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mrstorycraft's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Suicide
quarkie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
As a scientist, this book actually gets much of the science right, which helped with my suspension of disbelief. Things go just a bit beyond the walls of plausible reality at the end, but overall it's all sufficiently plausible as to not be too distracting.
This book is a translation, and it's obvious, but not in a bad way. In the translator's afterward, he talks about how hard he tried to balance translating the text in a way that would be more familiar to Western readers and translating it in a way that stayed true to the lyricism and tone of the original Chinese. In this, I think he succeeded. There are passages where things are phrased in ways that make it obvious it was written by a non-native English speaker, but I think that helps the reader place the characters and their motivations in cultural context. He also preserves some beautiful, thought-provoking passages that left existential questions lingering my mind long after I put the book down.
The book starts with descriptions of warring factions in the Cultural Revolution - of groups fighting each other even within the same organization. I think that theme is reflected in a fascinating way later in the book through the ETO, between the Adventists and the Redemptionists. This conflicts also underscores the deeply complex motivations for each member of humanity in everything they do. As Da Shi says, "There's someone behind everything." I think, similarly, "Everyone wants something."
This book explores a wide variety of other themes including:
- Whether the fundamental nature of humanity is good or bad, and how people react when they come to a conclusion in either way
- How your level of education can shape how you perceive the world and humanity, and how sometimes the 'wise' (meaning educated) can be so ignorant but the 'ignorant' (here meaning less educated) can be so perceptive
- The fine line between order and chaos
- How lonely the act of searching for nothing can be when your end goal is your sole motivation (which resonated strongly with me as someone who works on dark matter research)
- The role of environmentalism (with hints of anti-nuclear sentiments that I couldn't quite pin down)
- The role of colonialism and cultural influence, which again works as a fascinating juxtaposition of the Cultural Revolution
- How different world powers would react to First Contact, but also how societies very different from our would react to First Contact
One of my favorite scenes was where 30 million beings were used as a living computer. I felt it was so creative, and really helps readers understand how far humanity has come with technology.
Overall, this was a thought-provoking, fascinating, and gripping read. I already put 3 more books by Cixin Liu on hold at the library.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Classism
alexutzu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
😍 The good:
The scientific descriptions were researched and complex, making me wonder if these things could really happen in daily life. There were a bunch of interesting quotes and ideas, specifically in the first and second part of the book. Due to its complexity, it is fun and easy to come up with many theories related to this. I personally also liked learning more about the history of China and this novel encouraged me to research and understand the related sociopolitical phenomena better.
😅 The not-so-good:
The characters were flat and not that interesting and I felt at times that the plot has some holes. The literary style was barely existent in my opinion, as the book was really heavy to process and packed with too many details that felt more like a thesis than a novel. Overall, the general idea related to cultish alien invasions was not my really cup of tea, so the last part of the book was really dragging for me and I had to speed-read it. I also felt that there were too many story lines and plot points to keep track of and some of them seemed redundant or absurd.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide and Colonisation
Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol
arno1820's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I also found the book heavily plot driven and the mistery of it all was a bit lost because the backcover gives a lot away. It is more about the how instead of what. Also some parts came a bit out of the blue and did more 'tell' then 'show'.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood
There where some rough and heavy detailed murders. Which I dont really like.djbobthegirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Colonisation and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Death, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and War
margot14's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and War
adanisan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Suicide and Violence
ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Torture, and Classism
Minor: Misogyny and Suicide
sandrine_bc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cultural appropriation and Colonisation
shindin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Violence