REVIEW: The Three-Body Problem Trilogy

Remembrance of Earth’s Past

Are you in the market for a new book trilogy to invest your time in? Then you’re in luck! Cixin Liu has blessed us with three great books with his Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. That’s the actual name of the series, however, it is better known as Three-Body, the name coming from the first book’s title: The Three-Body Problem. Both names work pretty well, but in my opinion, The Three-Body Problem is a much more catchier name.

So why review the whole trilogy at once, and not book by book? Well, I thought about it, but this way just made more sense. Now that I’ve read it all, I got the whole picture and can judge the individual chapters much better.

A few more words about the book’s name – I think it’s awesome. The Three-Body Problem is easy to remember and makes sense story-wise. It’s a quite simple name, but still distinct enough to make it really memorable and pique one’s interest. It refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. Also, Netflix chose that name for the TV adaptation, which is set to release in January 2024.

The second book is called The Dark Forest, and the third Death’s End. At first, I thought of them as quite cliche sci-fi book names, but after reading them, they make a lot more sense, especially the second book.

What’s The Problem?

The Three-Body Problem starts out nothing like a sci-fi novel. Instead, you get some graphic descriptions of a bad political situation in 1960s China. Very down-to-earth, serious stuff. Science fiction elements are kind of minimal for the majority of the first book. When they are introduced, it is well done, and in line with the book’s rather serious tone.

Writing anything about the plot would mean spoilers, so I will just give a basic idea of what to expect. Basically, imagine how our society would really react if we found out aliens existed. The book asks that kind of question and tries to give some legitimate answers. It’s not your cliche ”aliens attack with a lot of lasers” type of fiction, rather it describes what could be the political, social, psychological, and economic implications on our society following such a discovery.

The actual three-body problem in physics, in simple terms, is the following: If I know the initial position and velocity of three masses, can I figure out how they are going to move next? Sounds simple, but actually, in most cases, the system behaves chaotic and you can’t predict it. But when and why should you care about that? Well, this also applies to the movement of stars and planets. Fortunately, we only have one Sun in our Solar System, but there are systems with multiple suns out there. So life on a planet in such a multi-star system could get pretty chaotic. Imagine not being able to predict the seasons or major ecological disasters all the time…

What if I’m Not into Sci-fi?

I think sci-fi is a genre where it is easy for a lot of people to just discard a book completely right off the bat. If you’re just not a fan of the genre, that’s cool. Sometimes, however, it’s worth it to go a bit outside of your comfort zone and try something new. The first book is not too long, and there is enough in terms of story and characters to keep you entertained.

That being said, this still is a hard-core sci-fi series, so if that really isn’t your cup of tea, you should probably skip it. For anyone on the fence, I would say go for it.

Book 1 – The Three-Body Problem

So what does the series look like as a trilogy? The first book is the shortest one, but still comfortably takes its time setting up events. In some ways, it is a very personal story, despite its ambitious scope. The parts focused on the characters worked well for me, and I liked the main character. At times you also want to hate her, but you kinda feel for her. It has some flashback parts, and some parts in a very specific setting, and we get quite a few of those chapters. This makes the book feel kind of clunky and unconnected at times, but all in all it’s not too bad and those sections serve their purpose.

Some huge sci-fi elements are introduced, and at first, I was like ‘What did I just read?’. Soon, however, you wrap your head around it and realize how cool and original those concepts are. At times, I got a bit lost with all the Chinese names, but luckily there is a one-page, quick character reminder at the beginning of the book. It ends kind of expected for the first part in a trilogy – it somewhat stands alone, but also not really. It stops at the right moment in terms of story, but it did feel that we are just getting started.

Book 2 – The Dark Forest

Ah, the middle book in the trilogy…It doesn’t have the charm of a new beginning, nor the epic sense of a big conclusion. So how does the sequel hold up? Actually, pretty amazing. This has to be one of the best sequels/middle-trilogy books I’ve ever seen. We get some new, well written characters that get satisfying and believable arcs by the end of the book. It started a bit slow, and I read the first 50 or so pages for quite a while (maybe I needed a pause after the first part). But once I got into it, It was such an awesome read. What I really liked is that the book has a proper beginning and end, even though it’s a middle book in a trilogy. It felt completely satisfying at the end, delivering its setups. If the whole story ended there, I would not have complained too much.

We get some interesting scenarios involving the United Nations, as well as a general ‘what can we do about the situation’ kind of atmosphere. The social changes following certain events were depicted very well in my opinion, something you could believe actually happening. In many parts of the book, whether it’s technological ideas, political decisions, or general changes in society, it seems as if the author argues with himself whether something makes sense, or how likely an outcome would be. I thought this approach was great – even when sci-fi elements are introduced, we usually get some arguments about why something should or shouldn’t work. So even if you know you’re reading pure sci-fi, it gives another layer of believability to the story. The author has a technical background and it shows.

Some of the main concepts in the book are genuinely thought-provoking real-life hypotheses. All in all, this was my favorite part of the trilogy. With a good story, characters, atmosphere, and real-life mind blows, this stands as one of the best, if not the best, sci-fi novels I’ve read. Plus, I dig the purple cover art!

Book 3 – Death’s End

The final part of the trilogy is the longest by far, a bit over 700 pages long. It has a very similar tone to its predecessor, so if you’re coming from the second book, you should feel at home. It does however shift into a higher gear, and we see the story really blow up. The book introduces new characters, new amazing sci-fi concepts, and expands the scope dramatically. In terms of the general atmosphere and the new things it brings to the series, this is probably the best one. I liked The Dark Forest more as I thought it had a better story and characters, but I can see how this one could be one’s favorite in the series.

One thing that bothered me was a particular character’s fate and subsequent events surrounding him. It is quite an important part of the story, and that’s why it bothered me, as I found it to be a little bit of a stretch. I’m totally cool with accepting ridiculous concepts in fiction if the author sets it up and establishes rules in his work. But here there were just a bit too many coincidences and conveniences surrounding this part of the plot, at least for my taste. I think you get my point, if you read about spaceships in a sci-fi story, you kind of expect that, but if in the same story someone wins the lottery 3 times in a row, that is an equally ridiculous coincidence as in our real world (which doesn’t have spaceships yet, I think).

In the end, even with some nitpicks, it was a satisfying read and a worthy conclusion to the epic journey.

Book Editions

I’ve seen two main editions in my bookstores that are almost identical. One edition is depicted in the figures above – each part with a distinct color with embossed letters for the title’s name. It looks very ‘sci-fi-ish’, and I really like it, especially the second book. The font was fine to read and the paperback makes it easy to handle and pick up with you on a trip.

The second type of edition I’ve seen looked almost the same, only the cover art seems to be a little ”zoomed out”, and it adds colored spines – green for the first one, yellow for the second, and red for the third book. It also adds those annoying non-removable stickers ”Soon to be a Netflix series”. The first book, with its blueish-gray cover and green spine, looks really cool, but other than that I’m not a fan of the spine color and sticker additions so I prefer the ‘cleaner’ editions.

Recently, I’ve also seen one big hardcover edition containing all three parts, but it is really bulky, heavy and (physically) difficult to read so I would not recommend it.

My Reading Experience & Thoughts

This was not the smoothest read for me. At the start, it was interesting enough to keep me wanting to read, but also not too exciting for a’ ‘can’t stop reading” experience. I felt this the most with the first book, and also somewhat with the first few sections of the second. I’m not sure how much of this was the book’s fault, and how much me being pretty tired at the time of reading it. Once I got really started with the second book, I did get hooked, and this pretty much lasted until I finished the final one.

One thing that took me out a bit quite a few times were all the different character names, especially in the first book. A lot of them are introduced or talked about briefly, a lot of them are scientists or related, and of course, most of them have Chinese names which I’m not used to. That is why I found myself looking back at the character list page at the beginning of the book quite a few times. Luckily this character list page is included in all three parts, so it’s not too hard to quickly remind yourself.

The overall language is in my opinion above average for the genre, and there were really beautifully written sections. Those sections are even more attractive when they are in between epic, high-stakes events. Other times, there were sections where it looked like some poetic language is being forced, while I felt it would be better to just stick to the basic language and move the plot forward. Overall, not too many complaints, and a big thumbs up for this English version.

Conclusion & Verdict

I did not plan to add another trilogy to my reading list this year, but I’m glad I did add this one. This is an example of really interesting ideas and concepts explored in an amazing setting with compelling characters. I really like the title of the first book, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Netflix will adapt it. This series has a lot of potential to be the next big TV drama, with enough political and social thrills to satisfy not just sci-fi fans, but the general public alike. There is a lot more to talk about in this series, but almost anything meaningful would introduce spoilers, so for now, we’ll wrap it up. Maybe a spoiler talk someday?

Overall, this is a very strong piece of science fiction that holds its own against the all-time greats of the genre. It is grand in scope, introduces smart and original sci-fi elements, has interesting characters, and an intriguing story with thrills and twists. There are some story elements and character choices which I’m not a fan of when I look at the complete series, and therefore it stays a little shy of a perfect score for me, but The Dark Forest on itself is a clear 5/5 masterpiece for me. If you’re a sci-fi fan, this series is a must-read.

Rating – The Three-Body Problem: 4/5
Rating – The Dark Forest: 5/5
Rating – Death’s End: 4/5 (more like a 4.5)

Rating – Complete series: 4/5

Big thanks to my friend Hrvoje for recommending me this series!