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> I also really didn't like the three body problem. Did you read the whole trilogy or just the first one? Because I didn't like the 3 body problem, but the dar

> I also really didn't like the three body problem. Did you read the whole trilogy or just the first one? Because I didn't like the 3 body problem, but the dark forest is my favorite sci-fi novel ever and death's end was great as well.

varjag 6y ago
Not the GP, but I read the whole trilogy and also didn't like it. One aspect was just too much space commissars for me (a former Soviet citizen). The science behind it is also bad; the view on social dynamics is simplistic. Some of the characters are, uh, not even cardboard. I had it recommended as hard SF so maybe it set my expectations wrong.
- AbrahamParangi 6y ago
  The three body problem is sort of inverted magical realism. Everything that’s usually fake in magical realism (like the physics) is rendered with care and respect- and everything that’s usually real (the people and their interactions) is fake and dreamlike.
  - varjag 6y ago
    And I mean the physics is also questionable, with stretched out protons and everything. More a Princess of Mars than Mars Trilogy.
  - atombender 6y ago
    There's also the prose itself. I don't know if it's the translation or it's how the original is written, but I found Liu Cixin's simplistic elementary-school-level language highly unengaging. It really reads like juvenile fiction. I've read that this style is typical of Chinese novels, but I can't confirm it.
- splintercell 6y ago
  The whole point of the three body problem series being a Chinese sci-fi is that it is the future envisioned by Chinese intellectuals. They really think that in case of an alien invasion United Nations will direct a centralized commission based human response. Disliking three body problem for the reasons you mentioned is like disliking 1984 because it had too much of totalitarianism for your taste.
  - varjag 6y ago
    Reasons like? Bad science? It's objectively bad there, in the sense of making shit up without even remote plausibility. Simpleton depiction of social dynamics? It has nothing to do with Chinese intellectuals; Strugatsky brothers and Stanislaw Lem did nuanced social commentary while living in similar regimes. And seriously am a bit at unease with the implication that it have to be flawed because it's from China. There are great, eloquent Chinese authors. Do read Folding Beijing (also not a hard-SF), it's simply in a different class.
dariusj18 6y ago
The Dark Forest is my favorite answer to the Fermi Paradox

varjag 6y ago

Not the GP, but I read the whole trilogy and also didn't like it. One aspect was just too much space commissars for me (a former Soviet citizen). The science behind it is also bad; the view on social dynamics is simplistic. Some of the characters are, uh, not even cardboard. I had it recommended as hard SF so maybe it set my expectations wrong.

AbrahamParangi 6y ago
The three body problem is sort of inverted magical realism. Everything that’s usually fake in magical realism (like the physics) is rendered with care and respect- and everything that’s usually real (the people and their interactions) is fake and dreamlike.
- varjag 6y ago
  And I mean the physics is also questionable, with stretched out protons and everything. More a Princess of Mars than Mars Trilogy.
- atombender 6y ago
  There's also the prose itself. I don't know if it's the translation or it's how the original is written, but I found Liu Cixin's simplistic elementary-school-level language highly unengaging. It really reads like juvenile fiction. I've read that this style is typical of Chinese novels, but I can't confirm it.
splintercell 6y ago
The whole point of the three body problem series being a Chinese sci-fi is that it is the future envisioned by Chinese intellectuals. They really think that in case of an alien invasion United Nations will direct a centralized commission based human response. Disliking three body problem for the reasons you mentioned is like disliking 1984 because it had too much of totalitarianism for your taste.
- varjag 6y ago
  Reasons like? Bad science? It's objectively bad there, in the sense of making shit up without even remote plausibility. Simpleton depiction of social dynamics? It has nothing to do with Chinese intellectuals; Strugatsky brothers and Stanislaw Lem did nuanced social commentary while living in similar regimes. And seriously am a bit at unease with the implication that it have to be flawed because it's from China. There are great, eloquent Chinese authors. Do read Folding Beijing (also not a hard-SF), it's simply in a different class.

dariusj18 6y ago

The Dark Forest is my favorite answer to the Fermi Paradox