Ball Lightning Audiobook By Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator cover art

Ball Lightning

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Ball Lightning

By: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
Narrated by: Feodor Chin
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"Wildly imaginative." (Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy)

A new standalone military science fiction adventure from the New York Times best-selling and award-winning author of the Three-Body Trilogy.

When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of the mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station.

The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his lonely life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own: a beautiful army major with an obsession with dangerous weaponry, and a physicist who has no place for ethical considerations in his single-minded pursuit of knowledge.

Ball Lightning, by award-winning Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu, is a fast-paced audiobook about what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against a push to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences.

This program is read by Feodor Chin, voice of Zenyatta in Overwatch.

©2005, 2018 Liu Cixin; Translation copyright by China Educational Publications Import & Export Corp., Ltd. (P)2018 Macmillan Audio Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Fiction Electric Universe
Fascinating Scientific Concepts • Imaginative Storytelling • Clear Diction • Fascinating Characters • Good Pacing
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I chose Ball Lightening because I heard such good things about The Three Body Problem, and I wanted to start with this in as "book 0" in the series before I began the others. Although the ideas and science are interesting, I struggled to stay engaged in the story. I think a different narrator could have inspired more enthusiasm. I'll probably give Cixin Liu another try, eventually, but I have to admit that I'm a little lukewarm on the prospect right now. If you're interested in The Three Body Problem, maybe start reading there and circle back to this one when you're done with the series.

Interesting idea...just not very gripping story

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wow this story is so good !
I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it however i found myself really loving the character ling , so much character development was put into her the good and bad and all of her character flaws put out there . im American and even though this story takes place from a Chinese point of view where America is clearly a bad guy I could still really appreciate the story . half way through the book I found myself recommending it to coworkers at that point already . im going on to buying the next books in the series I know this is basically a precursor to those stories but I can't wait !

wow !

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I didn't think it wod be that bad as online reviews put it. but man it would have been nice to have a warning at the beginning stating that is isn't much of an intro as it doesn't fully follow the story of the main book. The epilogue felt like it should have been at the start to save me the trouble

little slow, not really much of an introduction

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A must read before the Three Body books ! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book,no dull moments.

Fresh and New

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A delightfully winding tale about one man's obsession spanning a lifetime. Cixin Liu is a master of the long time scale science fiction effortlessly whisking us through decades.

Electrifying

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solid story, plot, and development. sad that the quantum physics concepts got butchered so horribly

ok

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this book is scary.

thanks for ruining everything.

loved it. am a huge fan of three body.

looking forward to more!

terrifying

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easy to follow the story. good translation. learned about the Chinese culture. good read. great ideas.

accurate science

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I enjoyed the story, although I my eyes admittedly glazed over a bit during the physics discussions. Too bad I'm not smarter.

Interesting story

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I have not read “The Three Body Problem”. This was my first exposure to Cixin Liu and his writing. Ball Lightning is a near-term SCI FI Novel and definitely not typical of the genre. The plot, which revolves around China’s military scientific efforts to weaponize lightning, follows a Chinese scientist and his coworkers through the military testing associated with their experiments.

Overall, I found the novel to be a very slow tough read, but worth it in the end. As I struggled to stay engaged with narration, I was confused about the universally high reviews contained in Audible. The first 4/5ths of the book are dull and the characters wooden and stiff. Not until 8 hours into the narration does the story change from a clinical experimental test plan to an interesting story. The author then introduces a war with an unnamed but identifiable American foe, who is also exploring the future of atmospheric weapons.

Ultimately this book revolves around the pursuit of science for military application without conscience and without regard for the potential consequences. Humanity has certainly demonstrated such activity through history and as our science advances, the potential for increased self-destruction increases. There are some surprises at the end, and while the conclusion and ideas achieved in this book are interesting and redeeming, the journey to get to there was difficult. Ultimately, I can only give it 3 stars.

Tough Read

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