I borrowed this from the library because the Netflix show was popular and I heard the book was way better than the American adaptation. The Three Body Problem starts during the Cultural Revolution and bounces between then and present day, following a secret military base and an apparent attack on scientists. The only answers can be found in a video game Three Body about the growth and destruction of civilizations in a hostile world. Overall I enjoyed the book. I think the premise was really interesting and the scenes set in the Cultural Revolution were excellent. Some of the science was a little eyebrow raising at times and sometimes the pacing was pretty slow, with long infodumps. Parts of the book read like a history book, which I suspect is intentional. Some of the dialogue seemed very awkward, but I assume that’s an artifact of translation (the translator’s note mentions trying to capture Chinese speech patterns in English). Most of what I’ve read was originally published in English so I don’t have much experience with translations. I enjoyed it and will probably read the rest of the trilogy at some point.
The Three Body Problem
- Author: Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu)
- ISBN: 9780765377067
- Format: ebook
- Start: 2024-04-21
- Finish: 2024-04-26