Evidently, the three body problem has been unsolved by physicists dating back to Newton. This might have been acceptable in the early years of science fiction, but now it just seems like a bad novel.Īs for the science.I'm not a physicist, so I can't really discuss the physics. I won't say much more about this as it's a spoiler.

For example, Mike Evans, an environmentalist, conveniently inherits his billionaire father's money at just the right time in the plot. It's impossible to care about these people.Īnd there are many unbelievable plot developments. A few of them commit murders for which they seem entirely unremorseful. Most of the characters are cold and unsympathetic. Although most of the characters are academics or intellectuals, the most believable and interesting character turns out to be a coarse and apparently ignorant policeman, She Qiang (nicknamed 'Da Shi'). (Unfortunately I only have the audio for this, so I can't quote the text here).īut I found the writing wooden, the characters two-dimensional cartoonish stick figures, and the audio narration poor. I'm not sure if the problem was the translation, or the original text, or both. Plus, it's been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards.Īs often happens, I'm not with the majority opinion here. This got lots of four and five star reviews here on Goodreads. I'm not sure I read the same book as everyone else. Badly Written and Ill Conceived Science Fiction with a Few Interesting Ideas

The three body problem by cixin liu