The Three-Body Problem / Cixin Liu

The Three-Body Problem
(book 1 of 3)
(translated by Ken Liu)
by Cixin Liu

science fiction

copyright 2006, translated in 2014
read in May 2016

rated 7/10: well worth reading if you like a mix of science with reasonable plot
... or 6/10: read to pass the time
... or 7/10: well worth reading as an example of Chinese science fiction

This book was briefly reviewed in the daily paper. I seem to remember that the review was very positive, positive enough for me to want to read the book. I don't remember the review mentioning that this book is the first of three. Makes me wonder if the reviewer read to the end... or read at all.

There is no hint on the cover of the book that this is book one of three. (Not on the cover of my ebook, anyway.) Makes me wonder if marketing cares at all about the reader. Certainly makes me feel cheated.

The Three-Body Problem is the first book of a trilogy. Yes, there is a reasonable ending. No, it is not a conclusion.

That said... I enjoyed the book, I am disappointed at the non-ending, the book is not good enough for me to be really annoyed that it is "to be continued".

The book is not very well written. It rambles. There is an awful lot of scientific explanation, not enough active use of the science. It reminds me of the Long Earth series -- except that Three-Body does have enough real plot to be interesting. But really...

The aliens want to unfold a proton from eleven to three dimensions. I have no problem with that. But do we really want to unfold to one dimension -- with several pages of what that looks like... then to two dimensions -- with several pages of discussion... The possibility of zero dimensions gets it right: a few paragraphs of the possibility, then get back to the main story.

Why is it so?

Let's look at the scientific explanations in The Long Earth, versus that in The Three-Body Problem. In Long Earth, there is the feeling that the author is writing a science primer. That the primer is aimed at readers because the author believes that every reader should learn the science. There is little on no plot to support the science.

In Three-Body there is the feeling that the author believes that every reader will share the author's interest in science. Yes, it's heavy science but here is a clear (simplified) explanation. The book is for readers who could have been science nerds but their careers took other paths. Meanwhile, here's enough plot to hold everyone's interest.

In an earlier post I put forward my understanding of science fiction writing awards: They are awarded to books which will drive the mainstream reader away from science fiction. They are awarded to books which talk down to readers who are not fully qualified nerds. Science fiction book awards are given to authors who clearly demonstrate that they are so much cleverer than the average reader.

Three-Body will never win that sort of award. I hope. Three-Body does not talk down to its readers.

So Three-Body is good science fiction. But...

Speaking of two dimensions... the characters are varied but flat. Or are they subtly understated, in the inscrutable Chinese way? Am I allowed to write that?!

I do enjoy the gradual unfolding of the story. We start with the Cultural Revolution -- which is interesting from an outsider's perspective. They really did use all those funny names?! At the time I thought it was all a Western joke! The story is simple enough but still enough to keep me reading.

What is actually happening -- or has happened -- is very gradually revealed. Amongst a lot of simple scientific explanation and drifting but coherent action. The story is interesting -- but there is no tension.

The book is a mish-mash of styles... Mostly, very old styles. The aliens almost say, Puny Earthlings, we will crush you with our mighty tentacles! The Earthlings are out-gunned -- but will clearly win due to our ability to love and lie. When the plot needs an explanation -- the villains either crack under minimal pressure or brag, so we can find out what is happening.

Then there is the four and a half century deadline to ultimate destruction... Is this a Chinese thing? An inbuilt acceptance of long, slow development?

And speaking of Chinese...

At first I thought that the translation was rather weak. The quality of the English is -- at the start -- rather poor. Poor sentence construction, poor use of words. It improves as the book goes on... Or, possibly, I get used to it.

Then, at the end, I read the translator's note. Which is very interesting! He tries to avoid a simple, literal translation. Instead, he tries for a translation of both words and meaning. (I remember that in our version of Inspector Rex. The spoken German was sometimes an odd colloquialism, the English subtitles used different words. Same meaning but expressed as would be usual for the language in use.)

The translation was never weak enough to detract, just to be occasionally odd. The translator's explanation was interesting. His views on translation are excellent.

The book also has a comment from the author, written for the English-language edition. Interesting enough... Though the main point of interest is... The author is just as wordy in an author's note as he is in the book itself.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
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"Today is your day ! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way."    — Dr. Seuss