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on October 25, 2016
This is probably one of the sci-fi series with the greatest scope that spans space, time and dimensions, combines historical facts and anticipating how future outcomes are affected by social behaviors of human beings spanning generations. I am re-reading the entire series again to make sure that I did not miss anything and I am still enjoying every page of the series in my second round of reading.
To me, this series is one big social analysis on human beings and how they will react when faced with a crisis that is almost impossible to avert.
To me, this series is one big social analysis on human beings and how they will react when faced with a crisis that is almost impossible to avert.
on September 22, 2016
I can honestly say I've never ever seen several of the ideas and plot points used in this book. I was astounded.
on September 23, 2016
The best one in the trilogy! This series are definitely among those great works that have the magic power changing my views to the universe or reality, what ever you call it... Can't recommend enough!
on October 11, 2016
So this is the end of a trilogy, which means a certain amount of spoilerage for previous volumes is in order...
In the first volume, The Three-Body Problem, humanity was confronted with an alien armada "only" four hundred years away and determined to take our Solar System. There was a great deal of interesting plot, but that was the -- what I said in my review: not so much a cliff-hanger as a distant view of a cliff.
The second volume, The Dark Forest, told of humanity's desperate search for an answer to the Trisolarian menace. The solution eventually arrived at is a form of Mutually Assured Destruction.
In Death's End, the solution fails. Cheng Xi, a woman from the 21st Century, is assigned to give the signal that will destroy both Solaris and Earth -- and fails to do so.
Of course, that's just the start of a longer story that goes right up to the heat death of the universe and, by implication, beyond. More than the first two volumes, Death's End is full of the kind of infodumps that Clarke made workable. They are, by and large, workable here. Cheng Xi gradually moves forward into the distant future by a variety of means, and at each awakening we see the wonders of the new world through her eyes.
Actually, this is more Stapledonian than Clarkean; and certainly the characters have more depth than Clarke's - not that this is saying a great deal. (Stapledon never really had characters in his travelogues of the future.)
Cixin Liu is the kind of writer who tosses off ideas in passing that other writers would make into entire series, and there are a lot of ideas tossed off in the course of this trilogy and especially its last volume.
If there's a theme to all this, it's an existential kind of theme: the Universe is a cold and heartless place, indifferent not only to Humanity but to life at all; life will always distrust and destroy life different from itself; and the only meaning to it all is what we make. It's not a cheering view - but it's a bracing one.
Recommended to fans of Clarke, Stapledon, Baxter, and the like.
In the first volume, The Three-Body Problem, humanity was confronted with an alien armada "only" four hundred years away and determined to take our Solar System. There was a great deal of interesting plot, but that was the -- what I said in my review: not so much a cliff-hanger as a distant view of a cliff.
The second volume, The Dark Forest, told of humanity's desperate search for an answer to the Trisolarian menace. The solution eventually arrived at is a form of Mutually Assured Destruction.
In Death's End, the solution fails. Cheng Xi, a woman from the 21st Century, is assigned to give the signal that will destroy both Solaris and Earth -- and fails to do so.
Of course, that's just the start of a longer story that goes right up to the heat death of the universe and, by implication, beyond. More than the first two volumes, Death's End is full of the kind of infodumps that Clarke made workable. They are, by and large, workable here. Cheng Xi gradually moves forward into the distant future by a variety of means, and at each awakening we see the wonders of the new world through her eyes.
Actually, this is more Stapledonian than Clarkean; and certainly the characters have more depth than Clarke's - not that this is saying a great deal. (Stapledon never really had characters in his travelogues of the future.)
Cixin Liu is the kind of writer who tosses off ideas in passing that other writers would make into entire series, and there are a lot of ideas tossed off in the course of this trilogy and especially its last volume.
If there's a theme to all this, it's an existential kind of theme: the Universe is a cold and heartless place, indifferent not only to Humanity but to life at all; life will always distrust and destroy life different from itself; and the only meaning to it all is what we make. It's not a cheering view - but it's a bracing one.
Recommended to fans of Clarke, Stapledon, Baxter, and the like.
TOP 1000 REVIEWERon October 5, 2016
First, there is no way this book will make any sense unless you've read the first two in the series, The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest. This is NOT a stand alone work.
Second, Ken Liu, who translated the first book, is back as the translator of this final work and to me he is the preferred translator of author Cixin Liu's works. I don't speak or read Chinese, but my reaction to Ken Liu's work is that he creates a more natural style than translator Joel Martinsen did with volume 2, The Dark Forest. Martinsen is an excellent translator, but Ken Liu brings an empathy to the author's work that I didn't see in the second volume.
Third. This is a great book and a great read. The entire series reminds me of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy in its scope, breadth, and audacity. There's a reason the author is considered China's greatest science fiction writer. This is that good. At no time did I know where the plot and characters were going or what was going to happen. The story unfolds as a vast panorama as seen through the eyes of a few characters. It is poetic, tragic, inspiring, and thought provoking (any more superlatives out there I should use?).
The scientific underpinnings of this final volume deserve a special shout out. There was little that was truly new to me, but it was obvious that Mr. Liu is attuned to some of the more interesting areas of science and physics in our post-Einsteinian civilization. As I wrote in my review of the first book in the series, his grasp of technology reminds me most of Gregory Benford.
Asimov? Benford? Liu!
Second, Ken Liu, who translated the first book, is back as the translator of this final work and to me he is the preferred translator of author Cixin Liu's works. I don't speak or read Chinese, but my reaction to Ken Liu's work is that he creates a more natural style than translator Joel Martinsen did with volume 2, The Dark Forest. Martinsen is an excellent translator, but Ken Liu brings an empathy to the author's work that I didn't see in the second volume.
Third. This is a great book and a great read. The entire series reminds me of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy in its scope, breadth, and audacity. There's a reason the author is considered China's greatest science fiction writer. This is that good. At no time did I know where the plot and characters were going or what was going to happen. The story unfolds as a vast panorama as seen through the eyes of a few characters. It is poetic, tragic, inspiring, and thought provoking (any more superlatives out there I should use?).
The scientific underpinnings of this final volume deserve a special shout out. There was little that was truly new to me, but it was obvious that Mr. Liu is attuned to some of the more interesting areas of science and physics in our post-Einsteinian civilization. As I wrote in my review of the first book in the series, his grasp of technology reminds me most of Gregory Benford.
Asimov? Benford? Liu!
on October 23, 2016
I have never reviewed a book, until now, but this is probably the most enjoyable Science Fiction book I have ever read. One must read the two earlier tomes in this trilogy to fully appreciate the complexity of the story and imagination of the author.
Just read it.
Just read it.
on January 27, 2017
I feel this book is frequently panned or under-rated, to the point where it seems the reviewer read a different book or is trying to place it into some preferred mold. I suggest reading it for what it is, because there's a whole lot going on here, including an exploration of social relations, direct critique of monotheistic values from an outsider perspective,, self-conscious literary criticism, explicit roadmap and guide to its own mysteries, existential breakdown, meditation on the awful sides to us, geopolitical satire and a whole lot more. And these are just the big topics.
on June 18, 2017
I'm a hardcore sci-fi fan and this series, especially this finale, is without compare. I'm sitting here trying to think of anything to compare it to but there's really nothing. Everything you expect after reading the first books gets thrown out the window by the second, and it only continues into this one. There were few points in this series where I felt at all confident in any predictions I was making, and I was right to feel that way because I was almost always wrong. The deep physics in this series will please the more scientific readers, but this is a deeply human story. It's poignant and heart-wrenching and everything science fiction should be. I doubt I'll ever read anything that will impact me in the same way this series did.
on November 13, 2016
I have been reading science fiction for over 55 years and Liu's trilogy is the best of the genre that I have come across
. Great imagination and images. Always moving forward.
. Great imagination and images. Always moving forward.
