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The Three-Body Problem (2008)

by Liu Cixin(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 9

ISBN

0765377063 (ISBN13: 9780765377067)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Tor Books

series

Three Body

review 1: I'm always a little nervous about reading a translated novel. So much depends on the quality of the translation that I'm worried about losing the original style of the author. I don't speak or read any other languages so this fear has never stopped me from reading a book that interested me. And I'm glad that I read The Three-Body Problem. It's the story of exploration and wonder from the late 1960s to present day China. Here in the US, we know very little about what Mao's Cultural Revolution was like to live through. And in our cultural biases we have always assumed that Russians and Americans were the only ones interested in space exploration and monitoring. That mindset is patently false,and the author does a wonderful job of dispelling that idea. There's a terri... morefying trial at the beginning where a young girl watches her father get tortured and killed for his beliefs in the power of science. This type of thing is going on all around the country. Intellectuals killed or "rehabilitated" is a common occurrence. Somehow Ye Wenjie, who witnessed her father's death, gets assigned to a remote radio base and is told that she can never leave. This is okay with her because she's alive and she still gets to practice science. Listening for sounds from outer space is a major priority for the Party. But it's a lonely business. At one point, Ye Wenjie gets a message from somewhere out in the vast universe. She keeps it to herself because she wants the aliens to come and wipe out humanity, which she feels has lost its way. Skip to the present day and things get interesting. The aliens have been communicating and the governments of the world are not happy. Throw in a spooky and strange virtual reality game and you have the makings of a large conspiracy network. Some people want the aliens to come. Others are afraid because they don't want the aliens to wipe out humanity. Inside of all of that, there lies a wonderful discussion of humanity's place in the universe. What does it mean that there is other life out there? Does that make humanity less special? Some feel like since the aliens can traverse the stars, that means that their society is a benevolent one, ruled by science. Again, others are not so sure. But the author does a masterful job of discussing these issues. There's one problem that I have. The message that Ye Wenjie receives can be translated into a language of Earth. That's a major stretch but necessary for the plot. If you can get past that, the rest of the story is amazing. It's a sci-fi novel, full of large concepts, but there is great attention paid to the little things. The characters are well-drawn with sympathetic people who have all-too-human faults. I highly recommend this book.
review 2: Amazing--a Chinese hard scifi novel that begins with the Cultural Revolution and a Chinese SETI-like project and then jumps to the present where a nanotechnology researcher is being pursued by a mysterious group that is linked to the deaths of scientists all around the world. The chapters are mostly set on Earth, in a reasonably realistic/current mode, but also depict what is going on inside the "Three Body" videogame and an alien civilization. None of the characters are particularly compelling, the main attraction is in the depiction of a scenario that feels like it could just almost happen--while pushing the bounds of technology/science somewhat--and working through how the consequences of this could unfold. There is certainly a sequel--I'm hoping it's a pair of books (or a trilogy) not an endless series, because the interest is in the world building much of which was fully revealed by the end of this outstanding book. less

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