I read most of it last night, finished it today.
I'm still somewhat reeling from it, and that is always a treasured gift of reading. So many big ideas, quickly processed through the story, then more big ideas. And yet it flows well, which I can only guess is an even greater feat considering it was written in another language.
There are some easy and obvious criticisms, number one being the somewhat thin characters. They seem more like pieces on a game board that serve various fixed functions, than actual people. Was something lost in translation, or is this just another one of the many sci-fi books where character is secondary to ideas and story.
Before I say anything more I must check the library site and order the next book in the series. I have to be careful figuring out what the next book even is, must avoid spoilers. This book said it was published in 2006, yet translated in 2015. Yet Wikipedia says something different:
The Three-Body Problem (三体) (2007)
The Dark Forest (黑暗森林) (2008)
Death's End (死神永生) (2010)
It looks like the second book is available in the library, but the third is not. I could just pay for it, but I suspect maybe it has not been translated yet. I see the first book won a Hugo last year (2015), so if it isn't it will be soon. I can't wait for inter-library mail to deliver it, I will drive to that branch tomorrow where the second book is.
Damn straight this book gets a Hugo. I haven't been reading a lot for a long time, but this book feels like something special. I can't remember the last time I read this much physics, and it moved so fast, yet confidently, and only enhanced the story.
The author's note at the end of a story is usually an unwelcome sight. You just had a whole book to tell me whatever it is you wanted to tell me, you can't just speak directly to the audience now. The author basically confirms that all the themes in the book are things he lived growing up, and he made the story out of them. That was actually fairly obvious in the book, but I guess its nice to get the confirmation.
I like how the story unfolds with increasing speed and urgency and revelations for the ready, only to end in a hurry up and wait state. But you don't feel cheated or tricked in any way, like now you have to purchase more books just to get the story you signed on for. You could have ended the book here, and it would still be a very memorable story.
Actually, that puts it in the territory of having more to lose than gain from a sequel. Its a gamble I'm happy to join in on.
2016.08.07
Someone already checked out the second book from the nearby branch, I'll go to the far one tomorrow.
I don't find myself thinking about the first book at all right now. Its like it left no impression on me. Is it because of or despite reading almost the whole thing in one night? Is it because the first book ended so finely, with closure and an opening for more? I'm thinking of delaying the next book to see if there's anything subconscious trying to bubble its way to the surface.
