I have mixed feelings about it, the premise is interesting but the writing is very bad in my opinion. The pacing is all over the place and the dialogue is like aliens trying to imitate normal human conversation...
I would still recommend it to sci-fi fans, just don't expect a literary masterpiece.
It is incredibly difficult to translate Chinese well into English. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I've ever read a Chinese novel with good dialogue in English.
I thought that also the sci part was not very good. You really need to suspend that disbelief. I was disappointed, especially by the final part of the book.
In contrast, Exhalation by Chiang, which I read in the same period, was an excellent book, with much less reliance on unknown physics/technology, and more what-if and near-future social exploration. It had one mind-blowing story that'll stay with me because of its sheer audacity: can we be alone if the Bible is 100% right?
I really enjoyed the whole trilogy, and highly recommend it to my friends. But its more for the different perspective of a chinese writer talking about western events, and the general outlook of how events progress - the downplay of individuality, the scope of things, and some history of the chinese point of view.
However what I didn’t like throughout all 3 books is just how predictable the antagonists are … like the main characters devise a plan, stick to it and things unfold generally how they’ve predicted, with very few (though big) exceptions.
Maybe thats also part of the chinese perspective? I’m used to Branden Sanderson type of narrative where the bad guys are smarter than the good ones, outplay and counter moves, and apply constant pressure, but can be outplayed themselves as well.
Three body problem was more like if the other side has an advantage, there’s nothing you can do, and if they don’t, just follow the plan … But apart from that incredible series.
Regarding Chinese fantasy/sci-fi novels, I really enjoyed Lord of Mysteries. Given that it is a web-novel, the style is rather bad, "hasty", but it has really outstanding, almost unmatched world-building. Started it as a guilty pleasures for those times were the brain isn't really working anymore, but quickly became quite addicted.
I didn't get the slapstick element. The series is worth finishing - the scope of it is just incredible. I would say top 3 sci-fi stories of all time. I actually just read the 4th book which is a work of fan fiction that apparently was sanctioned by Cxin Liu. Love this series so much.
Book 1 felt different than the other two, yeah. Some things in 1 I found more of a stretch than in the others. Book 3 went kinda Inerstellar?
My takeaways from the series:
Bacteria and mosses and lichens live interesting lives; NASA's "shout" to Voyager 2 risked exposing us to other life in this dark forest; and the night sky is even more wonderful to behold. I like to imagine I'm stuck with my back against the earth, looking out instead of up.
If you thought it was "slapstick" then you probably won't enjoy the rest of the books in the series. That's just the nature of the aliens, but their behavior has been consistent from the beginning of the book.
I’m nearly finished book 3 and have the reverse opinion - for me book 2 was the weakest of them; books 1 and 2 my clear favourites. Wonder if this reflects our preferences for translation style as much as the quality of the sci-fi itself? Books 1 & 3 were translated by Ken Liu; book 2 by Joel Martinson.
book 2 (the dark forest) is probably my favorite piece of scifi of all time! stick with the series if you like it. there is also a canon 4th book written by a different author that puts a really nice bow on the series.
Book two was such surprisingly good, because book one was bit tedious. The whole plot around Luo Ji and the small tidbit about siege of Constantinople was just too good.
Was not aware of the 4th book. Looking forward to that. Thank you. The first three books were great and opened my eyes to the sheer breadth of what other intelligent life could be like.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Remembrance-Earths...