The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu | Book Review

I stumbled upon this famous Sci-fi trilogy called as The Three-body Problem by Chinese author Cixin Liu. It’s famous book that is translated into many languages. There is also high budget Netflix series is in making based on this book. So I decided to check this book first. It is hardcore science fiction which lead to journey that feels more real than fictional.

Genre: Science-fiction

Type: Trilogy

Age limit: 18+

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Thoughts:

Cixin Liu has created a story that resembles more of a future reality than a fiction. It jumps in two timeline i.e. 1967 & present day.

In 1967, when China was going through cultural revolutions many of the scholars has loss their lives because of scientific faith. Ye Weinjie, a young prominent astrophysicist was one of the survivors who witness the cruel and humiliating execution of her professor father. As a daughter of anti-nationalist she was sent to labour camp where harsh realities mold her into the person that hates everything. But unexpected opportunity come to her that way that lead her into the centre of secret project run by government called as Red Coast. Entering into such facility guarantee into the uncertain future but other than that what choice she had?

In present day, China has facing different crisis. Many of the important scholars are taking their own life. No one knows the main reason of it. To find out the root cause, government created a committee. Wang Miao, is an nanomaterial researcher that was appointed by this committee. Wang is uncertain about his role in this case. But soon he realized there is a weird game is involved.

“Three Body Problem” is a virtual reality game which is famous among the adults. The world of game is very similar to earth but physics law is different there. At first intrigued by the game Wang Miao soon discover the horrifying truth behind this game.

Reading this book was one of a kind experience. This was my first sci-fi book. I really like it. But the thing is this book is hard to understand. As a person with science background, it was really not a big problem for me. But the terminology and some concept from this book pulled me straight into my physics classroom. People who are very new to genre may find difficult to digest this book. It was big problem with this book.

Many people couldn’t understand this book. And those did, get whiplash by the intensity of this story.

The first book of this trilogy promises a good start. It end with suspense that I didn’t see coming. People who love reading this genre will love this book. But those who are not related to science might not like this one. 

Quotes:

"The gravity of reality is too strong."

"It is possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material. That the iceberg seems separate is only because it is in a different form. In reality, it is but a part of the vast ocean..."