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goodthingsread's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3.5 stars rounded down because there are a lot of issues, I feel, that one has to overlook to truly enjoy the story.
My main issue with this book is how the science part of the science fiction was disseminated. While there were some clever tricks to explain some processes -- the human computer devised by von Neumann was great, for example -- I found other concepts to be explained like a character reading from a Wikipedia article. Even with the human computer, when von Neumann explains its working to the emperor, it felt like certain passages were simply copy and pasted from another website with a few "Ah!" and "Hm!" added in to make it read like regular human speech. All it did was make the awkwardness stand out to me more.
And there is a lot of science in this book. I don't mind necessarily. I feel like, generally speaking, scifi has trended more towards the fi than the sci in recent decades. But that means the average reader isn't prepared for this level of intricacy. My husband is in computer programming and engineering, so some terminology caught my attention; even if I didn't fully understand what was meant, I remember him using a term so I paid more attention in the novel. I feel like for others, the wall of words would make their eyes glaze over. Sometimes that's fine; this book just has too many walls of words that matter to get away with that.
(I just remembered, this also happened but with character backstory and thought in the very beginning of the book. Just a wall of internal monologue by Ye Zhetai mixed with exposition for a character that doesn't really factor into the story beyond that moment. It left me with a sour taste in my mouth in the very first chapter; even though I got over it, in remembering it, I still can't believe how clunky and awkward it felt as the introduction to a book so renown.)
I found enough twists to keep me interested, but the twists themselves were almost too twisty while not being novel enough. At a certain point, the pacing of the novel takes a turn where it feels very much like you've hit the edge of the ski slope and it's a nonstop, ramping up of speed until you've hit the cliffhanger at the end of the book. Some of those twists you encounter on that wild ride to the end hit you in a sort of, "Oh, we're doing <i>this</i>, are we? Okay, why not?!" sort of way. You always feel like you're dangerously close to jumping the shark.
That said, I did enjoy the book. The characters were somewhat flat, due to the number of them, but I enjoyed the ones that did have personality, Ye Wenjie especially, for all her flaws. I do think this is ramping up into something special, so I'm excited to eventually read the rest of the series and see if that pans out. But this is a hard book to recommend generally and requires a bit of warning to those that you think could enjoy it.
My main issue with this book is how the science part of the science fiction was disseminated. While there were some clever tricks to explain some processes -- the human computer devised by von Neumann was great, for example -- I found other concepts to be explained like a character reading from a Wikipedia article. Even with the human computer, when von Neumann explains its working to the emperor, it felt like certain passages were simply copy and pasted from another website with a few "Ah!" and "Hm!" added in to make it read like regular human speech. All it did was make the awkwardness stand out to me more.
And there is a lot of science in this book. I don't mind necessarily. I feel like, generally speaking, scifi has trended more towards the fi than the sci in recent decades. But that means the average reader isn't prepared for this level of intricacy. My husband is in computer programming and engineering, so some terminology caught my attention; even if I didn't fully understand what was meant, I remember him using a term so I paid more attention in the novel. I feel like for others, the wall of words would make their eyes glaze over. Sometimes that's fine; this book just has too many walls of words that matter to get away with that.
(I just remembered, this also happened but with character backstory and thought in the very beginning of the book. Just a wall of internal monologue by Ye Zhetai mixed with exposition for a character that doesn't really factor into the story beyond that moment. It left me with a sour taste in my mouth in the very first chapter; even though I got over it, in remembering it, I still can't believe how clunky and awkward it felt as the introduction to a book so renown.)
I found enough twists to keep me interested, but the twists themselves were almost too twisty while not being novel enough. At a certain point, the pacing of the novel takes a turn where it feels very much like you've hit the edge of the ski slope and it's a nonstop, ramping up of speed until you've hit the cliffhanger at the end of the book. Some of those twists you encounter on that wild ride to the end hit you in a sort of, "Oh, we're doing <i>this</i>, are we? Okay, why not?!" sort of way. You always feel like you're dangerously close to jumping the shark.
That said, I did enjoy the book. The characters were somewhat flat, due to the number of them, but I enjoyed the ones that did have personality, Ye Wenjie especially, for all her flaws. I do think this is ramping up into something special, so I'm excited to eventually read the rest of the series and see if that pans out. But this is a hard book to recommend generally and requires a bit of warning to those that you think could enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Murder
nerdkitten's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Alcohol, and Gun violence
Minor: Animal death, Classism, Sexism, War, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Police brutality, and Pregnancy
brynalexa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Fast paced, then slow paced, then fast paced again. The middle was very difficult to follow (on purpose, I believe). My favorite aspect was the science/philosophy/history fusion. I think I would have had a more enjoyable time reading a physical copy. I very much love the varying perspectives, especially at the end. The game element was very unique as well. Unfortunately, this book confirms my practice of not reading books by men. There were few non-men characters and they were often just described by their breasts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol, Stalking, Body horror, and War
zombiezami's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
4.25
This is the first book that I’ve read by this author, and I can tell he’s super talented and knowledgeable. He weaves history, advanced science, and philosophy together in fascinating ways. It was hard to follow at times, though, because of the thoroughness of his descriptions. Not sure if I’ll read the other books in this series, but this one was pretty fascinating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death, Suicide, and Animal death
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Colonisation, Genocide, and War
gkgkgk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
When I first picked up this book, I did so after being advised that the less I knew about its plot going in, the better the book would be. That is absolutely correct. This book is so unfathomable to me in concept (not that I didn't understand it, Liu ensures that the average reader will)- I cannot comprehend the intellect and creativity that is required to write this work. It was in every way a page-turner. Loved.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and War
meganpbell's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Ambitious, mysterious, challenging, and unsettling describe this landmark sci-fi soon to be adapted by Netflix. This unique take on first contact explores science & technology, the development of civilizations, and, most of all, what happens when people give up on humanity. Character is kind of sacrificed to the high concepts here, and I found myself thinking of Sophie’s World but with video games and physics instead of postcards and philosophy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, and Sexism
Minor: Genocide and War
ekcd_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
It’s all spoilers this whole thing.
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about “like what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?” He put characters in so it wouldn’t just be a really bizarre lecture
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.
Nothing in this story or it’s writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people saying “you didn’t finish it so you can’t comment on it”
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!
Where to start?
The characters are utterly forgettable and there is not a single redeemable or meaningful relationship between any of the characters or any facet of the story. They only existed so they could talk to each other as a way to move the plot along. Without the characters the whole book could be reduced to one, drunken rant about “like what if aliens lived on an unstable planet?” He put characters in so it wouldn’t just be a really bizarre lecture
This book reads as 350 pages of history and philosophical waxing and then 50 pages of shitty alien fan fiction that is really just the author patting himself on the back for creating analogies that are complicated enough for readers to think him smart but are ultimately meaningless.
By rooting a story in the present and then layering in completely absurd scientific magic over it really removed me from the story. The physics and math were really inaccessible and honesty glossed over that whole chapter.
Nothing in this story or it’s writing made me care about any of the individuals, civilizations, communities or social movements that were used.
I am gobsmacked that so many people praise this book so highly. I love science fiction and read it almost exclusively. The only thing keeping me from rage quitting half way through was rage reading so I could review this book without people saying “you didn’t finish it so you can’t comment on it”
It gets a 1.5 because I was able to finish it quickly (thank god)
Well screw you, fans of this book, I read it and I disliked it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Police brutality, Hate crime, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Classism, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
I don’t regret reading this because at least it gives me something concrete to point my unhinged anger at. Going to drink some tea and read something that I know is good and purekstericker's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, War, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Body horror
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