Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
The Xeelee Sequence by Steven Baxter.
Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.
this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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Three Body Problem is so good. I would highly recommend reading the 2 sequels when you finish. It only gets better after the first book!
Honestly, I'm 85% of the way through it, and the whole thing has been an absolute slog.
I'm really not getting what people see in it. For me it feels a lot like old Isaac Asimov scifi; great ideas, really cool big concept stuff, but absolutely flat characters and uninteresting prose. The main character is just a whiteboard for other characters to explain things on. Every other character is utterly forgettable apart from Ye Wenjie, who gets the bulk of the development but is, backstory aside, largely ancillary to the plot.
And the structure and plotting just kind of fall apart once you get the main reveal. Like, there's some degree of interesting mystery at first, but then it just builds to a big meeting where a bunch of random people explain the plot to each other for the benefit of the main character and the audience. And then we're very hurriedly introduced to a another antagonist so the book can have an ending.
Honestly I agree with a lot of your criticisms. The first book is mostly just setting up the story for the next two. I always forget the first book is mostly a murder mystery because the other two books lean in such a different direction.
The main character doesn't really do anything for the story. It feels like the plot happens around the main character and nothing would've changed without them. Fortunately every book has a new main character and the one from the first book is never mentioned again. Personally I think the characters are much better written as the series goes on.
I am big fan of the series so I'm pretty biased when I recommend to try the second book, but if you have to force yourself to read a book then it's probably just not for you.
I'm literally still reading the first book, and I also also forgot it was a murder mystery, because the book forgot too. Like, the entire premise of the plot just withers on the vine. I know that at this point I have the answer, but characters don't even really react to this in any way. Like, you'd think the whole "scientists committing suicide" thing could have been used as a ticking clock to give more urgency to the plot, but it really just gets forgotten about by everyone involved.
Right, like the main character, who is a scientist, is just playing a videogame most of the time. And he literally sees a countdown timer that no one else sees but the urgency to save himself just doesn't exist for some reason.
Also his family are just sort of... There? Like, his interactions with his wife are some of the most pathetic shit I've ever read. She pops into existence for one scene and then just ceases to matter after that.
I agree. I enjoyed it, sort of, but not enough to match the hype. It's a clunky, stumbling book that rides heavily on its core mystery.
It actually put me off reading the sequels for a long time, but I did eventually get round to it, and I'm glad I did. They're both far better reads. The second book in particular is very good; and the third is gloriously strange.
Actually, many of the comments here mention that it's a slog to get through. Apparently it does get better.
Good to know I'm not going crazy.
Well, can't guarantee that. But at least you are not the only one going crazy. 😀
There's apparently a 4th book by a different author that was given the approval of the original author.
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Full sci-fi mode, nice!
I'm very much enjoying them.
I've been lax on reading 1984 by George Orwell due to starting Epictetus: The Complete Works by Robin Waterfield. I like it so far, it's definitely a palate cleanser from the dystopian themes of '84.
I do have an anthology on poetry that I also sparingly read. I'll probably read one poem later tonight.
In the mornings I try to read the daily page from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday but I don't always get around to it.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky. If not the original "Stalker" book, one of them. Fast fun read.
An all-time favorite, a fantastic read!
I have just started And all so quiet by Mareike Fallwickl. I'm reading the original in German, so not sure about the English translation. Anyways, I loved The Rage That Remains, it's been almost a year since I devoured it in a few sittings and I'm still thinking about this book on the regular. So I really hope And all so quiet can keep up with it.
FINALLY finished the TJ Klune sequel to House on the Cerulean Sea, whatever it was called. I've really enjoyed their other books, but this one was such pappy crap. Every single sentence was designed to tell you how special and wonderful being different is, to the point that the story was boring as shit.
A week later and I'm 500 pages into Wind and Truth by Sanderson.
Heh, when you don't even remember the name of the book.
How are you enjoying Wind and Truth?
It's good! This book is more enjoyable than the others, I think. The other books had SO MUCH to set up that it got a bit dense. Now it feels like Sanderson can just let the story play out instead of setting up stuff. It's also finally making firm, direct connections between the Cosmere planets as opposed to just hints at them.
Oooh, finally. I really want to know about those.
Finished the fifth and sixth books in the "old mans war" series. I am now starting "dungeon crawler Carl" by Matt Dinniman. I had it on my ereader, I don't know why or when I put it there. So I'm going in blind, will give an update how it went next week!
Dungeon Crawler Carl has been mentioned quite a few times here. Probably one of the favourite litRPG of the community, so maybe you added it because of that.
Will look forward to check out your review.
The Earthborn trilogy by Paul Tassi. Would recommend, nothing too groundbreaking but very enjoyable.
I think my 5th time reading those books, love em.
D&D Players Handbook
Planning to join some campaign?
No, we've been playing for some time, and I'm just catching up.
Ah, nice. What's your character?
I'm a Nephilim Paladin of Physics, so I have vampire powers. My DM is incredibly flexible.
Heh, that sounds fun!
Working my way through 'The Misfits' series by Simon Brading. Excellent. A steam punk alternative to the Battle of Britain and so on. First of the series is Battle Over Britain ;-)
Just finished up Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and am starting up The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Oof. Highschool flashback.
I have The Stranger on my bookshelf, but haven't started it yet. Would love to hear what you think about it.
Busy week. Only managed to finish up Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II, which I started a bit ago.
What's next?
Not sure, to be honest. Been meaning to read A Confederacy Of Dunces, so I might get around to that. Or I might pick up some more history.
Still reading I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. It's still light and fluffy fun, but it's starting to feel kind of muddled. Like, I thought I was getting a story about a dragon catcher that hates his job, but that's been sidelined in favor of a story about a prince that doesn't want to rule. There's been a sprinkle of "legendary dragon? nah, that doesn't exist anymore" foreshadowing, but the plot's been very low stakes otherwise. Not sure if it's a framing issue (there's a lot of POVs) or a narrative one, but maybe it'll all come together later on.
sigh Poor dragon, getting sidelined. We won't stand for this injustice!
Just finished Money: Master the Game by Tony Robbins. A friend asked me to read it knowing I can't stand the author. The advice isn't anything revelatory, if you haven't read a good bit about retirement this isn't a bad book. But he uses 25 words when 3 would do, and doesn't really talk about the people who failed so it's very much survivor or outcome biased.
I'm about to re-read First Break All the Rules and will start Half Share by Nathan Lowell. I really loved quarter share and am excited to get to book 2 in the series.
Looked up the series just to see where it goes after Half Share. Three Quarter Share didn't sound like a good name, but no, he went to Full Share and then Double Share.
Then captains share and owners share I've just learned. My brother in law recommended em.
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