Samantha's Reviews > The Three-Body Problem

I think you just need better Hard SciFi to read. ;)

I'm a big fan of the Hard SF but I was also frequently glazing over while reading this one. It's not the genre that is the issue. It is the execution. In my opinion, this is very far from a masterpiece of Hard SF. It doesn't hold a candle to the writings of Reynolds, Haldeman or many others.

There are many excellent genre novels featuring less navel-gazing about technology and more focus on interesting characters and their stories.

A couple of suggestions:
- The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

Dead on, Samantha. Great video reviews on YouTube btw

The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss is hard SF with powerful characterizations. It is not weapons and warfare or conspiracy dystopia, but something much more human and powerful. You might love it.

Yeah, I don’t think this is a masterpiece of hard sci fi (despite its accolades). It’s not you, it’s the book.

This is my favorite series, but looking back, the first book was very slow. It is almost the prelude for the rest of the series. I suggest picking up the second book. It delves more into human psychology/sociology than physics and covers the 400 years to the doomsday battle through the power of hibernation. It is a much faster passed novel that doesn't rely on existential dread from physics loosing it's theoretical backbone.

I really don't see how this book qualifies as hard sci-fi. To my mind Hard Sci-Fi either contains lots worldbuilding with a strong focus on internal consistency, or examines real-world scientific phenomena and speculates on what they might be in the future (or under different circumstances). Three-Body Problem doesn't do either of these things, instead it has pages and pages of references to scientific figures of jargon, but most of the "science" is made up or so badly researched it may as well be and is largely irrelevant to the actual story.

Not so obvious, in my opinion. I thought it was terribly wooden and clunky, with flat, un-engaging characters, and either bad writing or a very poor translation. I have no idea why this book has received such praise. I love hard sci-fi, but this book was utterly disappointing.

It absolutely is NOT a masterpiece of hard sci-fi. It's just... badly written sci-fi.

in my opinion, it is a great book, a masterpiece. as for hard sci-fi, it is that too. in physics, it's easy to describe the motion of a single body. A bit harder to describe the motion of two bodies relative to each other (and no other), they can move linearly, or rotate about each other. Three bodies? only special motions can describe them. The fact it was partially set during the cultural revolution, the persecution of the the intelligent really happened. I found it a little hard at first since everyone had chinese names (of course, makes sense, it's set in China), but once I got over that, it was a real page turner for me. but, I am a little biased here, my bachelors happens to be physics...

It is NOT hard sci-fi. It is very very soft sci-fi. It is all clad in scientific talk, but it is ALL wrong, it is bafflingly wrong. Everything sounds like somebody just read just the intro to the wikipedia article on every subject the book talks about and managed to misunderstand everyone of those intros.

Andreas what would you consider the hardest SF? Anything that’s similar to James Joyce Ulysses or Thomas Pynchon Gravity Rainbow? Thank you :)

Not sure why y'all don't think the three-body problem isn't hard sci-fi. THe author described the three body problem, and it is a problem that is impossible to solve short of some simplifications. Of course, this is a slight spoiler alert, but the simplifications which the book presents as not applicable:
1) one of the three bodies has neglible mass compared to the other two bodies. nope, all three bodies have non-neglible mass (aka not spaceship-to-sun
2) circular orbits. nope
3) one of the bodies has to be much larger than the other two. nope.

So we some hard science governing trying to find the solution to this three body problem within the game, and people trying to find it without dying (in game).

It's both computer science and astronomy.

Of course, if your definition of 'hard sci-fi' is different than mine, that's ok, then it's simply a matter of opinion.

My main disappointment is that when I started, I didn't realize it was part of a trilogy, and ended with a empire strikes back feel, in that it left me hanging. I do have to buy/read the other two books, which I haven't yet done, but will do, just won't happen till after March 2022 (where my reading nothing but hugo-winning personal challenge will end). I very likely won't finish that (it's 69 books, plus the 2021 one when that is awarded), but I'll get close, I'm at 45, so I'll probably be around 60...

It is not a character driven story. They are merely props.
The main protagonist is the plot and mystery.

I felt the exact same and I think it’s put me off science fiction for a long time

I totally empathize with negative reactions to the first novel. It is … strange. But I wonder how much of it has to do with western vs eatern cultural differences. Hopefully some Asian readers can illustrate.

I read the trilogy 6 years ago and I can still remember its emotional impact. True, there are some slow sections, but also superb moments. However, as with a symphony, you can’t really judge this trilogy only by its first book. Book 3 is an explosive action-packed novel that you would not fully appreciate or understand without reading the first two.

As with the first Dune movie, Cixin Liu takes his sweet time building up the backstory to give us an amazing finale with all the goodies sci-fi genre can offer.