The Three-Body Problem

September 28, 2020

It has a few interesting ideas in there and the blending of the narrative with the Chinese Cultural Revolution was pretty interesting, but as far as the story telling aspects of the book are concerned, I was left a bit wanting. The characters felt two-dimensional and unrelatable (probably intentional given they’re primarily cold, calculating scientists, but still), and the fiction felt too fantastical? The author does state elsewhere the kind of sci-fi he prefers is not necessarily one that tries to make passing references to present-day maladies (and I’m inclined to agree), but this still wasn’t my cup of tea.

That said, I was pretty curious about what Chinese sci-fi looked like and I was told this was an accessible starting point, which it was. I also hear the second book in the series is better, so I’ll try it.