A review by nate_meyers
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu

2.0

This book is just okay. Maybe it deserves 2.5 stars, but not 3. I had high hopes since I absolutely loved the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy. But Ball Lightning suffers from much weaker characters, far less interesting science, and a plot that is mostly concept explanation. Sure it was written in 2003, well before Remembrance of Earth's Past, but that's not a valid excuse to read it. I say skip this book, skip watching The Wandering Earth, and skip the recent New Yorker profile of Cixin Liu where he basically embraces the full Chinese party line. If you do all these things AND read the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy then you will love Cixin Liu and his writing. (As you can tell, my appreciation for him has come down significantly).