The Three-Body Problem

The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem!

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

Over 1 million copies sold in North America

“A mind-bending epic.”—The New York Times • “War of the Worlds for the 21st century.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Fascinating.”—TIME • “Extraordinary.”—The New Yorker • “Wildly imaginative.”—Barack Obama • “Provocative.”—Slate • “A breakthrough book.”—George R. R. Martin • “Impossible to put down.”—GQ • “Absolutely mind-unfolding.”—NPR • “You should be reading Liu Cixin.”—The Washington Post

The Three-Body Problem is the first novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

The Three-Body Problem Series
The Three-Body Problem
The Dark Forest
Death's End

Other Books by Cixin Liu
Ball Lightning
Supernova Era
To Hold Up the Sky
The Wandering Earth
A View from the Stars

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Remarkable, revelatory and not to be missed.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Epic trilogy is one of my all time favorite SciFis

The scope of this series is incredible and makes you feel smaller in the universe with each book you read. Mindblowing sci fi concepts that are well researched. some reviewers say charecter development is 'flat' but the author makes up for it with great imagery and imagination. Great almost seemless translation into english and i like this narrorator better than the one for the 2nd and 3rd book

Unique, nerdy, philosophical. Best of 2014.

Outstanding narration. The range of voices from this narrator is impressive.

This book is unique. Imagine a deep forward looking science and technology focus with philosophical underpinnings. As a stereotypical white American male, I found myself reflecting on the author, his experience, Chinese culture and game theory.

I enjoy translated fiction for the self reflection aspects. This is not a book that will reinforce your existing bias.

The book has two halves, a hard-sciences laden mystery with moral underpinnings and a reveal featuring Sci-fi/futurist explanation and philosophical quandary. The greater your understanding of popular recent science, the more you will appreciate.

Overall, this is a unique, nerdy, and delightful experience.

Deeply unsatisfying

The worst thing about The Three Body Problem is that it's not all bad. Cixin Liu can sometimes turn out a beautiful passage, engaging character, or arresting image. Unfortunately, this meant my reading experience was one of alternating boredom, frustration, and actual interest. Every time I decided I had had it and was going to quit, something would happen to string me along. In retrospect, I wish I'd just stopped in the first hour.

Hard science? Hardly.

There is a lot to like in this book. Its talks about big ideas. It's setting during the Chinese Cultural Revolution is unique and fascinating. It's portrays scientist as actual full three dimensional human beings instead of just dour, lab-coated problem solvers our of central casting. And the story moves along briskly, takes unexpected turns and mostly holds your interest.

But the science gets progressively more and more far-fetched and hard to swallow as the author tries to resolve plot points introduced at the beginning of the book. The zither had my eyes rolling but it was the introduction of the sophons that 3BP really jumped the science tracks headed into fantasy land. I don't think GRR Martin or JR Tolkien could have pulled off sophons. Dragons are much more believable.

And I am willing to forgive a lot of SF BS. Dilithium crystals will let you go FTL? Well, OK. You made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs? If you say so. But a proton sized indestructible, super intelligent AI that zips around the universe at speed of light in order to play tricks on theoretical physicist? Nope.

Best SF I’ve seen in a long, long time.

It’s rare for me to not see what’s coming next in a book...but this one always kept me guessing, wondering what was coming around the corner. Even better was the amount of scholarship that the author evinced. It reminds me of Michael Crichton...but much, much better. Strongly recommended!