The first one’s the hurdle (although I loved it). But the second two books are pure gravy. Push on through! This author’s a genius.
Sounds like a good novel.
quietly adds to his TO READ list
I was a little cold on the first but it’s a book that’s stayed with me for a while now. I have the second waiting and I will get around to it next. It’s reassuring to hear the series only gets better.
Things I particularly liked in the first novel: the sheer scale of the ideas & learning more about China’s Cultural Revolution.
I have a high tolerance for this kind of hard SF that others might find dry and bounce off completely. The only thing that really annoyed me about it was [redacted because spoiler thing not working]
Otherwise, I’m looking forward to getting more of Big Shi and the gang.
I’ve only read the first book thus far, and it is certainly worth reading, but I would agree that his characters are pretty forgettable in comparison to the story itself. In fact I found the various “organizations” in the book rather ridiculous.
Read the first two, didn’t realize the third came out, will have to read that next.
I loved his use and explanations of n+ dimensions, I thought it was worth it just for that.
It has been a while since I read it but what I enjoyed in the book was the (eventual) reveal of what was actually happening. A really intriguing premise and well wrapped up in some of the latest science. But I don’t think that explanation justified the story’s earlier events, the suicides and what-not. I also didn’t buy the motivations of the various human factions, the video game element was absurd and, as others have mentioned, the characters really thin.
The ability for Liu to publish a story which emphasized his obvious disdain for the Cultural Revolution surprised me. I thought the Chinese censorship machine was all about preventing such views. No?
I’ve always felt that the greatest and most beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights and novelists, but told by science. The stories of science are far more magnificent, grand, involved, profound, thrilling, strange, terrifying, mysterious, and even emotional, compared to the stories told by literature. Only, these wonderful stories are locked in cold equations that most do not know how to read.
I respectfully disagree. Among other things, science teaches us we don’t matter. Among other things, religion teaches us we do matter.
While I also don’t necessarily agree with Liu, I don’t see any mention of the quote you pulled that he’s referring to religious stories. On the whole religious texts and stories are dry and dull, and the scientific explanations of our being, while still incomplete, are far more wondrous. But there are obviously many wonderful stories that are neither scientific nor religious.
All right, all right…
Sure, but I brought up religious stories because a) that’s my own area of study and b) no one has ever considered “boy meets girl” stories or “man vs nature” stories mutually exclusive with science.
-Tom
I think religions take off because of hope, fear, and yearning, and someone convinces people the stories are true, not because they’re particularly great. If it was great stories that drove religious fervor a bunch of us would be worshiping Daenerys’ dragons.
[quote=“wonboodoo, post:29, topic:129406, full:true”]If it was great stories that drove religious fervor a bunch of us would be worshiping Daenerys’ dragons.
[/quote]
Hmm. You might want to work on your go-to for “great stories”.
-Tom
Worshipping Jaws then, or perhaps Chief Brody? :-)
Carl Gottlieb should be a household name, I tell you!
-Tom
Unless you’re Lot’s daughters.
Ha. Or if you’re some innocent Egyptian visited with plagues. Or some innocent Canaanite slaughtered by divine command… or-- well, anyway, at least Job mattered, though he might have preferred to have gone unnoticed…
Coincidentally, I happened to have just finished reading the first book when this post popped up. I have to say, while I really enjoyed it, I didn’t feel any particular compulsion to read the rest of the trilogy. The premise seemed kind of played out by the end of the first book, but based on what you lot are saying it looks like I’ll reverse that position.
I felt almost exactly the opposite at the end of The Three-Body Problem…I thought many of the major questions remained unanswered. But either way, reading all three books is the right thing to do!
I felt completely like that, but I am so happy I kept reading. It is so worth it.
Bought the second book and bumped it up my queue.
Yes, that would be nice.
No idea why this username shows up. When I made the previous comments a few years ago, I’m sure I had put in a regular username.
PM me the username you want.