Book Review of The Three-Body Problem Trilogy by Liu Cixin
UPDATED: 2/5/2023
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The details of the remembrance of earth’s past Trilogy (also called the three-body trilogy in reference to the first book)
The Three-Body Problem is 416 pages, published in China in 2008 and published in English in 2014 (translation by Ken Liu)
The Dark Forest is 528 pages, published in 2015 (translation by Joel Martinsen)
Death's End is 624 pages, published in 2016 (translation by Ken Liu)
YOU MAY ENJOY THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE
Chinese history * Literary Science Fiction * Physics * Futuristic Ideas
TRAVEL INSPIRATION
This trilogy begins against the backdrop of the real-life Cultural Revolution in China, which occurred from approximately 1966 to 1976. The commentary, details, and perspectives offered about that time period are interesting and are told through the eyes of the author, who lived his formative years during this experience.
As translator Ken Liu describes in the afterward of the initial book in the trilogy, one of the challenges he was confronted with in translating this novel from Chinese to English is the different cultural ways of presenting a novel. He purposefully made the decision to translate portions of the book into styles more familiar to English-language readers and at other times maintained the integrity of the original style for affect. He also describes consulting with the author about places to add more historical detail and context for English-language readers who would not have the same familiarity as those reading the novel in Chinese.
As the trilogy progresses, the setting shifts from China out into the skies and stars, endless unexplored territory!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: liu cixin
Liu Cixin was born in China in 1963, on the cusp of the Cultural Revolution, which ended when he was about 13 years old. In his own afterward in The Three-Body Problem, Liu describes his views on science fiction. He writes that while the genre is often used to provide lessons to humanity via alternative reality scenarios, he doesn’t believe in approaching science fiction from that perspective. Liu is more enamored with the imagination of telling a beautiful story based in and of science, bringing it to life for people through a novel. It is hard, though, for a reader to not see parallels between the world Liu describes and warnings for our collective future.
Liu has won several coveted awards for his science fiction and has produced several works beyond this trilogy. He currently resides in China. At first read, a reader may wonder how Liu’s story is received in China, which is known for censoring works not aligned with government messaging; however, Liu has vocally shared his alignment to Chinese government policies and ideas. He received some negative press based on statements in support of the Chinese policy against the Uighur Muslim population. This led some individuals to push for Netflix, which had gained rights, to hold off on their production; however, they proceeded, have wrapped up filming (as of October 2022) and plan for a 2023 release.
While I personally disagree wholeheartedly with the Chinese treatment of the Uighur population, this conundrum begs the question: Can a Chinese writer honestly state his perspectives and have his work published and his personal safety (and that of his wife and daughter) maintained? Does Liu actually believe these things or is this a go-along-to-get-along strategy? No one except Liu himself can ever know the answer to that, and his visible support of the government in this regard has a real, negative impact regardless of any private thoughts. That said, I personally find Liu’s position that he is not trying to make any statements about humanity in his novels to be a bit suspect, but it does provide a nice bit of cover for him with his own government.
(Note: In China, individuals use their family name prior to their given name, so while “Liu Cixin” is the culturally-appropriate order for the author’s name, Westernized versions will flip the order to the more familiar “Cixin Liu”. For purposes of this review, I will use the culturally-appropriate option.)
Review of The Three-Body Problem Trilogy
“To infinity and beyond!” the call of the character Buzz Lightyear in the popular movie Toy Story might be the best unofficial motto of this trilogy, though that is skipping ahead to the final book in the trilogy. Consider for a moment what it would take for humans to truly turn all their focus to the skies. What impact would that have on the political, social, economic, and intellectual aspects of Earth? What if the gaze heavenward is the result of an existential threat from an alien society that is headed to the planet . . . but won’t arrive for centuries? In essence, it is these concepts that Liu explores through just such a story. He creates a myriad of complex, interesting characters and sub-plots that show various angles of this situation starting at the present and streaming out into the future.
If that is all of the hook you need to pick up the first book, you can read no further! If you’re looking for reviews of each of the books, keep on reading below. I tried to minimize any spoiler alerts but by the nature of reviewing a trilogy, anything that occurs in book two or three will naturally provide readers with a sense of where the story will go.
REVIEW OF Book 1: the three-body problem BY Liu cixin
Amidst the upheavel and overthrow of the previously-admired academics during the Cultural Revolution, a young girl's family life was torn asunder. Her sister died as a revolutionary in battle, and her professor father's brutal demise was hastened by her mother, who decided to save herself and throw away her ideals. The young girl, Ye Wenjie, tainted by her familial associations, is pulled into the inner-sanctum of the Red Guard's isolated, mountain-top research station. Over years of trials and tribulations, Ye Wenjie's intelligence and work ethic gain her access to information that will shape the rest of her life and change the trajectory of humankind.
The Three-Body Problem tackles the ultimate question of the cosmos: If there is intelligent life out there existing at the same time as ours, what would proof of their existence mean for humans and what would the interaction between the two civilizations look like?
Liu takes an imaginative approach in exploring this concept and questions why many people expect that other intelligent life would be kind to humans when in fact Earth-bound humans so quickly separate themselves into to warring factions. Through a complex storyline that evolves over the post-Cultural Revolution decades, Liu introduces readers to the Trisolaran society through a fascinating computer game/virtual reality construct.
The Trisolaran people are exactly what their name entails - a people populating a planet that has three revolving suns, which is an example of the real-life three-body problem in physics upon which this series is based. With perpetual instability on their planet, the Trisolarans are in desperate need of a longer-term solution that presents itself in the form of Earth.
There is some complicated real and imagined physics and nanotechnology covered in the novel that is presented in a way that a non-scientific reader can appreciate without too much granularity, not an easy task, especially for a book translated from Chinese to English!
The Three-Body Problem ends in a way that sets the stage for the future challenges Earth will face in the second and third books of the trilogy.
Readers not well-versed in Chinese names may have a slight amount of difficulty in keeping the characters straight, though I do not want to over-state this. There is a character reference at the start of the novel that lists the characters, their key role/job, and their relationships to each other as a handy guide.
I found myself completely immersed in the world brought to life in The Three-Body Problem. Just like Wang Miao, the character who kept logging back in to the virtual reality game in the novel, I kept fanning open the pages of my book to see what was going to happen next. We know our own world so well that one of the greatest features of this novel is that it allows readers to imagine another sort of world entirely and to tease out potential answers to some of life's macro questions.
REVIEW OF book 2: the dark forest BY Liu cixin
The Dark Forest begins and ends with an ant, a fitting analogy for the story of humanity told in the intervening 500 pages. This second book of the trilogy picks up three years after Earth entered crisis mode and spans about two hundred years into the future as Earth awaits the drawn-out interstellar conflict.
The threat from beyond has shuffled eras-old governmental structures and created a one-for-all mentality in the form of a new governmental agency. The agency has developed a unique solution to humanity’s problem, encompassed in the Wallfacer Project, which plucks four individuals from around the globe and places humanity’s salvation in their hands. While three were well-known in their fields, a fourth is plucked from obscurity and into the limelight. That individual, Luo Ji, becomes a central character as his fascinating story spans the length of the entire second book in this series which, yes, means that he survives two hundred years into the future as well. This is accomplished through a very handy “Hibernation” feature that humanity has discovered.
The Dark Forest explores the full range of human reactions to an impending meet-up with another civilization - from Defeatism (the belief that humanity has no hope) to Escapism (the belief that humanity must escape Earth to survive, a concept rife with inequity around who would survive) to the sense that the meeting will be a cosmic kumbaya. It also explores the so-called dark forest of the cosmos, how all civilizations must ultimately operate to obliterate all others for their own survival, like a hunter slinking around in a literal forest.
One of the interesting juxtapositions of this novel was the comparison between the original (present-day) time period to the era two hundred years in the future. In the future society, humanity is fully certain that the Trisolarians are on their way to Earth for a peaceful interaction and that, in fact, the Trisolarians will be in need of assistance from humankind. Through dialogue, we learn about the Great Ravine and other dark times that occurred over those prior centuries until humanity emerged into a new, mostly underground, stable society. Climate change is referenced in passing comments about the desertification above ground.
Ultimately, this novel continues to explore related concepts to the first book. Namely, what is it to hope for or to despair of the future and how does humanity react when faced with its own mortality. A parallel I thought about as I read this is how blind people are to real threats facing them in the present. Climate change and all that encompasses is an immediate threat that will impact the lives and lifespans of people alive today, but somehow it feels like a removed threat to many people. Perhaps the difference is an internally created threat (i.e., climate change) compared to an externally created threat (i.e., an alien civilization). In either case, I am not sure that humans have the tools to respond meaningfully. Perhaps our planet is its own dark forest.
By the end of the novel, there is some hope through Luo Ji’s actions that have out-strategized the Trisolarians, at least for the moment.
REVIEW OF book 3: death’s end BY Liu cixin
The pace of the story contained within this trilogy is never slow, but it picks up speed even further in Death's End, the final installment. This is partially due to the length of this book, which is the longest of the three, but more strongly tied to the time hopping of the main characters, who are able to "hibernate". Toward the end of the book, time moves forward at even an infinite pace.
Death’s End follows a handful of characters as they traverse the risk-infused future where Earth is at risk. Using both believable and extremely inventive future technologies, the story unfolds across the universe. As in the prior two books, humanity continues to seek a way to survive in a universe that they now know is not a pleasant or safe place to exist.
Some of my favorite parts of this novel were the imaginative descriptions of future centuries on - and beyond - Earth. Liu also incorporates the idea of multi-dimensional planes into a creative series of “children’s stories” told by one of the characters, and then plays them out in the real world of his characters.
Overall, I have very much enjoyed this entire series, but I think the final book is my favorite. Many trilogies lose steam as they progress, so I was happy to see that Liu is able to carry the story through while continuing to build an intriguing storyline. I can promise you that you will never look up at the night sky or consider the distant future without finding one or more of the concepts in this trilogy folded into your contemplation.
DISCUSS the three body trilogy
What aspect of this trilogy seemed most likely to come to pass to you? What seemed least likely?
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