Reviews

The Redemption of Time, by Baoshu

kmc3050's review against another edition

1.0

1. Did Baoshu read the same trilogy I read? Doesn't feel like it. Maybe something was lost in the translations? I didn't know this was fanfiction until I started it, but I went ahead since it had the original authors okay. Big mistake. The female characters are flat, the plot is ridiculous, and the Trisolarans are completely wrong. I'm also not sure what the Avatar bit at the end was about. Just skip this one and stick to the actual trilogy.

vari's review against another edition

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

4.0

thebartbenjamin's review against another edition

3.0

3.5/5
Fine, yet not as good as the original trilogy. It has some good ideas, but not good enough. And the Polish translation is full of mistakes...

tripclaw's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars

bsparks2112's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

For me, this was a case of trying not to let expectations get too high, but in the end this was still a letdown. As an "elevated" fan-fiction release, sanctioned by the author of the actual Three-Body Problem trilogy but held as an interesting side-story, I wasn't sure what to expect; what presents itself here is mostly exposition and dialogue that attempts to fill in some of the gaps left in certain characters' arcs in the main trilogy. It's an interesting approach, and it does have some neat ideas, but it's largely just long conversations where characters explain things to each other, and the quality of the writing isn't up to the task of making that a compelling read. It's not terrible, and I always tend to give some lenience to translated works when it comes to things like how natural the dialogue sounds, but there's not a lot that stands out either. Most of the high-concept ideas contained here are borrowed or extrapolated from Cixin Liu's main work, with a few creative spins (and a neat twist at the very end, I admit) but not a ton of originality or thrilling happenstance. I don't fully regret reading it, and it's short page count helps in this regard, but it certainly doesn't rise to the level of the trilogy that inspired it.

meiko's review against another edition

3.0

Not nearly as well thought out as the original. Writing style is a lot more crude, too. Three stars because the story is interesting enough, despite plot holes. On the other hand, the off-handed sequel in the end is far better concocted. Could do with less name dropping, but comparatively better rounded.

Read the Mandarin Chinese version. As with the originals.

blackrainbows's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

3.0

Interesting stories, a good additional to the original books, however the ending is disappointing. There must be a better way to finish this story, it was a very boring and underwhelming twist. 

rupl's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

4.0

It was a fun riff on the existing Trilogy, which did a good job imagining a few of the gaps in the story of the original. The ultimate plot arc was a little abstract for my taste, but reviving the characters and having one more adventure made it fun and even a bit nostalgic to read, making me want to revisit Remembrance of Earth’s Past.

tristan_alan's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I went in hoping for something fun and stupid in the Three Body universe, and instead got something incredibly obtuse, poorly written, and tone deaf to the original. The first half is filling in plot holes of the original series ( sometimes this works, other times it just sours past fond moments from the series). The second half of the book is an incoherent mess with all of the fun taken out of what should have been cool 10 dimensional interstellar warfare. The ending was so shockingly bad I yelled out loud.

I really wanted to like this but it was not for me. At times it was nice getting to see these characters again (despite them being hollow shells of the originals), so I'm at least glad I got to spend a bit more time with them. Worth picking up if you really must, but read at your own risk!

andre93na's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5