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Three body problem does suffer the problem of weak characterization. Liu's account of his characters are often robotic and functional, in a way that is pretty a
by tanilama 8y ago
Three body problem does suffer the problem of weak characterization. Liu's account of his characters are often robotic and functional, in a way that is pretty anti-climatic, since you hardly feel for those characters and their fate. They are disposable vehicles with string attached, who don't control their own fate or make their own decisions but simply carry out appointed missions from the author himself.
Granted, his vision for the story is simply brilliant, which covers up a lot of weak points in his literary skills, but weakness is weakness nevertheless. In a way, Three Body Problem series aren't good novels, since it lacks humartian elements in them, but great sketchbooks of some of the craziest, but at the same time, most beautiful SF ideas in decades.
- baxtr 8y agoSo basically your saying: don’t read the novels but instead read the Wikipedia articles if you’re interested in crazy SF ideas?
- ctchocula 8y agoI think he's saying the ideas are good, but characterization sucks. I might compare it to Asimov: one would never read Asimov for the characters or the psychological insight (like one would read Tolstoy), but one reads Asimov for the plot and the ideas. It's not for everyone, but you would need to read the book to see if it's for you. To say just read the Wikipedia articles would be unjust. My advice: read it if you liked Asimov or learning about Chinese culture. For example, another commenter pointed out one theme in this trilogy is "The most powerful human trait is the ability to hide ones true feelings and thoughts from others". This is a markedly Chinese trait that it was noted by a missionary who visited China in the 19th century and wrote a book called "Chinese Characteristics".