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The Three-Body Problem

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The Three-Body Problem

By: Cixin Liu
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
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About this listen

Soon to be a Netflix Original series!

“War of the Worlds for the 21st century.” (Wall Street Journal)

The Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking listeners to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

The Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy:

The Three-Body Problem

The Dark Forest

Death's End

Other books:

Ball Lightning Supernova Era

To Hold Up The Sky (forthcoming)

©2006 Liu Cixin (P)2014 Macmillan Audio
Fiction First Contact Hard Science Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration Space Interstellar Emotionally Gripping Chinese Science Fiction
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Interview: Ken Liu on the performance of translation

'... It's just fascinating how writing really changes the way we think about language.'
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  • The Three-Body Problem
  • '... It's just fascinating how writing really changes the way we think about language.'

Featured Article: The Best Audiobooks for Fans of Dune


Ever since its publication in 1965, Frank Herbert's Dune has set the bar high for epic science fiction. In fact, Herbert's beloved novel is considered to be one the best sci-fi books of all time. Dune was the recipient of multiple awards, including the inaugural Nebula Award for best novel in 1966. And in October 2021, more than 50 years after the novel's initial release, fans of Dune are being treated to a film adaptation, directed by Denis Villeneuve.

What listeners say about The Three-Body Problem

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Fun, well thought out story

Very dense and fun hard science take on an alien invasion. Not as much happens in the story as I would like, but the real meat is in the scientific background of the story elements. Highly recommended for physics fans.

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Weak Theme subordinates character and story

This is better than average, but not great. I find the use of full immersion virtual reality subplots are often weak and unbelievable and this is not an exception. I found the virtual reality aspects really hard to believe. The character development and plot are both subordinate to the theme. This can work when the theme is important enough (Animal Farm, 1984, etc.) Here the theme was very mildly interesting but not compelling, and so unbelievable that I could never quite suspend my disbelief. The writing is in may ways superior, but was overcome by other weaknesses. I doubt I will continue this series.

The narration was not at all bad, but was far from greatness.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Takes patience but worth the work.

This is NOT the same old SF story. It bends the mind in new directions. For me that is a primary attraction to the SF genre. Tie that with a glimpse at one of the the most unusual periods in human history and somehow a great story emerges.

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fantastic book, couldn't recommend it more!

amazing book, looking forward to listening to the sequel! cixin Liu is a genius! dark Forrest here I come!

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Hard SciFi with Chinese Characteristics

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Recommended if you are a fan of Neal Stephenson or Neil Gaiman. The world is so normal on the surface, like many of the Gaiman novels. And there's a virtual reality world like in Neal Stephenson. This story could even fit in the genre of a William Gibson cyber punk novel. But the setting, beginning with the scary Cultural Revolution, is completely China.

What did you like best about this story?

The rich back story and new world of Tri-Solaris. The explanation of the science, particularly of particle physics, was highly imaginative. This is a plot driven story without a lot of character development.

What does Luke Daniels bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

While his Chinese accent could use work, he managed to create distinguishable voice characters and add depth and pathos of the the somewhat thin characterization.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Too much science to absorb.

Any additional comments?

First contact is just too scary.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Science-heavy and dense but interesting and unique

Any additional comments?

Picked up the audiobook of this translation from the Chinese, mainly because it was a 2015 Hugo best novel nominee and was supposed to be good. Wasn't disappointed, although this is definitely a very dense science-heavy book so if you don't like science in your fiction, maybe give this one a pass. If you do however it's a thought-provoking novel told from several points of view that don't fully unify into a complete picture of the story until quite near the end. (Given the density of some of the subject matter I'm not sure whether to recommend the audio book or not; it probably did help get through some of the more dry parts, but on the other hand I had to re-listen to several parts of it several times just to understand what was going on, and they might have been easier to absorb in text form. Be warned based on your own preferences.)

The book has two main characters, Ye Wenjie, a female scientist who loses pretty much everything in the cultural revolution, becomes somewhat embittered about humanity, and makes some decisions as a result that literally change the course of human destiny; and Wang Miao, a male scientist from the generation after Ye Wenjie who is studying nanotechnology and who is asked to help investigate the mysterious suicides of large numbers of leading scientists who have apparently decided their work is meaningless and science is wrong. Wang also becomes involved in a computer game called Three Body which models an alien world and challenges its players to find the secret of the chaotic laws of nature that govern it (this is the only point in the book that disappointed me - given the title of the game, Wang's eventual conclusion that it's a three body system was a gigantic DUH rather than the big achievement it somehow seems to be within the game; that was obvious almost from the start so it stretches credulity that a highly educated scientist like Wang would have taken so long.)

Anyway, avoiding spoilers as much as possible I'll just conclude that Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao's stories meet and combine with the game's story also to reach a conclusion involving conspiracies, a shrewd old policeman, the attempted destruction of humanity, aliens, and multi-dimensional physics, and more. There are apparently two more books in the trilogy and I'll be picking up the next soon.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Words cant do justice to this mind bending ride

This was a bit to much, to real. The build up and back round drowns you in to a reality of a violent young culture. So clean and transparent it will make you question "Your own reality". This book is not what it seems. I don't know what I expected when I got it. I just wanted to read something from another culture. I can't say this enough, this will be in my top 3 books, probably all of time. we'll on to book 2

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This is an excellent work!

It's a delight to read something like this that is rooted in both history and physics, and if I am being honest I did not really fathom all of the physics in it, but the story is exceptionally well written. It is also a delight to read something like this from a Chinese author. I certainly hope that this is the first of many hard science fiction works that initiates a flood from a country that has such a large industrious population.

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Wow

Riveting listen. I'd be interested to hear the author explain the evolution of these ideas, and how long this story took to craft.

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Very intriguing

this book sets up a very interesting story line I'm excited to see what the earthlings do

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