I enjoyed it but you must understand that it's idea driven, not character driven. The characters represent different ideas, and they don't change much. The tension comes from the interaction between them.

I also think you really have to read all three books to understand the series, which doesn't mean you should. That's entirely up to you. Taste is subjective. But I enjoyed it.

I just finished at as well. I think it does a huge number of things. Some better than others. A lot of it is tied up in deeply Chinese ways of social thinking and interaction and deeply tied to the CR that I don’t think resonate as well with US audiences.

On the sci fi front, i think there are a Jim er of very interesting ideas explored. Some better than others. But taken as a whole, I’ll be thinking about some of the ideas for a long time.

It did get better at the end, although there was some deux machina i did t care for.

It's a very polarizing series among SF readers. I think it's ok. I don't regret reading it, but it has pretty weak characterization and a pretty shallow view of human society in general.

I live in cape cod in MA and we have incredibly bright skies cuz we are 100 miles out into the ocean. Shooting stars every night with the milky way visible in the background.

After reading book2 The Dark Forest I really dont look at the sky the same for me personally it was just so existentially terrorizing. I love that kinda stuff so I'm big on this book series and am excited for the netflix series. The GoT guys are great at adapting (not so great without the source material aka the late seasons)

The series is a decent conceptual exploration of the Fermi Paradox.

If you really enjoy the concept, Stephen Baxter has a lot of books on the topic.

Time, Space, Origin which are a trilogy in alternate universes, whether there are enough black holes, intelligent squid, deep futures.
Galaxias, which starts when the sun disappears.
The Long Earth series with Terry Pratchett (GNU) which is about parallel universes.

All of these I enjoy vastly more than the Three Body Problem .

Another author to exploits Greg Bear and his Eon and Eternity series.

Also Dragons Egg by Robert Forward. That is a unique story.

I didn’t really care for it but gave it a read because a lot of other people recommended it. Had to force myself to keep going. I’m glad I finally checked it out but it just wasn’t my thing.

Some of my friends were in love with it and I thought it was great. I don’t normally read a lot of sci-fi but it was fine for me. Didn’t blow my mind or anything but I enjoyed it. Like anything though it can depend a lot on your tastes. What do you normally like to read?

It was an okay translation of a pretty good book.

10/10 concepts. But culturally there’s a lot more repetitive dialogue in books and movies from that part of the world.

I read the first and second books. I thought they got worse and didn’t feel like spending time in the third. I thought they were an interesting insight into Chinese culture but otherwise very meh.

I hated it - barely got through the end of book 1.

I DNF'd it about 3/4 of the way through. The bits set in the cultural revolution were my favorite mostly because the setting is something I'm very unfamiliar with. The rest just sort of bored me. I was not invested in most of the characters and the science was really silly... which is a weird thing to complain about in sci-fi but for some reason it really just didn't work for me.

I am a long time SF reader 50+ years cannot find anything good to say about the trilogy

I started it twice and only made it halfway the second time before getting fed up. I was going to get rid of it but I am going to give it a third try so I can either get on top of and over the issues I had with the writing and scenarios or be able to articulate better why I didn’t like it.
This book tends to fall under the “concepts over quality” problem I have with some sci-fi, plus there’s a translation and cultural element that seems to come into play as far as finding the writing acceptable. Similar to books like Foundation, I think the writing quality is difficult to deal with, and that makes it difficult for me to enjoy the book from the science/concept point of view which seems to be where people really love the book and are willing to overlook (or not agree at all) about the quality of the rest.

Edit: actually after reading a bunch of these replies and seeing a lot of similar views, maybe I won’t waste my time. There are far too many other books to read and my life is well over halfway done, lol.

- I really liked 1

- I loved 2

- 3 is one of my top favourite books

To me it only got better and each book was distinct in its own way. BUT your milage may vary.

I listened to the trilogy on audiobook, it took about 60 hours. I really enjoyed the sci-fi ideas. I felt that I misunderstood some interactions due to cultural differences, and at times the prose seemed to ramble into tangents that I didn’t enjoy (again I assumed it was cultural style and so accepted it for what it was).

I enjoyed the first book well enough to give the second a try. I found the second one a bit depressing but interesting. The third book was my favorite of the three due to the sci-fi goings-on. The conclusion of the series is very Taoist, and therefore satisfying to me.

I probably won’t read/listen again, as it’s a large commitment, but I’m glad that I did it once.

I also just finished it, and I loved it. I thought it was very different and refreshing from anything else I've read in how it handled the concept of extra terrestrial contact. I also thought it was different in how it prefers to make you engage with ideas instead of characters, using analogies as often as it can to get its plot points across.

That being said, it didn't really hook me until a bit after the halfway point. It's definitely a slow burn, and there isn't really a satisfying climax. However, it did hook me by the end, enough that I'm burning through the sequel and loving every page. It's definitely not for everyone, though. Obviously, no book is, but I feel like this series is an acquired and niche taste.

I think it’s very badly translated. I thought the story could have been great. I enjoyed it slightly, I couldn’t finish the second book

I enjoyed this book and the series quite a bit. It was interesting reading scifi approached from such a distinctly different cultural background. I enjoyed Roadside Picnic for similar reasons; so much of what’s going on is flavored by the society it comes from

I really enjoyed it. That said, I can see why somebody would feel the way you did. Even as much as I liked it I enjoyed the second one, Dark Forest, much more.

The book is bad, the concept everyone raves over was silly and used in an absurd way. I think people are overvaluing the concept because the giant explanation even though it was all gibberish. The characters were dull and people just disregard it, and the writing as a whole, because the concept ...

Don't feel bad, people who enjoy good writing, worthwhile characters, motivations that have some grounding and sense, this book is not for them.

Chinese bots are reviewing it positively. It's atrocious.

no, it gets worse, this book is “brought up” frequently in this sub by its marketing team. one guy posts, then another said it was better than “insert famous author” ever could write.
truth be told it was hot garbage, first time I asked Amazon for a refund on the entire series.
am I wrong?, no, any civilization that can fold space and shoot that folded space across the universe to invade another, but cannot build a computer and have to simulate logic gates with people is stupid.
remember the movie “The Happening” where aliens invade a planet that is 98% water and took most of the movie to find out that was their weakness. it was that dumb. enough ranting and people do not fall for the hype!

I hit a wall. I don't understand the VR game whatsoever. I don't know what they're doing, I don't know what the point is, I don't know anything. I just don't get it.


Liking that cop so far, though. And I liked the universe flicker thing.

I thought it was the world's dumbest story problem from the world's most sadistic substitute math teacher. I'm not sure how I even finished it.

I had a hard time getting through it initially but as it came together towards the end I found it to be really interesting. I think it had interesting concepts that I haven't seen in other sci-fi books. I'm going to read the second one but in the meantime I'm finishing the 6th dune book. If you're looking for other sci-fi books I'd suggest the dune books if you haven't read them yet. Also anything by Ursula K Le Guin, she's an amazing writer. Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed (both by Ursula) are fantastic. Also I know it's a classic but Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick is absolutely fantastic and got me started on a scifi book binge.

I found the series overall good and the first two books particularly good to the point that they're on my occasional re-read list. The first one introduced what I found to be an interesting sci Fi concept and how humanity might act in the face of such conditions.

The second book was interesting, a little more far-fetched but I absolutely loved the main character and how I felt represented reading about him.

I don't feel as compelled to re-read the third book but it was digestible and had enjoyable moments. Still way better than Dune. God I struggled with Dune.

Terrible dialogue. Terrible characters. Not so great translation.

One of my favorite sci-fi series of all time. Up there with Hyperion.

While it could be incredibly boring, the scope of the book is insane. The amount of scale it gives to time and space is mind boggling and terrifying and I was just such a fun thing to think about.

I liked the trilogy. If you want more mystique and action maybe try the Hyperion series. It’s followed by Endymion which a lot of people don’t like, but I liked both halves of the story about equally.

I agree with you. I thought it wasn't very good.

Part of what made me enjoy it is probably what made some people dislike it - the Chinese-ness of the book. Everything, the dialogue, the way the characters interact with each other, the way that they think, the background of government stuff for the story takes place in, it’s all clearly the work of a foreign mind. I say this as someone who lived overseas in Asia for well over a decade and enjoyed it.

I liked this glimpse into the mindset of a different culture. But I could see how it would put some people off.

As far as the sci-fi elements of it, the first book is slow but somewhat fascinating. I think the second and third books are better reads.

Personally,
three-body was a 3/5
Second book was 4/5
Final book was 5/5

First book could have been about half as long imho

I just finished the trilogy and each is a little slow to start but pick up as you go on. Book 2 gets great about halfway through and then it doesn’t really let up. Book 3 has a similar spot where it gets good but it begins in a more exciting spot than the others. I also found the dialogue and some of the writing dry and agree with another commenter that the best parts of this trilogy are the ideas (some very cool stuff coming your way if you continue).

i’m really shocked to see how many people didn’t like this series as everyone i’ve talked to irl loves it. i do agree with others that it’s not character driven and i think the translation is a little iffy but i found the ideas so compelling i ripped through the series really quickly. i can see how you don’t feel the first book had a real conclusion but the trilogy as a whole is well-plotted i felt.

First, it's translated, and while I think the translator did a great job, my housemates read it in its original form and said there were a lot of idioms and such that simply don't translate well. It's a bit of a slow burn, yes, and a lot of it is subtext, yes. It's extremely engaging if you take the time to digest it because it's pretty dense and the questions it asks about our current knowledge of the universe are pretty fun. The overarching play of individualistic vs collectivist societies is also an interesting theme to see from a non-Western perspective. Also, the first book in this series, as with the first book in many series, is setting the story. I'd recommend finishing the series, as it's easily top five of all time for sci-fi and I've read a lot of sci-fi. It will change your perspective on our reality and on the search for extraterrestrial life.

Book 1 is by far the least gripping. Book 2 really picks up and was my favourite of the 3. There are a lot of cool ideas like the >!wallfacers!<.

The guys that did GoT for HBO are doing this series for Netflix. Since it's a finished series, might be decent as the first few seasons of GoT were amazing.

Having read the trilogy a couple times, I consider the three books each as one act in the same play if you will. They don't stand alone very well, but when all three combined are viewed as a single story I believe they are brilliant.

I liked it but I already knew what the mystery was, which did affect me enjoyment.

Dark Forest is the best of the three.

The first book has a notoriously slow middle chunk. But the second book is one of the best I’ve ever read. In general the author feels like as much of a teacher as a fantasist. The books feel like extended metaphors intended to illustrate scientific concepts like the three body problem (how do you predict the positions of three bodies in space?) and the Fermi Paradox (if space is so big, where is everybody?).

I liked it, but it’s a different kind of sci-fi. It reads like an older classic.

The second book in trilogies tend to be the worst, but in this case I feel like the second one is by far the best of the series. The first one is by far the most plain, but it does make a good job of setting the world and expectations

Some of the ideas in it are interesting. I think it is well written mostly, maybe it more so appeals to scientists or something.

I enjoyed book one overall, got about 1/4 of the way through book two and lost the will to continue.

I read it in the past month and I thought it was above average. It kept me engaged just enough to finish, but I wasn't too keen with the writing style, which I understand can be diluted from the original language's rhythm when it was translated. The characters and dialogue were wooden, but it could be due to a writing style targeted at a different audience.

The ideas and science, however, are the main draw and what ultimately kept me reading.

I am currently reading the next book in the series, The Dark Forest, and I do have to say the dialogue improves and isn't as stilted, although some conversations between characters still feel stiff, at times. Again, that could be translation, so you can't escape it. There a few lively characters in this second book, so it doesn't feel like the players in this section for the series are just here to deliver plot exposition, but overall, none of them are constructed in a way that will feel memorable, except maybe Da Shi and Liu; they feel more fleshed out.