The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1) in Goodjer Recommends

Aug 01, 2016 Rebecca (LirilAB) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Didn't get a whole lot of reading done during the Democratic National Convention last week, but did finally complete Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem. I had really mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the science emphasis in this book and the fact that the majority of characters were scientists or intellectuals of some sort. Much of the first part of the book also takes place during China's Cultural Revolution and I loved the historical relevance interwoven with events that took pl Didn't get a whole lot of reading done during the Democratic National Convention last week, but did finally complete Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem. I had really mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the science emphasis in this book and the fact that the majority of characters were scientists or intellectuals of some sort. Much of the first part of the book also takes place during China's Cultural Revolution and I loved the historical relevance interwoven with events that took place in the book. There was also some interesting parts involving a multiplayer game called "Three Body" that contribute to later discoveries and a conspiracy in the book.

However, the characters themselves were very bland. In a sense, the book kind of just plodded along all the way to the end and the characters plodded along with it. I don't at all mind a slow pace and/or lots of description of things and ideas in a book, but when the characters don't particularly excite me, I feel more like I'm reading a super-long essay rather than a novel. A rather interesting essay in this case, but it seemed to fall a bit short as a novel. According to some reviewers, the book was supposed to pick up after the halfway point, but it turns out I liked the first half better as the latter half kept getting more and more bogged down by explanations of mysteries that were appearing in the first part. More "show, don't tell" would have been a better strategy to make the last half less essay-like.

As this book was translated from Chinese into English, I do not know if my issue with the characters was due to the author's style or due to some limitation in the translation. Apparently, this author is extremely popular in China if book site blurbs can be believed, but I've read nothing about why the author is popular in order to compare my thoughts with those reasons.

This book is actually part of a trilogy and while I do have some interest in reading the next book, I'm not feeling particularly enthusiastic about starting into it right away. It is translated by someone different though, so perhaps some of my above questions concerning the author would be answered by reading it. ...more

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Jan 01, 2015 Taylor rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

This started out very strong but faded at the end. I loved the early characterizations and the slices of Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution we get to see during early part of the book. The ending, however, really did not do it for me.

The first half of the book presents a couple of mysteries. One lies in the past and is revealed slowly through the books' narrative. The other mystery is occurring in the books' present day and, while fantastical, is explored through a scientist's perspecti ...more

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Dec 22, 2016 Christopher Mclean rated it liked it · review of another edition

Some interesting ideas but very bland characters and writing stlye hold the book back.

I came into Three-Body with high expectations following its award season hype and have to say I was quite let-down. Sci-fi wise there are some very nice ideas here, and the first half of the book does have a uniquely interesting perspective being set in China during the cultural revolution.

I can't say if the translation is at fault or the original text but the writing style came across as very simple and woode ...more

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Feb 11, 2015 Tanglebones rated it really liked it

Hmm. Interesting book, neat ideas, but no longer in my wheelhouse. The characters never really existed except as sketches to further the plot. I think my days of loving hard SF are in the past.

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