The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

MY RATING : ★★★★★/5 

Honestly, if this wasn’t a book given me by a publisher, I wouldn’t review it for the world to see. I would’ve kept it to myself. I don’t know if I’m the only one in this but… I have those few VERY SUPER favourite books, so good, that mentioning it someone else would ruin its magic.

It’s like the very existence of the book can decipher so many realities, so many questions that I’m selfish enough to want to keep it for myself. But as abook blogger, I have a duty here and it is to share my readings after all !

So here it is : an amazing book that has completely changed my perspective on life and on science. 

Liu Cixin started out with this great concept: the three-body problem. It’s a physics problem that a lot of mathematicians and researchers try to answer FOR A LONG TIME.

“The problem of calculating the motions of three bodies in space moving under the influence of only their mutual gravitational attraction”- The Dictionary 

But if the author only wants to describe the problematic, it would be boring af for the readers so he articulates a whole premise around it and in the end we have one of the most brilliant science fiction story ever told in the modern area.

The novel starts out as Wang Miao, a nano-material researcher and Sha Di, a police officer start to investigate a series of suicidal scientists. Especially, fundamental science partisans were targeted and no one knows why. Along the line, one of the most renowned scientists also start to be hooked to this game called ThreeBody.net (sounds porno but it’s not LOL).  The Three Body videogame world is very rich, creative and original. It’s technically a world with a much more advanced technology than ours and we have to solve some science problems. The setting of that world reminded me of Dune.

We have this very interesting mix of concepts where video games, physics, mathematics and a lot of suspense. The science was believable, A LOT of research were put into this, and even some fictional concepts were justified extensively to my greatest pleasure.

“In the face of madness, rationality was powerless.” 
― Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem

On top of all these great concepts, what amazed me the most is the ability of the book to spark millions of doubts in my mind. Not the usual doubts like omg what would I eat for supper , but philosophical and ethical doubts. It makes me question everything and how we see the universe. How all the knowledge I have is nothing compared to all the knowledge Humanity has acquired. How little I felt but then a few pages later, how one simple act by one character can matter so much.  Then, it makes me wonder “What would I do if I was in that character’s shoes? Would I be doing anything different? ”

I know I’m vague in this review but I think the best way to read this book is to plunge directly into it.

FIRST STEP : 

It gave away wayyy too much details. After I’ve finished the book, I looked back at the blurb and I was stunned how they just revealed the biggest twist ever…

THE ENDING

One of the most satisfying ending in my entire reading experience. Not a silly cliffhanger, a very organized and well written ending that leaves space to the sequel and prepare us to what’s coming. Once you’ve finished the book, you will understand that this whole novel was ONLY an introduction to something so much greater. 

Happily for me, it’s a trilogy ! Also, the third book came out not a long time ago, so I’ll be diving into it for the next few days! 😀

A big thank you to Raincoast Books for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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