Yep, totally agree. I just couldn't stand the characters, especially the second time I read part of it and knew how they messed everything up.

The ending is weirdly "feel good"? Which doesn't make much sense.

I read the first book and I think it is the first time in decades that I have encountered actual sci-fi concepts that weren't a reworking of ideas that have been around for decades.

It's not a character driven novel but the characters are fine, mostly they're not that likeable - which in my opinion is not a reason to dislike a story - and I think they probably lose something in translation. When I was a teenager I devoured Asimov, Phillip K Dick, Heinlein etc for the concepts, compared to them the characters in 3 Body are masterfully written.

I haven't yet read the second book as I found the first few chapters a bit of a slog but I plan to pick it up again once I've finished rereading some Ursula K LeGuin

I enjoyed this series. Some cool concepts, I really like the trisolarian technologies. Like the description of the probe and sophons.

I read the first book and found some of the larger "setpiece" sections to be unique and pretty compelling, but yea everything else including the characters just felt sort of thin to me; which was strange as some details felt very well-rounded and researched. started the second book and just didn't get on with it and stopped midway through. after that experience I still gave the show a try and found it to be laughably bad and awkwardly delivered, didn't get past the first episode.

I read all 3. Loved them!

Interesting ideas 💡

Fun sci fi settings

Characters were predictable

Nice mix of science and fiction

The series most interesting as an allegory of the competition between the US and China.

Ive been meaning to read these for years, ever since watching a YouTuber named Quinn talk about them. I watched the first season of the netflix series, I'm sure that kinda ruined the first book for me.

Id recommend reading the fan-written (but original author blessed!) fourth book in the series - the redemption of time. I was also unimpressed by the ending of the third book and the fourth one wrapped things up well.

I'm 58% through the third book and it feels like it should've ended at book two so far for me.

I’ve been interested in this author after I found out the show Pantheon, which I really liked, was based on his other works. (Wrong author) I haven’t had a chance to check out the three body problem, but I intend to soon.

Just finished the first book, thought it was excellent and very thought-provoking.

Ye Wenjie was unpleasant, but it felt like there was good reason for that, given what happened to her and her family during the cultural revolution. Plus she was still a compelling character.

Reading this post and comments I feel relieved, because I decided not to read the books and just to watch a Netflix series. Which by the way wasn’t anyhow special or interesting at all…

Counterpoint.

Like many of the comments I had mixed feelings about this trilogy (enjoyed some concepts and large scale plot, disliked some characters and prose and specific plots) but so far no one has mentioned the misogyny. Phew boy the misogyny is front and center in a few places and it's really jarring and unpleasant.

These books are only worth reading if you're really, really into the kind of Isaac Asimov big ideas scifi that willingly sacrifices story fundamentals like plotting and character development.

Most of the characters are really caricatures at best. Some plot beats are well delivered, others are painfully bad. Most of the second book is basically just your Death Note style "I know that you know that I know that..." bullshit where two "super genius" characters tell each other how they're outwitting each other.

The science fiction stuff is fun, but it quickly becomes clear that the author's commitment to research ends at the moment where actual people get involved, a subject with which he has apparently never interacted. Every single person in these books is either a robot, or a hyper-emotional weirdo. And his grand scale psychology fares no better. The signature Dark Forest hypothesis is just really bad game theory that falls apart if you think about it for more than five minutes. It's a cool "What if", but it's not grounded in reality at all.

What the books do well is scale and playing out events over large swathes of time, and if you're OK with significant chunks of the narrative basically just reading like the "World history" parts of an RPG setting guide than you might get a kick out of that. But unless you have very little need for engaging characters and storytelling, you're likely just to find them a painfully dull slog.

I'm not saying everyone is going to hate them, obviously the books have their fans. But I will say that if anyone dares try to tell that it's only book one that sucks and they're amazing after that (an opinion I have seen expressed more than once) you have permission to kick that person in the balls for being an abject liar. Nothing about Cixin's style or writing ability changes after book one, the scale just gets bigger.

The author can't write people very well and if you're OK with that it's a series with some great concepts. It was interesting to see how a Chinese author thought the US would act in a global emergency in Dark Forest, it was the reverse of a US author assuming everyone would act like the US.

I was pretty annoyed with the wallbreakers concept as it played out because the idea that you'd have some intricate plan involving details about how things would play out in several hundred years and then when someone guesses it you just say "Whelp, guess I'll die" is kind of absurd. Surely you'd just invest in tons of technological development first, see how things shake out, and if someone guesses your plan, abandon it for a new one? Same as in the first book, "Physics is weird, guess I'll die" just seemed bizarre to me.

The only scifi series to repeatedly blow my mind

I am surprised about it being fascinating. Is there any other way to read these beyond politial allegory?

I mean, at one point they put together a crack team of international experts and the countries chosen include Venezuela, the EU (with a side of Japan), the US and China. How do you even read any part of it besides an assessment of political stances via national stereotypes?

I mean, sure, later on the whole thing goes off the deep end and steps into properly Asimovian big cosmic stuff, but the big hook of the series is seeing geopolitics from a Chinese perspective via sci-fi.

Maybe I'm just attuned to it because it's how every piece of pop culture from the US has felt since the 80s?

Meh. It falls apart rather quickly, IMHO.

Read the all twice and I'm not as critical as some folks, but the Trisolaran's continued existence is nonsensical. How could anything evolve on a plant like that. Maybe I missed some explanation?

The Droplet "battle" was gut wrenching. Not sure a book has made me feel quite so helpless, as in, there's no way out of this.

I enjoyed the series alongside my son. Not the best writing and a little heavy on philosophy for my taste but some interesting takes on interstellar coexistence. Book 3 was my favorite and Sophon my favorite character by far, though Luo Ji is a badass.

I enjoyed the Chinese TV version, mostly because of the actors & characters. Didn't try the books or the Netflix series.

Usually I read things instead of watching them, but on this, I think it was the right call - the images brought it to life.

i hate that people complain how he was not very good at writing people, so was Asimov.

it's hard science fiction, it's shines in that aspect. the author obviously has a different set of skills, and at some point it's like judging a fish for his hability to run.

not making excuses, not going to say it's the perfect book and peak literature. but it's one of the best science fiction written in a long time. especially because the focus is in the universe and science fiction.

way too many "science fiction" stories are great stories with shitty science fiction. because those are two different skill sets. theoretically, you could have an author one day that excels in boths. and I'll be happy with him/her (originally wrote one him, might have personal biased or the excuse that I had Liu in mind). but so much of the criticism feels cruel.

the book series I was most glue to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Highly recommend it.

I've heard these were good