I think the Chinese cultural elements make this book fresher and more interesting for a Western reader. However, beyond those trappings, once we get past the sedate beginning and we gradually discover what's going on and what the stakes are, this feels like old fashioned hard science fiction of the best kind. It does not pay too much attention to characterization. The characters, many of whom are physicists, are adequate but you probably won't list any of them in a list of your favorite fictional characters. The style is direct and unsentimental. However, it does present very interesting ideas, and for me at least it provides that elusive sense-of-wonder that seems to be exclusive to earlier science fiction or to adolescent readers.

Some of the scientific elements seem dodgy (I won't get into details to avoid spoilers), but I really got into the exhilarating and terrifying story, and I'm anxious to read the sequels because I need to know what happens. ( )

Cixin Liu is clearly a real smart guy. The "Three Body Problem" is an interesting book which is a bit of a difficult read because of the characters' names (e.g. Yang, Ye, Ye, Ye, Wei, Ding, Lei and Chang, etc.) and because of the science. Keeping track of the characters was a chore for me especially if I laid the book down for 3 or 4 days and then went back to it. It is a translation so it does not really flow like, say, an Arthur C. Clarke or an Isaac Asimov book, but, still, it has a fascinating premise - contact with an other-world civilization. It is remarkable how well informed the author is about Western science and Western heroes (Bach, Aristotle, da Vinci, Leibniz, Madame Curie, Copernicus, Euler and Kepler, and many others are noted). It is not an exciting book, its characters do not draw you to them, but it is an intellectual feat based upon what appears to be a sound science education. More human interaction and less 400-course level science would have made for a more compelling book. Nonetheless, the premise and the science are very interesting and the existence of the book reveals the progress and depth of Chinese scientific investigation. I doubt that I will read the other two books in the trilogy. ( )

The Trisolarians live on a planet that has 3 suns, and therefore a chaotic climate. They covet earth for its stable environment.
This novel has been around since 2006, and is set in China. The first section occurs during the cultural revolution. Ye Wenjie, an astophysicist, has been sent to a Construction Corps cutting wood in the countryside, branded a counterrevolutionary, after her father, a physicist, was beaten to death by the Red Guards. She is stationed near a mysterious radio telescope base, Red Coast, and when she refuses to sign an accusatory statement, she is is rescued by an acquaintance who runs the secret instrument, and needs someone with her training to help at the base. The radio telescope is searching for aliens, and occasionally broadcasts a powerful signal to attract them, with the idea that contacting aliens first would be an advantage for the Chinese. The base receives a signal from an alien watcher, (who is disillusioned by his race) saying don't respond, but Ye Wenjie, by now bitter and disillusioned, sends a signal.
The book changes to the present. Many people in China and the world are playing the trisolarian game that had been designed by a few individuals who are aware that the trisolarian fleet has left its unsolvable problem of a planet with 3 suns, and is heading to earth for conquest. There are warring factions in the society, and eventually a murder. A wily police detective becomes involved, and eventually is the hero who motivates physicist to continue planning for the invasion.
The author is familiar with quantum physics and has convincing solutions to problems of spacetime and communication, and the plot is complicated, with some detective novel twists. It is a little slow in spots, and it is hard to keep track of the many characters with unfamiliar Chinese names. I read it in the evenings over about four days. ( )

Very clever first contact story. Plausible story of first contact and communication. Interesting physics including the unfolding and refolding of a protons dimensions. Use of a video game to present the alien world clever if not entirely original. ( )

Really rather good. As you might expect coming from such a different culture, the characterizations, the pacing, the prose are rather different, but the book is none the worse for that. The premise is intriguing and tit certainly holds your attention. A rather fine and slightly different high-science piece of Sci-Fi. I will go straight on to the next book! ( )