The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! š
zombiezami's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
4.25
This is the first book that Iāve read by this author, and I can tell heās super talented and knowledgeable. He weaves history, advanced science, and philosophy together in fascinating ways. It was hard to follow at times, though, because of the thoroughness of his descriptions. Not sure if Iāll read the other books in this series, but this one was pretty fascinating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death, Suicide, and Animal death
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Colonisation, Genocide, and War
meganpbell's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Ambitious, mysterious, challenging, and unsettling describe this landmark sci-fi soon to be adapted by Netflix. This unique take on first contact explores science & technology, the development of civilizations, and, most of all, what happens when people give up on humanity. Character is kind of sacrificed to the high concepts here, and I found myself thinking of Sophieās World but with video games and physics instead of postcards and philosophy.Ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, and Sexism
Minor: Genocide and War
mdiffer's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Old-school, hard sci-fi.Ā
Might not be everybody's cup of tea.
Expect a little more character development than Asimov or Clark... but not much. Characters are mostly one-dimensional. And that's ok, because this a story about big ideas. It's plot-heavy and a little dry at times with technical details. But I enjoyed the book and finished it quickly. For me, this was a page-turner. Ā
I enjoyed the mystery plot and premise. It was nice to read something from a non-western perspective and history.Characters navigating life in China during and after the Cultural Revolution were especially fascinating and heartbreaking. The end was abrupt and posed a subtle yet terrifying cosmic horror premise. What if a hostile invader could stunt our scientific progress? Ā
Might not be everybody's cup of tea.
Expect a little more character development than Asimov or Clark... but not much. Characters are mostly one-dimensional. And that's ok, because this a story about big ideas. It's plot-heavy and a little dry at times with technical details. But I enjoyed the book and finished it quickly. For me, this was a page-turner. Ā
I enjoyed the mystery plot and premise. It was nice to read something from a non-western perspective and history.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Torture
Minor: War, Xenophobia, Genocide, Violence, and Suicide
emnime's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Noticed a few plot holes, but the amount of time the author spend perfecting the scientific information is incredibly impressive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Child death, Suicide, Genocide, Murder, Death of parent, and Blood
chlorophyll's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, War, and Death
Minor: Genocide
adapostrophe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide
beebidon's review
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I very nearly marked this book DNF many times. In truth, it took me most of 2022 to trudge through it.
I want to call it interesting, but in truth only parts of it were. It had the potential to be interesting. It had interesting sections. The concept is certainly interesting.Ā
Iāve seen people say their complaint was that the characters were too static or bland, and people who adored the book rebutting those complaints with āthatās just the translationā or āthatās just the culture of how they tell storiesā and perhaps thatās true. I donāt think the characters were the issue with the story, however. They just certainly didnāt add to it or try to save the experience.
My main complaint is with pacing; the exciting stuff was crammed into the last 100 pages or so, and not in an exciting denouement way so much as āgreat, we got through 250 pages of backstory, now I guess the actual story happens.ā I found myself frustrated even as I was engrossed at that point, because I could see the small sliver of pages remaining, stressing me out as if I needed to tell the author āyes, yes, thatās nice and all but HURRY, we are running out of time!ā
In the end, we didnāt even get answers to all the questions, and not in a fun cliffhanger or philosophical statement deliberate sort of way. There WAS a cliffhanger of sorts, but I do not feel like my lingering questions were intentional there. I more fell like the author had a really cool concept he wanted to pitch and didnāt know what to do with it so he fluffed hundreds of pages of history and scientific geeking out, dropped a novella or even short storyās worth of plot, then closed the book.
Finally, Iāllsay before my spoiler talk that there are different levels of sci-fi you can find, from low/soft to high/hard, where high/hard is heavily based in science, or heavily based in fantastical, āout thereā concepts. 3BP drags you through DENSE quantum, theoretical, astro, micro, macro, and every other kind of -physics, but in a way that walking away Iām not sure how much I can say āwell, at least I learned a lot from itā because Iām not sure how much was true or embellished to lay the groundwork for the plot points. I donāt think Cixin (or Ken as translator) did a bad job of breaking down the concepts to understand (aided by the scientists often explaining the concepts to non-scientists, or at least scientists not in that specific field). But I did struggle a lot with dense passages where I couldnāt be sure if this was a concept I would need to know later or if it was a character waxing on for their own interest. I was often torn between ādo I skip this passage or do I just put the book down for nowā as my eyes glazed over. And every time I put the book down, I felt no obligation to pick it back up besides a faint curiosity and a sunken cost fallacy of āwell, Iām already this far, maybe eventually it will get better.ā
There were some cool concepts that Cixin was trying to get at that I feel were left half-presented or dropped n on the table with an āis this anything?ā look, like if we wanted to feel some way about the content, that was up to us to go through the mental work on. Was it ethical to keep āless educatedā people in the dark? Did Cixin mean to present a view that was so anti-religion? (Was he trying to say anything about religion at all?)
I feel the strongest points made (and the reason I gave the book as relatively high a rating as I did) were the parallels drawn between Trisolaran and Earth views about who deserves to thrive, the struggle for survival and at what point is it ethical (or not) to give up your own survival for another society that may ādeserveā it more. This is the question I think Iāll ponder on into this new year, and Cixinās strongest win.
I was also saddened by how such a cool concept as this alien society was still so clearly limited by the authorās very traditional views on things. A planet as advanced as this, with such unique bodies and minds, but thereās only 2 genders/sexes, and theyāre heterosexual and monogamous? With every important person in the world (three body game version or ārealā At the end) a man? Someone will roll their eyes at me on this for being ātoo wokeā but Iām just not sure a cishet patriarchy needs to be reflected in the aliens too. Alas.
I want to call it interesting, but in truth only parts of it were. It had the potential to be interesting. It had interesting sections. The concept is certainly interesting.Ā
Iāve seen people say their complaint was that the characters were too static or bland, and people who adored the book rebutting those complaints with āthatās just the translationā or āthatās just the culture of how they tell storiesā and perhaps thatās true. I donāt think the characters were the issue with the story, however. They just certainly didnāt add to it or try to save the experience.
My main complaint is with pacing; the exciting stuff was crammed into the last 100 pages or so, and not in an exciting denouement way so much as āgreat, we got through 250 pages of backstory, now I guess the actual story happens.ā I found myself frustrated even as I was engrossed at that point, because I could see the small sliver of pages remaining, stressing me out as if I needed to tell the author āyes, yes, thatās nice and all but HURRY, we are running out of time!ā
In the end, we didnāt even get answers to all the questions, and not in a fun cliffhanger or philosophical statement deliberate sort of way. There WAS a cliffhanger of sorts, but I do not feel like my lingering questions were intentional there. I more fell like the author had a really cool concept he wanted to pitch and didnāt know what to do with it so he fluffed hundreds of pages of history and scientific geeking out, dropped a novella or even short storyās worth of plot, then closed the book.
Finally, Iāllsay before my spoiler talk that there are different levels of sci-fi you can find, from low/soft to high/hard, where high/hard is heavily based in science, or heavily based in fantastical, āout thereā concepts. 3BP drags you through DENSE quantum, theoretical, astro, micro, macro, and every other kind of -physics, but in a way that walking away Iām not sure how much I can say āwell, at least I learned a lot from itā because Iām not sure how much was true or embellished to lay the groundwork for the plot points. I donāt think Cixin (or Ken as translator) did a bad job of breaking down the concepts to understand (aided by the scientists often explaining the concepts to non-scientists, or at least scientists not in that specific field). But I did struggle a lot with dense passages where I couldnāt be sure if this was a concept I would need to know later or if it was a character waxing on for their own interest. I was often torn between ādo I skip this passage or do I just put the book down for nowā as my eyes glazed over. And every time I put the book down, I felt no obligation to pick it back up besides a faint curiosity and a sunken cost fallacy of āwell, Iām already this far, maybe eventually it will get better.ā
There were some cool concepts that Cixin was trying to get at that I feel were left half-presented or dropped n on the table with an āis this anything?ā look, like if we wanted to feel some way about the content, that was up to us to go through the mental work on. Was it ethical to keep āless educatedā people in the dark? Did Cixin mean to present a view that was so anti-religion? (Was he trying to say anything about religion at all?)
I feel the strongest points made (and the reason I gave the book as relatively high a rating as I did) were the parallels drawn between Trisolaran and Earth views about who deserves to thrive, the struggle for survival and at what point is it ethical (or not) to give up your own survival for another society that may ādeserveā it more. This is the question I think Iāll ponder on into this new year, and Cixinās strongest win.
I was also saddened by how such a cool concept as this alien society was still so clearly limited by the authorās very traditional views on things. A planet as advanced as this, with such unique bodies and minds, but thereās only 2 genders/sexes, and theyāre heterosexual and monogamous? With every important person in the world (three body game version or ārealā At the end) a man? Someone will roll their eyes at me on this for being ātoo wokeā but Iām just not sure a cishet patriarchy needs to be reflected in the aliens too. Alas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Genocide, Violence, Death of parent, Police brutality, Xenophobia, War, and Death
Moderate: Suicide, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Child death, Sexism, and Hate crime
coolfijiwater's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Torture, and Suicide
Minor: Genocide
ekcd_'s review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Itās all spoilers this whole thing.Ā
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about ālike what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?ā He put characters in so it wouldnāt just be a really bizarre lectureĀ
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.Ā
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.Ā
Nothing in this story or itās writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.Ā
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people sayingĀ āyou didnāt finish it so you canāt comment on itāĀ
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!Ā
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about ālike what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?ā He put characters in so it wouldnāt just be a really bizarre lectureĀ
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.Ā
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.Ā
Nothing in this story or itās writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.Ā
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people sayingĀ āyou didnāt finish it so you canāt comment on itāĀ
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!Ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Hate crime, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Classism, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
I donāt regret reading this because at least it gives me something concrete to point my unhinged anger at. Going to drink some tea and read something that I know is good and purehuntersrl's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Genocide