The Three-Body Problem

I thoroughly enjoyed this book (and the rest of the trilogy), always worry that I'm missing out with a translation, but I'm a fan of the translator, Ken Liu, an accomplished sci-fi writer in his own right (I would say better, actually). The story is highly imaginitive but still grounded in science, characters are perhaps a bit wooden but distinct, and I was surprised at the harsh depiction of the Cultural Revolution. I'm glad I read this before I read his interview defending the Xinjiang internment/genocide ("They're terrorists! We're giving them job training!"). Now I can barely stand to look at his book covers.

The book starts very strong with a mysterious atmosphere and thrilling scenes. There are large sections where the main character is playing a computer game for some reason and I didn’t enjoy them very much. The characters are a bit shallow with a few exceptions.

There are some very clever ideas about technology and sci-fi ish solutions, although some seemed a bit too crazy to my taste.

I am not sure how I feel about the book. I enjoyed the atmosphere, there were quite a few very good chapters, but I am not sure if I want to continue with the other books of the trilogy.