai …
Ca n'est pas tous les jours que je suis à ce point éloigné de l'opinion consensuelle.
Donc, ce roman raconte une histoire assez confuse mettant en scène des scientifiques chinois, un jeu en réalité virtuel, le problème à trois corps qui donne son titre au roman et d'autres éléments.
Encore aujourd'hui, je ne comprend pas la mode qui encense ce roman.
En effet, je trouve que l'histoire s'y déploie avec une mollesse terrible : après cent premières pages d'exposition d'un personnage de femme scientifique malmenée par la révolution culturelle, on enchaîne avec un physicien qui se retrouve mêlé à une opération confidentielle, pour sauter à de sombres histoires de jeu ouvrant la porte à une société secrète, le tout pour conclure par des extra-terrestres "beaucoup trop forts". Franchement, la plupart des éléments m'ont paru mous.
Et ce ne sont pas les personnages en carton pâte qui ont aidé. Je n'ai réussi à m'identifier à aucun d'eux, et la litanie de noms n'a pas aidé. La particularité, c'est que tous ces personnages sont d'un pessimisme incroyable. J'ai même cru qu'il s’agissait d'un roman français tellement ils étaient négatifs.
Avant de terminer, je voudrais juste rappeler un point : le coup des extra-terrestres super méchants, c'est un poncif de la SF.
Autrement dit, je n'ai pas aimé. Du tout.
Cixin Liu is a different voice in sci-fi - for someone brought up on western stories, Liu's story structure and background are odd, which makes it very refreshing to read. I had one minor problem with believability in the book, but otherwise I'm looking forward to reading the English translation of the next two books.
The tale is a sweeping one, filled with good sci-fi ideas and nothing less than the fate of humanity at stake. Like John Wright's Count to the Eschaton series, the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a few who know what's going on. Unlike anything else I've read, this book faces that challenge with the background of the Chinese Cultural Revolution driving the protagonists actions, and - here's where the refreshing part comes in - coloring the thoughts of alien minds as well.
If you've ever read the Night Watch books by Lukyanenko, …
Cixin Liu is a different voice in sci-fi - for someone brought up on western stories, Liu's story structure and background are odd, which makes it very refreshing to read. I had one minor problem with believability in the book, but otherwise I'm looking forward to reading the English translation of the next two books.
The tale is a sweeping one, filled with good sci-fi ideas and nothing less than the fate of humanity at stake. Like John Wright's Count to the Eschaton series, the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a few who know what's going on. Unlike anything else I've read, this book faces that challenge with the background of the Chinese Cultural Revolution driving the protagonists actions, and - here's where the refreshing part comes in - coloring the thoughts of alien minds as well.
If you've ever read the Night Watch books by Lukyanenko, or anything by Stanislaw Lem, after having been brought up on a steady diet of Asimov, Herbert, Clarke, and Niven, you'll understand the subtle and refreshing shift of perspective Liu's background brings. Really looking forward to the last book being translated, so I can take the rest of the series in at one go.
I enjoyed this read, from the outlook of Chinese culture to the scope of the story, it is enjoyable. The only portions that were slow and troublesome were at the end when the book focused on the Trisolarans and their activities...what benefit of explaining scientific failures of the 1st and 3rd dimension was there to the story? But the scientists, the game, and Da Shi might be one of my favorite characters I've read this year.
It was well thought out and very much enjoyable. Liu has the rest of the story complete, I hope the new translator did as good of a job as this one. It was very hard to know it was a foreign language book originally.
I enjoyed this read, from the outlook of Chinese culture to the scope of the story, it is enjoyable. The only portions that were slow and troublesome were at the end when the book focused on the Trisolarans and their activities...what benefit of explaining scientific failures of the 1st and 3rd dimension was there to the story? But the scientists, the game, and Da Shi might be one of my favorite characters I've read this year.
It was well thought out and very much enjoyable. Liu has the rest of the story complete, I hope the new translator did as good of a job as this one. It was very hard to know it was a foreign language book originally.
