The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

I recently finished The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I owe our roommate Jane a debt of gratitude for introducing me to Cixin. She’s Chinese and gifted me the English version, saying it was her favorite Chinese fiction. This is the first Chinese science-fiction to become a major hit to the point that it has been translated and distributed in the US and I can certainly see why.

Good reads describes the book as, “With the scope of Dune and the commercial action of Independence Day,Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from China’s most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.”

I enjoyed the book but I didn’t love it. The pacing was a bit slow at times and I really didn’t find myself identifying with any specific characters on any deeper level. I imagine that with the backstory out of the way, the next 2 books will be significantly faster in their pacing, so I’ll certainly read the next two.  I did really enjoy the effort the author made to use real science and physics and build it in to the story in a way that it was incredibly easy to understand and visualize. The 3-bodies game did this in a way I haven’t seen in almost any science fiction I’ve come across. There’s also something distinctly Asian in the sensibilities of the characters that I can’t quite articulate but is a very interesting contract to American authors.

Overall if you like science fiction this is definitely worth a read. I’m looking forward to the English translations of the next two.