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Cixin Liu's 'Remembrance of Earth’s Past' trilogy are the greatest sci-fi books I've ever read. I still remember when I picked the first volume and than patient
by Jerry2 8y ago
Cixin Liu's 'Remembrance of Earth’s Past' trilogy are the greatest sci-fi books I've ever read. I still remember when I picked the first volume and than patiently waited for a very long time for translations of the next books to arrive. The wait was well worth it. He manages to put his characters into seemingly insurmountable situations and it feels like he won't be able to write his way out of them but somehow he manages to achieve the impossible. His world-building skills are second to none and he introduced so many novel and interesting technologies into his universe.
Liu's a true master of sci-fi (and definitely a genius) and these books are my favorite fiction books of all time. After I finished the last book, I was depressed because I realized that I'm not going to read something this great again for a very long time. They're also the first Chinese sci-fi books I've ever read. Since then, I read the rest of Liu's books (including the Ball Lightning which came out last year).
Can't recommend these books highly enough but beware that it might make subsequent sci-fi books less enjoyable since you'll be judging them by a different yardstick. I tried to read so many sci-fi books since (I usually buy various award winning books since it's a decent filter) but I rarely finish them because they never capture my attention (and imagination) like Liu's books.
- yanowitz 8y agoI listened to them. The audio books are truly wonderful and immersive narrative (all 96 hours!). I can’t recommend them enough to hard sci fi fans. Although I did have a few false starts with the first book.
- mercutio2 8y agoWow. I couldn’t stand the first book of this series. Interminable, I never built any empathy for any of the characters. I’ve been told it gets better after the first book, but why would I subject myself to another book after my experience of the first? Anyway, to each their own, but as a huge sci-fi fan, I generally love the Hugo winners and nominees. The Chinese sci-fi that’s been nominated has all left me cold.
- dominicr 8y agoSame for me. From reading only a few Chinese/Asian books I think the problem is that each culture has its own style of writing fiction and Chinese books tend to have a slower pace and more introspection. You also get that in some English language fiction, but not so much in sci-fi, so the average English culture sci-fi reader is going to going to get frustrated with Chinese language sci.fi.
- Jerry2 8y ago>I’ve been told it gets better after the first book, but why would I subject myself to another book after my experience of the first? I was not a huge fan of the first book either but saw the potential. Second book, The Dark Forest, is the greatest of the three (IMO anyway). Third book is also amazing. Definitely 'endure' reading through the first one and then you'll be rewarded with 2nd and 3rd.
- stone-monkey 8y agoThe second is my favorite by far as well, but I find it funny how it's described as amazing Sci-Fi when I have to describe the plot. Half the book is spoilers The result of granting a nerd all the resources of the Earth at his disposal. He promptly uses it to find the perfect waifu and seduces her in his idyllic European villa. That's not Sci-Fi; That's a power fantasy as old as time.
- erinnh 8y ago
- Hasknewbie 8y agoI read the first book in that trilogy, and it struck me how much it was a product of the Hu Jintao era. Under the presidency of Xi Jinping this book would have never been allowed. Way too snarky about the Cultural Revolution (I mean, in it there's a university professor that gets literally lynched by 'revolutionary' students because he refuses to parrot some party line. And that's just chapter one), and the Xi administration are not known for their sense of humour.
- yoz-y 8y agoOne interesting thing: The English translation starts with the cultural revolution bit, but the original book has it in the middle. The author said that he actually intended to start with this part to put things in a context but ultimately moved it around in order to not stir things up. There is also a movie that has finished filming but is in post production hell. Allegedly because of money issues but who knows.
- jandrese 8y agoI'd worry about about how the books translate to film. A lot of what makes the books interesting is the sort of game-theory parts that are going to be confusing and boring on the big screen.
- rsynnott 8y agoI did wonder about this; I was a little surprised how political it was (both with the Cultural Revolution bit and more generally).
- tomoya 8y agoI am also a fan of Da Liu. I think that Da Liu’s novel sci-fi color is only a part of it. It brings us more of his thoughts on human nature in a close-up environment. It is worth pondering.
- _greim_ 8y agoI read the first book and I liked it conceptually. Sometimes I feel like sci-fi authors try too hard to follow "show don't tell" [1] when it comes to characters' emotional state, but this author tells us at every point explicitly how astounded or confused the character is, almost to an absurd degree. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell
- opaque 8y agoI'm reading the three body problem right now and I find the declarative (Tell) nature of characters emotional states and descriptions ("beautiful young girl") to be a real weakness. In reality both are a highly nuanced and subjective. I would say my own emotional state is rarely definable as a single adjective with a direct cause. I'm trying to ascribe it to translation and cultural difference, but it really does just seem like poor or childish writing. I'll have to read some other Chinese fiction as a control experiment.
- twelfthnight 8y ago'Remembrance of Earth’s Past' trilogy is spectacular. At the risk of this becoming a list of everyone's favorite novels, I'd put the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons in the same league as that trilogy.
- dominicr 8y agoGood comparison, in that there were chapters in both sets of books that I had to persevere through. But that paid off in the Hyperion Cantos but unfortunately I never felt the reward was worth the work for Remembrance of Earth.
- iamthepieman 8y agoThe first introduction to the “Dark Forest” theories is worth the first book and the lead up in the second. I enjoyed the first book, was blown away by the second and the third felt like it went too far though it did introduce interesting concepts, I did not care about the main female protagonist at all. I do not and could not recommend the entire series wholesale though. It’s definitely not fore everyone.
- demilicious 8y agoCompletely disagree. The science was pretty good, for a pop audience, but there was zero character development - beyond Luo Ji, zero characters develop in the _entire series_. I don't want to spoil anything, of course, but you can pretty much decide the rest of the series based on what I've already written. Extremely disappointing.
- legionof7 8y agoI actually thought that there was some character development (like the Swordholder woman, I forgot her name). It's not "good" development but I think it's there. I also think that other parts of the series make up for it. Ofc, to each their own, books are subjective.
- demilicious 8y agoInterestingly I was thinking of her when I made the initial comment - I didn't mention her specifically, in order to avoid spoiling anything, but in my opinion she did not develop at all. Again, I don't want to talk specifically about any further events in the series, but to me, she didn't evolve at all as a character.
- cizezsy 8y agoI am a Chinese, I agree with you. This book is consist of many wonderful "ideas" and bad-portray characters. In fact, IMHO, the characters in this book are only used to introduce those "ideas". But, those "ideas" are really amazing. This why some people love it, some think it is bad.
- zone411 8y agoIf your tastes require solid character development then sure. But other people might enjoy a book more for its plot or ideas. There are books (especially in science fiction), movies, and TV shows that are widely recognized as very good without a lot of character development.
- 8y ago
- chillacy 8y agoAfter reading I've been wondering what some of the unique themes are which arise from the author being Chinese. Here's what I've thought of (Spoilers Ahead): 1. Tri-solaran civilization = chinese civilization in many ways: Unlike say America, where technology has developed constantly, in tri-solaris technology develops only during "stable eras" and stops developing or regresses when too many suns are in the sky, or not enough suns are in the sky. Compare that to chinese history: periods of technology/cultural development interspersed with being conquered by "barbarians" or large civil wars. Also tri-solarans are a pretty unforgiving culture, in one scene a tri-solaran king casually executes someone for failing to do their duty. Later in the series they import ideas like human rights from Earth. 2. The scene where tri-solaris wipes out the entire earth fleet with technology unknown to Earth seems pretty reminiscent of a lot of instances where one culture armed with a thousand spears meets another armed with a dozen guns. Earth comes into the exchange feeling confident too, perhaps reminiscent of the boxer rebellion. 3. Black and white thinking in the first book (tri solarans are evil vs tri solarans are gods) might be similar to the various ideological movements in china, from the cultural revolution to capitalism today.
- njarboe 8y agoNot necessarily uniquely Chinese trait, but an idea I had never read in western sci-fi. 1. The most powerful human trait is the ability to hide ones true feelings and thoughts from others. I have not read enough Chinese sci-fi to know if this is a recurring theme.
- jorgesborges 8y agoI accidentally read the third book in the trilogy first. I didn't notice until I finished it and looked for the second one. I was in camping mode on a kindle with a pirated copy. But I still remember the first chapter of that book, about buying the star, it was so beautiful I almost cried. I stayed awake all night reading. And I remember slowly learning about the Trisolarans and about the history of the wallfacers, and the centuries of conflict between earth and this other civilization. I thought it was just hard sci-fi and I loved it. I later picked up the first and second. They were great but never came close to how special my experience was of reading the third, and I'm even thankful for having read it first.
- stefanfisk 8y agoDude - spoilers!
- spullara 8y agoHonestly the trilogy isn't that great as literature. It feels like an amalgam of all the cool ideas the author ever had forced into a narrative. The individual ideas are really interesting and cool but there is little to no character development and the plot can be silly at times. I don't think it is the worst science fiction I have read but to me it doesn't hold together as a story.
- blackrock 8y agoI think it depends on what you want out of it. In western sci-fi, the story exists to make the reader feel good about themselves. At least, the successful ones are like this. It makes for good movies, and good story telling. Think about that for a moment. All the western sci-fi that we've been used to: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, etc.. All these stories are not really science fiction, but rather, science fantasy. It goes through the normal story telling, of establishing a good guy and a bad guy. And it tries to pull you in, to empathize with the challenges of the good guy, so that you can experience his trials and tribulations. And then, at the end, the good guy always wins. He always succeeds, in some way or other. And you're left with feeling a sense of joy. But, Cixin Lui's stories, threw all that aside. He presented you with the cold hard reality, of survival in the jungle. That there are not really any good or bad sides. Just different perspectives. And everyone is just trying to survive. And the jungle is the galaxy. Western sci-fi is all about being human-centric, as if we are the only species in the universe that matters. Whereas Cixin, presented us with a reality, where humanity is only one of billions of intelligent species. Those that had survived the jungle, or those that hide from the rest, or those that evolved into another form, or those that end up hunting, to maintain their probability of survival. So, if you want to continue to feel good about yourself, then stick with what you know. Keep reading western sci-fi. If you want to expand your mind, then try out Cixin's novel. Admittedly, I think something was lost in translation. The translated text was overly wordy. But the concepts behind it, was still incredible. I especially loved the story about the human computer system, the Qin 1.0 Operating System. That was quite creative.
- arkh 8y agoYou may want to read Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space.
- pferde 8y agoI would also recommend David Brin's Uplift Series, set in a universe where the human race is just a very small (and barely tolerated) side-note. While sometimes being overly focused on the ecology angle - although not as much as his standalone book "Earth" - they're great reading.
- yoz-y 8y agoAccording to comments in this thread this book seems to be either at the top or the bottom of the pile. To me this is a good indicator of a good book. Like in music, if you want to be interesting you can't cater to everyone, adding stuff that some people hate will make other people love it. Personally I really liked the series, although I think that the story could have been cut a little shorter at the end and it could have done without perpetrating the stereotype of young women marrying way older men.