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A review by manuphoto
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
4.0
It’s nice to read a book that wasn’t written by a Westerner. It is refreshing and interesting.
The very concept of the book is original, well thought out. The localisation in China, with the effects of the Cultural Revolution, also make this book a pretty unique read, at least for me.
I found the story to be captivating, the twists original and the various elements relevant and challenging. My only complaint is about the characters.
They are pretty bland, and it feels like they shouldn’t. In a fast paced, plot-only book, I don’t mind bland characters. But here, the pace is slow and it feels like the author wants us to connect with them, but I never really did.
Part of that can come from the translation or simply that character development is different in a Chinese novel than in a European or American one. So it might be a fault on my part, not the book’s. But I still find it an issue, for this particular reader anyway.
I enjoyed it, I do recommend it, but I don’t know if I care enough about this story and these characters to read the rest of the trilogy. I’ll think on it in the coming months, see if I can find a solution to the “three books problem”.
The very concept of the book is original, well thought out. The localisation in China, with the effects of the Cultural Revolution, also make this book a pretty unique read, at least for me.
I found the story to be captivating, the twists original and the various elements relevant and challenging. My only complaint is about the characters.
They are pretty bland, and it feels like they shouldn’t. In a fast paced, plot-only book, I don’t mind bland characters. But here, the pace is slow and it feels like the author wants us to connect with them, but I never really did.
Part of that can come from the translation or simply that character development is different in a Chinese novel than in a European or American one. So it might be a fault on my part, not the book’s. But I still find it an issue, for this particular reader anyway.
I enjoyed it, I do recommend it, but I don’t know if I care enough about this story and these characters to read the rest of the trilogy. I’ll think on it in the coming months, see if I can find a solution to the “three books problem”.