http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063 Award winning, insanely popular science fiction book in China, recently translated into English. I am 19% of the way through (fast read so far) and I just hit the spot where I can see why this is popular. Dialogue is awkward due to cultural differences, but very well written so far.
sounds great. See you in 0192:26:16 then! Spoiler: don't open til you've gotten to 20% that was the shittiest half pun I've ever made. Laps taken!
Mystery is building, good setup, really makes me want to keep reading to find out what's going to happen. To anyone who starts, just know the first 15% is all setup, just keep reading. Also, DONT READ REVIEWS. Was going to grab book reviews to promote this as a book club book and I was really enjoying the suspense of not knowing wtf was going to happen (other than knowing it was a good book from the Writing Excuses podcast), and the reviews spoiled what the mystery is about (but not the ending). Still slightly bummed.
I am so confused yet so intrigued. Captain "Da Shi" Shi Qiang is a great character. Spoiler: favorite quote so far I’m a simple man without a lot of complicated twists and turns. Look down my throat and you can see out my ass. Also through 32% of this book I've learned I have no fucking clue how Chinese names work.
39-49% was tough reading at times due to the insane amounts of science and pseudoscience. I think that's in the past now.
I'm 70% through it. Haven't read it for awhile due to being busy. It's worth a read but only if you like sci fi
It's a good sci fi book for sure. I'm not a sci fi fan and it's still been a good read but just weird at times.
Started tonight and knocked out a good chunk. Through Chapter 7. Not really sure where we're going. Lots going on but Im really intrigued. Spoiler That was like a short story within the book. Reminded me of Ready Player One. Im done reading for the night, but Im dying to keep going to see what the significance of that was Also, Im glad you're having trouble with the names. I am too. I feel like a dumb American. They translated this to English. I wish they'd give them English names like Judy instead of Ye Zhetai and shit. Im only half kidding.
Through Chapter 11 Spoiler Im over this video game shit. I hate dream sequences as a plot device. This is pretty much the same thing. Looking forward to the next few chapters when it looks like we get to see what happened to Ye at this science compound.
Well bad news is you are about to go through what I thought was the slowest part of the book. Also, I'm at 80%. Fairly underwhelmed because nothing is happening. There was like 2-3 major plot events and since nothing. Thought shit would go down by now.
Through Part 2 / Chapter 20. Yep. That was pretty damn slow. This book is a physics nerd's wet dream Spoiler I just cant get into this video game. I know it's fake and thus it has no stake for me. Im sure/hope it has some kind of tie - in later. Pls tell me it picks up after this.
Through Chapter 23 Spoiler We have contact by Aliens. About damn time. Gonna try to knock the rest of this book out today. Im kind of getting sick of it and just want to finish
Finished. This book is for Neil Degrasse Tyson level psychics nerds. 80% of the book is science descriptions. The parts that were plot driven were cool, but man that was a slog. I'll probably read the rest of the books and hate myself for it. The english version of the third book doesnt come out until August, so I'll probably wait a bit to read the 2nd.
Finished. Slog. Science overwhelming everything by the end. 5.5/10 wanted to like it more than I did by the end.
I had a hold on it at the library for the last few months and I just picked it up last night. I only made it through the first 90 pages, but if I didn't have to go to bed and get up for work, I'd still probably still be sitting on the couch reading.
To this point, I think it's entirely original and very intriguing. I've always been fascinated by the Soviet era and the shitty things they did to their people. The Cultural Revolution is something that I haven't heard a lot about, so I do enjoy reading about that, as well.
Yeah. I hate to be a wet blanket but the first 25-30% was the most interesting to me. I knew very little about Mao and the Cultural Revolution. Did a lot of wiki-ing while reading the first part of this book. Also learned that 3 Body Problem is a well known basic physics theory/problem. Neat!
Only about 80 pages left. I'll finish it in my next sitting if I don't fall asleep. I have a general knowledge of science and I didn't think it was too much. It could get a bit technical at times, but I think most of the sciency stuff was necessary to explain what was going on. I'll definitely be picking up book 2 soon, and book 3 when it's translated.
2nd book, The Dark Forest, is much better. There's very little technical science, no jumping back and forth between the game and real life (IIRC, the game doesn't even exist anymore in the 2nd book), and it's very plot driven with lots of appearances by Da Shi. My only problem with it is that the ending seems pretty conclusive. I'm interested to see what the plot for the 3rd book will be.
Gone through Three Body and Dark Forest, found them both to be really great. Third book releases this month.
For chinese names, the last/family name comes before the first name and apparently you reference someone by their entire name. I read Three Body and listened to Dark Forest on Audible, my pronunciation of the names was WAY off. Da Shi is pronounced like da shur. Truman do you not know how to spell Physics?
Looks like you answered your own question. Have read the second book. The first one was such a slog, but Im going to give it a go
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and finished it in two sessions. The way the author really blurs the lines between science and fiction which is tight to me.
Just finished this book and laughing at how bad my takes were the first go around. In my defense, i was a pretty novice reader and i just didn’t get it. Really enjoyed it this time around and looking forward to reading the next two. And the TV series
Just finished the trilogy. One of the more challenging/ mind fuck things I’ve read. Just a lot to comprehend. Really enjoyed it. But also that last book was so long and dense. It could / should have been 2 book. By the end , I was hitting a wall. still a great series. Highly recommend and I get why it’s modern sci-fi canon
Three Body Problem comes out on Thursday!! They delay it 3 months only to start it the same day as the NCAA tournament. This is some bullshit!!
Read this trilogy back in 2019 when a friend bought all 3 books for me as a Xmas gift. I’m willing to watch the first episode to see if it catches my attention but I’m not a fan of making half of the relevant Chinese characters into British people
Loved the first season... I kind of want to read the series now. We have no clue if Netflix will finish the series, and even if they do, it may take 10 years to make all ~4 seasons. Adding it to my ever growing list of to reads.
Based on the show, this is one of my concerns, the video game portion of the books I bet are absolutely brutal. I can imagine in book format, it'll be tough to get through.
I couldnt get through the first book the first time I read it. I tried again this winter and loved it. It’s very dense. Not for everyone.