This is one of those reviews where I finish the book and don’t really know what my verdict is. So let’s make some lists and see if I can form a conclusion by the end of the review.

The Good

First off, the plot of the story is actually very intriguing. It’s a different take on science fiction than I was expecting. For the first 30% of the story, I wasn’t even sure if I was reading a science fiction novel or just an historical novel. Throw in that I know absolutely nothing about the last 60 years of Chinese history and you might say, that I felt a bit lost. In truth, I might have been, but the fact that I was nevertheless interested to keep going, speaks volumes. As a nice side effect, I’ve now learned a little about the last 60 years of China’s history.

The Three-body problem combines some truly interesting ideas with some very solid (at least the part that I actually understood) science. Built on top of that, is a intriguing thriller, with just the right balance between revealing the plot and providing action to keep things flowing along.

The writing was good, but felt a little alien to me (pun intended). After reading the translator’s notes at the end though, I’m assuming that’s because of the discrepancy between traditional Asian narrative and the Western narrative style that I’m used to. The strangeness did however contribute to my immersion, in that it felt like how I would experience living in a different culture.

The Bad

At around 60% through the story, the main plot is revealed, and even though I liked that a lot, after that, the suspense is broken. The last 40% didn’t really do much for me but fill in the blanks that were left open in the first part, and even though some were filled in quite creatively, I still missed an ending climax.

This one is probably just a personal issue, but it took me way to long to keep proper track of the characters because of the Chinese names. Pretty sure that’s exactly how they feel when they read western literature, but this was very annoying. They all have at least 2 names (some have 3) which are mixed without preference (maybe it’s a cultural thing?) and sometimes even includes a nick name.

Maybe it’s my lack of knowledge about quantum science, but I found the “proton” science, with its 11 dimensions and their utility there of, completely unbelieveable.

Character development felt off. I couldn’t connect to any of the main protagonists, even though they are a bit more fleshed out than the secondary characters. Most of them felt like single-trait cartoon figures just there to provide interaction with the main cast. I know it’s not a requirement that the reader can relate to the main protagonist, but they should at least be interesting to watch. Again, this might be just a cultural difference, but they just didn’t feel very real to me.

The audiobook narration was a bit hit or miss for me. Most of the time everything felt way to monotone, with exception to the character of Da Shi, who was a bit over the top (think Rorshach from Watchmen). I think that narration is at least partly to blame for the “alien” feeling the story gave me.

Verdict

Despite some flaws, this was an enjoyable, albeit weird, book and it has at least left me with a desire to know how the story unfolds.