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A review by jordanrisa
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
I know I’m in the minority here so don’t come for me!! It was such a struggle for me to get through this book, as 75% of it was scientific jargon. I had to skim through the book to finish it at all, and it wasn’t until I got to the part where it talked about why people were interested in the alien civilization — because they gave up all hope on humans and were willing to betray them — that it became interesting. I got excited and decided to finish the rest, to find out that the rest of the book went back to science speak. Also, the characters were generally pretty unlikeable and the storyline was hard to follow.
I wish there was more history as I enjoyed reading about China’s Cultural Revolution. My favorite part was honestly in the author’s postscript:
“There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté and kindness demonstrated by humanity when faced with the universe. On Earth, humankind can step onto another continent, and without a thought, destroy the kindred civilizations found there through warfare and disease. But when they gaze up at the stars, they turn sentimental and believe that if extraterrestrial intelligences exist, they must be… noble, moral… Let’s turn the kindness we show toward the stars to members of the human race on Earth and build up the trust and understanding between the different peoples and civilizations that make up humanity…”
If there was more of a focus on this, I think I’d love this book, but all the science and physics really put me off… which tells me I’m probably not into science fiction…
I wish there was more history as I enjoyed reading about China’s Cultural Revolution. My favorite part was honestly in the author’s postscript:
“There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté and kindness demonstrated by humanity when faced with the universe. On Earth, humankind can step onto another continent, and without a thought, destroy the kindred civilizations found there through warfare and disease. But when they gaze up at the stars, they turn sentimental and believe that if extraterrestrial intelligences exist, they must be… noble, moral… Let’s turn the kindness we show toward the stars to members of the human race on Earth and build up the trust and understanding between the different peoples and civilizations that make up humanity…”
If there was more of a focus on this, I think I’d love this book, but all the science and physics really put me off… which tells me I’m probably not into science fiction…