The Three Body Problem
I won’t sit here and tell you I’m a Physicist. Luckily, neither is our protagonist, Wang Maio. He’s just a researcher into nanomaterials; way out of the league of theoreticians like Yang Dong and Ye Zhetai.
Both of them are high level physicists, peering into the very fundamental issues of the universe. String Theory. Particles, sub-atomic particles, particle accelerators. Clearly much smarter than the average person.
But smart doesn’t mean alive. Forty-ish years in the past from our present, and Wang Maio’s professor Ye Zhetai is publicly accused by four junior girls of the Red Guard who beat him with belts when they cannot beat his arguments. The youths are intoxicated with the fervor of the Cultural Revolution and for the glory of China to strike and kill the Bourgeoisie, the intellectuals, the West, and the capitalist system that has kept the working masses of the People’s Republic from their full might.
From those ashes; the stains of revolution, modern China and the world faces another existential crisis. Elite-elite scientists all over the world have begun to die of mysterious causes. All the victims are theoretical physicists. Like Ye Zhetai’s granddaughter, Yang Dong. She has committed suicide by the opening of the book.
Humanity faces an entity which can threaten the very nature of physics itself. And that enemy turns its eyes on to Wang Miao, who feels a little out of place. He’s an applied science sort of person. Much too concrete for the abstractions of the quantum realm.
His touchstone and deuteragonist is the unassuming Shi Qiang, or Big Shi. A retired military-turned-cop; who’s experiences have given him none of the technical knowledge of the scientists, but the everything that the Global Military alliance needs to track down this enemy, be it human or alien.
The mysteries deepen.
The shadowy legion known as the Frontiers of Science contacts Wang.
The Three Body Problem goes live, a unique immersive video game, attracts thousands of players seeking answers.
What culminates from these threads is a conclusion that does exactly what science fiction is supposed to do.
Turn a mirror on humanity. To reveal its ugly truths; but also shine a bright beacon on its future.
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I’m going to start spoiling from here, and the book is fine with spoilers but for the sanctity of the story, I would suggest you just take my words up to here for it. This is an incredible book, made better by the novel author [I read very few Mainland authors.] The translation is a little jarring in places but it matches the tone of its mother tongue; as said by a bilingual. The pacing is excellent so no part is a slog but by the final third, you are in a roaring roller-coaster of revels and expansions. Page by page, chapter by chapter; Cixin Liu’s characters have incredibly poignant perspectives on the world and suspenseful moments of tension and heroism. Truly a masterclass of the genre.
Da Shi is a fun character and I love how he is written into these situations. His wisdom comes from experience, sharp eyes, creative thinking, and a steadfast sense of knowing what he can and must do. He’s quite the hero and I enjoy his ability to outthink all the white coats in the room.
The video game immersion is not the strongest part, but the Alpha Centurion reveal is freaking fantastic, tied right into China’s very old history of observing it. It’s also a cool way to introduce the Alien world, along with all the old historical figures. China’s man-made computer. The European masters.
But really the kicker is the pseudo-science. Mastering the nano and subatomic systems to stretch a proton to two dimensions, etch a computer on to it’s face, and then use quantum entanglement to have them communicate to each other over light years of distance instantaneously! Crazy. Use them to replace the particles that are being hit by our colliders and spit out false data. Enthralling. That the universes in the dimensions above and below ours, probably teeming with civilizations all their own, eradicated every time we smash particles together, fascinating.
All in all, I totally loved the book. I can’t wait to reread it. I highly recommend if you like any sort of science fiction and especially if you want to broaden your authorial voices.
4.5/5, a phenomenal science fiction book.
