The Three Body Problem

The Three Body Problem (三体) is a 2008 hard science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin (刘慈欣). The book was translated into English in 2014 and in 2015 became the first Asian novel to receive the Hugo Award (one of the two top award in sci-fi literature). I'll try and remain as vague as possible since this book gets the stamp: "better to go into it knowing very little", but the book is about human first contact with an alien civilization very unlike our own. The book non-linear and is set against the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and modern day and concerns many scientists, the military, and secret fifth column organizations. Amazon says "The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision." - Couldn't say it better myself.

So what makes this Chinese SF so great? Well, a lot. To begin the book is obviously originates and centers on Chinese characters and a Chinese historical, social, and cultural settings. The book opens with a vivid depiction of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution (I've come to the conclusion that Chinese censorship can't be consistent if they let this book through...lets get back on track) and I believe the English translation did a great job handling the outer narration and providing weight to the actions and reactions. The book is very ... cerebral? Rather the book is committed to being hard-SF, no giant space battles, a large amount of science discussion which the reader should benefit from the more they know about certain scientific principals and a bit of imagination. I really like the book's characters, the main(?) character Wang Miao is a level headed scientist, Shi Qiang, the "doesn't play by the rules" police detective, is a bold, magnetic personality, and other main Ye Wenjie, is just one of the most complex, engaging, sympathetic and un-sympathetic characters in SF I can recall.

The plot to get a little, but not too much, spoiler-ish:

The book involves an impending invasion from an alien species who's planet exists in a very unstable solar system, the book covers the first contact, the growth of an anti-human group and the chaotic developments of the alien's culture and strategy for survival topics really center around the consequences of human first-contact with another intelligent species and issues with alienation of people, and science

In some background reading I found this article which is written by someone better at writing reviews than me.https://www.tor.com/2014/11/25/three-body-problem-science/

I also want to give a shout out to the narrator, Bruno Roubicek, of the audiobook (which is how I "read" the book). Ever since 2017 (when I did a bunch of SF/Fantasy audiobook listening) I've come to appreciate quality in the way narrators are able to "preform" the book. Of course bitrate is important as is the quality of the recording - this one was good (although i've been stopped by bad quality/off voices before [Neuromancer]). Going above standard is all about bringing out the subtlety: pauses, inflections, soft but audible inhales or exhales, accents/voices, tone. I feel this book was really enhanced by the quality reading, like good subtitles on a already good anime.

If you can't read my post maybe the book isn't for you but I'll tag one on anyway.

TLDR; The Three Body Problem is a really great hard-science fiction book, with a unique Chinese cultural context, an original and complex first-contact story and sympathetic characters being put in challenging situations. The book stands out as a must-read in the genre. One of the best I've read.