Liu, Cixin, #San ti. Englanti ; 1.
The three-body problem (Hardcover, 2024, Head of Zeus)
vi, 434 sivua ; 24 cm, 434 pages
English language
Published 2024 by Head of Zeus.
1967: Ye Wenjie witnesses Red Guards bet her father to death during China's Cultural Revolution. This singular event will shape not only the rest of her life but also the future of mankind. Four decades later, Beijing police ask nanotech engineer Wang Miao to infiltrate a secretive cabal of scientists after a spate of inexplicable suicides. Wang's investigation will lead him to a mysterious online game and immerse him in a virtual world ruled by the intractable and unpredictable interaction of its three suns. This is the Three-Body Problem and it is the key to everything: the key to the scientist's deaths, the key to the scientists' deaths, the key to a conspiracy that spans light-years and the key to the extinction-level threat humanity now faces.
I just kept reading to find out what was going on, the book really sucked me into the world and I couldn't stop myself as I had to know what was going on and how this was all connected.
A bunch of interesting ideas, but miles away from a great book.
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.
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.
It was the perfect sci-fi book till I read 70% of it. Then it became science fantasy. To some extent.
But it is extremely well-written. The author is fantastic.
Entertaining, but mostly in the build up and in the present day -- for a while I thought it was going to be a Chinese version of M. John Harrison's Light, but instead it went into Greg Egan / Robert L. Forward territory with an unconvincing sidebar into a VR game.
Also, the premise is ridiculous. The trisolarans are as close as Alpha Centauri, but they don't see the solar system as an inherently safer place to be anyway? They have the technology to encode data into protons and launch an invasion fleet, but don't have the foresight to go to literally any other star that isn't exploding, nor use their incredible power over subatomic particles to correct their world? Why don't they send protons into their suns? Why don't they twig that the protons can work when in building it, they HAVE IT WRAP THEIR ENTIRE PLANET AND ABSORB …
Entertaining, but mostly in the build up and in the present day -- for a while I thought it was going to be a Chinese version of M. John Harrison's Light, but instead it went into Greg Egan / Robert L. Forward territory with an unconvincing sidebar into a VR game.
Also, the premise is ridiculous. The trisolarans are as close as Alpha Centauri, but they don't see the solar system as an inherently safer place to be anyway? They have the technology to encode data into protons and launch an invasion fleet, but don't have the foresight to go to literally any other star that isn't exploding, nor use their incredible power over subatomic particles to correct their world? Why don't they send protons into their suns? Why don't they twig that the protons can work when in building it, they HAVE IT WRAP THEIR ENTIRE PLANET AND ABSORB ALL THE LIGHT THAT THEIR PLANET RECEIVES? Why don't they head into deep space? Why is Earth even worth invading at all -- it's at the bottom of a gravity well, the trisolans obviously don't have the same atmosphere or living requirements, so why start hostilities?
But hey. When it's on Earth and in the present day, it's a fun read. Three stars.
