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 read this book a few years ago now, and found it very thought provoking, It certainly gave me pause for thought about the world and universe we live in.
I would hightly recommend this book.
I read the bok a few years ago now, and it was very thought provoking, first in a trilogy and certainly gave me pause for thought about the world and universe we live in.
I would highly recommend this book.
I liked the plot and the unusual idea for the story, but the characters are somehow not so well detailed and it was hard to immerse myself into the book. Nevertheless, I'm going to read the second one in this series.
Content warning This book is intensely political.
Everyone loves this, but I can't understand why nobody seems to be put off, or at least puzzled, but the way that every human individual or organization in the book is just relentlessly awful, ranging from suicidal to genocidal, and everything in-between, without respite.
Most of them, given any chance at all, are trying hard to selfishly save their own skins, with not a moment's regard for the fact that their plans will immediately doom the rest of the human race. Those not intent on self preservation at any cost are instead committed to bitter nihilism, such as the ultimate eco terrorists, who feel that to save the Earth's biosphere they must collaborate with alien forces to bring about humanity's defeat, and likely annhialation.
These characters and groups are not intended as outliers. They simply represent the world, as it is, in its entirety. The only thing that holds back this tide of destructive behavior is the government, who keeps everyone in line.
I can't tell how much of this bizarrely one-sided depiction of humanity is a deliberate choice by the author Liu Cixin, versus simply being an unplanned exposure of the author's worldview. Does his native Chinese immersion in authoritarianism form a subconscious backdrop to everything he wrote here, or is he making the deliberate point that strong government is absolutely necessary?
Liu Cixin has since gone on record in support of the Chinese government's internment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang. There, people have been rounded up, because of their ethnicity, into over 400 internment camps. The camps administer cultural and religious re-education, forced labor, involuntary sterilization and abortion. This is something Liu Cixin is openly in favor of.
It makes my skin crawl to read that, and then carry on blithely with this book, which seems to be an unapologetic justification for authoritarian government imposing its will on an unwilling people. I did finish it, but have no desire to read the sequels - and not just because I don't agree with its politics. I genuinely found the behavior of all the characters to be demented and incessantly frustrating.
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.
Es el primero de una trilogía. Me ha gustado, aunque hay algunas cosas "científicas" que me han parecido muy simplonas. De cualquier forma, estoy leyendo el segundo, y creo que también leeré el tercero. Lo recomiendo.
Much of the novel assumes a tone of gossamer fantasy, still with the heft of a folktale. Think of fabric draping a central space into being, over a solid floor.
There is video gaming (along with rally and militarism) as theatre, perhaps most overtly, but the whole story is almost palpably sited within in staging containers — which mostly stretch or are transcended rather gently, in contrast to the claustrophobic violence possessing and constricting the gap in the crowd, the logged woods, the cramped room, the retina, the battered biosphere, the rigid formation, the traumatic shared memory, the laden canal, the proton.
For its themes, The Three-Body Problem is a very comfortable read. The “hard sci‐fi” elements are good fun, silly (or playful and open) without committing to ridiculous abandon. Although, on occasion, explanatory dialogue felt condescendingly conspicuous, on the whole, Liu’s devices moved smoothly enough. There are some beautiful …
Much of the novel assumes a tone of gossamer fantasy, still with the heft of a folktale. Think of fabric draping a central space into being, over a solid floor.
There is video gaming (along with rally and militarism) as theatre, perhaps most overtly, but the whole story is almost palpably sited within in staging containers — which mostly stretch or are transcended rather gently, in contrast to the claustrophobic violence possessing and constricting the gap in the crowd, the logged woods, the cramped room, the retina, the battered biosphere, the rigid formation, the traumatic shared memory, the laden canal, the proton.
For its themes, The Three-Body Problem is a very comfortable read. The “hard sci‐fi” elements are good fun, silly (or playful and open) without committing to ridiculous abandon. Although, on occasion, explanatory dialogue felt condescendingly conspicuous, on the whole, Liu’s devices moved smoothly enough. There are some beautiful scenes. The storytelling is both generous and measured; hospitable.
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.
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.
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.
