Review of 'El problema de los tres cuerpos' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
A bunch of interesting ideas, but miles away from a great book.
448 pages
English language
Published Dec. 4, 2018 by Head of Zeus.
The Three-Body Problem (Chinese: 三体; lit. 'Three-Body'; pinyin: sān tǐ) is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The title refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past (Chinese: 地球往事) trilogy, but Chinese readers generally call the whole series The Three-Body Problem. The trilogy's second and third novels are The Dark Forest and Death's End. The Three-Body Problem was serialized in Science Fiction World in 2006 and published as a book in 2008. It became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. It received the Chinese Science Fiction Yinhe ("Galaxy") Award in 2006. A Chinese film adaptation of the same name was in production by 2015, but halted soon after. The English translation by Ken Liu was published by Tor Books in 2014. Thereafter, it became the first Asian novel ever to win …
The Three-Body Problem (Chinese: 三体; lit. 'Three-Body'; pinyin: sān tǐ) is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The title refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past (Chinese: 地球往事) trilogy, but Chinese readers generally call the whole series The Three-Body Problem. The trilogy's second and third novels are The Dark Forest and Death's End. The Three-Body Problem was serialized in Science Fiction World in 2006 and published as a book in 2008. It became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. It received the Chinese Science Fiction Yinhe ("Galaxy") Award in 2006. A Chinese film adaptation of the same name was in production by 2015, but halted soon after. The English translation by Ken Liu was published by Tor Books in 2014. Thereafter, it became the first Asian novel ever to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel.The series portrays a future where, in the first book, the Earth is awaiting an invasion from the closest star system, which in this universe consists of three solar-type stars orbiting each other in an unstable three-body system, with a single Earth-like planet unhappily being passed among them and suffering extremes of heat and cold, as well as the repeated destruction of its intelligent civilizations.
A bunch of interesting ideas, but miles away from a great book.
Content warning Discusses elements of the plot
We haven't read the other books in the trilogy. How to describe? Liu has a very pessimistic perception of humanity and the nature of the universe. Not only does it science what kind of beings might evolve in a three-body solar system, but he also engages the Fermi Paradox, a very pessimistic theory about intelligent life. Be prepared to deal with frustration and disappointment.
That said, it is an important book and should be read.
Set my imagination off, but felt like a stream of ideas.
This was a little too weird for me and I can’t say I really bought the premise of the story fully…
Spannend aufgebaut mit verschiedenen Handlungssträngen, die sich irgendwann zusammenfügen. Technische / physikalische Grundprinzipien auch für mich als Laien verständlich dargestellt. Und die Frage nach dem "First Contact" mit all ihren Implikationen wurde toll beackert. Zusätzlich erfährt von noch etwas über die jüngere chinesische Geschichte.
The first few chapters had me darting to and from Wikipedia to help add some context to a story that is deeply set in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It',s a triviality to call the story complex, a mystery than unfolds through the book. Be warned this is the first in a trilogy and a very much sets itself up this way, which was a little frustrating in the last few chapters.
The book has many cultural revolution analogies that give it an unfamiliar series of allusions for western readers. Overall I didn't find the alien technologies and game theme engaging and struggled to finish it. Haven't read the sequels yet, either.
I wanted to enjoy this book, and as other reviews stated it did start very strong with an engaging mystery hook; however, the reveal of the mystery was simultaneously disappointing and depressing.
Additionally, I often found that character dialogue seemed stilted and technical concepts were over-explained; however, this might be an artifact of the language difference in translation.
Perhaps due to this issue, I felt that characters interacted with each other in a surreal and unbelievable manner, without much compassion or empathy, and this was compounded by the overwhelming cartoonish menace of the main antagonist.
These factors contributed to an overall feeling of gloom and hopelessness in the story; while I understand this is a cornerstone of the cosmic horror genre, I personally have no interest in continuing the series.
...then it went weird. And I mean weird as in "I know that stuff, and that's not how it works".
But the beginning was pure poetry.
The sentiment on the internet has always been that this is one of the best science fiction books to read, with its fresh take on what can often times be a stale genre. The perspective is unique and has moments of revelation that feel surprisingly different from the traditional "investigation of self" that I typically get from science fiction, identifying moments of hope despite the fractures in civilization. Despite the intense shift towards the end, it leaves a lot to feel good about which I don't commonly leave hard sci-fi with.
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 three body problem is all about the physics problem of how 3 bodies movies in respect to each other. If you check out the WikiPedia page on it, you'll notice that there is currently no known general solution.
So is this a Physics book? Not really, as the story progresses, you'll certainly get some deeper insights into the problem, but there is most definitely a lot more going on.
If you like [a:Andy Weir|6540057|Andy Weir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1382592903p2/6540057.jpg]'s books, but you always thought, this needs a bit more Chinese culture and more science, you are in for a threat. Regarding the Chinese culture and history, the translator helpfully added footnotes to explain some of the names and word plays that were used in the book. It was very interesting to learn a bit about some of the Chinese history I knew nothing about.
On top of that, the chapters are written in …
The three body problem is all about the physics problem of how 3 bodies movies in respect to each other. If you check out the WikiPedia page on it, you'll notice that there is currently no known general solution.
So is this a Physics book? Not really, as the story progresses, you'll certainly get some deeper insights into the problem, but there is most definitely a lot more going on.
If you like [a:Andy Weir|6540057|Andy Weir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1382592903p2/6540057.jpg]'s books, but you always thought, this needs a bit more Chinese culture and more science, you are in for a threat. Regarding the Chinese culture and history, the translator helpfully added footnotes to explain some of the names and word plays that were used in the book. It was very interesting to learn a bit about some of the Chinese history I knew nothing about.
On top of that, the chapters are written in the perfect order. Throughout the book you're just as puzzled as the main character, trying to make your own hypothesis of what actually is happening. It was truly involving.
The book is most certainly not for every one, but those who will enjoy it, will enjoy it tremendously.
I'm not thoroughly familiar with science fiction as a genre, but I'd imagine this is pretty quintessential hard science fiction. That means that quite a lot of text throughout the novel is devoted to explaining the scientific realities behind the events of the narrative. For example, entire chapters are devoted more or less to detailing the physical minutiae of how messages might be transmitted between Earth and alien civilizations.
In the case of this novel, hard science fiction also means substantially less attention is given to the development of characters and the drama between them. Indeed, I found the book somewhat reminiscent of my experience with Isaac Asimov, where all the important characters are STEM academics and the only interesting thing they could imagine talking about is science in one form or another. So don't expect a very compelling drama from this novel or particularly deep or complex characters. With …
I'm not thoroughly familiar with science fiction as a genre, but I'd imagine this is pretty quintessential hard science fiction. That means that quite a lot of text throughout the novel is devoted to explaining the scientific realities behind the events of the narrative. For example, entire chapters are devoted more or less to detailing the physical minutiae of how messages might be transmitted between Earth and alien civilizations.
In the case of this novel, hard science fiction also means substantially less attention is given to the development of characters and the drama between them. Indeed, I found the book somewhat reminiscent of my experience with Isaac Asimov, where all the important characters are STEM academics and the only interesting thing they could imagine talking about is science in one form or another. So don't expect a very compelling drama from this novel or particularly deep or complex characters. With maybe one exception (the character Ye Wenjie) the stakes of this narrative are all practical, not emotional or relational.
But there is (in my mind) a very clever plot in here. The author does a great job of leveraging a variety of concepts and technologies from various STEM disciplines as plot points and narrative developments, both breakthroughs and setbacks for the protagonists. There's also a fascinating layer of 20th century Chinese history that overlays and informs the narrative. But this is neither a thriller nor a romance, so don't expect some pulse-pounding climax at the book's end that will leave you breathless.
I have a degree in a STEM field (computer science) so I may be biased in this assessment, but I thought the book was pretty readable insofar as the science is presented and detailed. But detractors are not wrong to call the writing in general both dry and wooden. I can't tell if it's a authentic reflection of the original author's personal style or perhaps indicative of Chinese prose generally, but in either case this book's writing is far from poetic.
Bottom line, if people are uncertain that they'll be able to get through this book, the only advice I can offer is this: if & when you find yourself struggling to get through a heavy passage detailing scientific minutiae, not only is the novel not going to "get better" from there, but passages such as those are themselves a great part of why this book's fans love it so much. So pull that ripcord early if you find yourself struggling to enjoy yourself; you'll know if this novel is for you pretty quickly. Even those who do enjoy it might be tempted to line up a romance or other drama-rich novel as a chaser.
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 written in …
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.