Pages: 400
Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" is a widely popular recently published book in the science-fiction genre. It spans across several decades and planets and captures many important aspects of the Chinese history. As most of the action in the plot is based in China, the book was an introduction to Chinese sci-fi for me.
The plot revolves around two scientists - Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao. Ye is a pioneer scientist who has seen her father die during the revolution for his path-breaking ideas. She takes up a position at a secret army observatory. With the passage of time, Ye realizes that the unit is not a mere observatory but is a powerful communications centre whose reach goes beyond earth.
Wang Miao is a present day scientist who has stumbled upon an inconvenient truth and must play a game to unravel the mystery of it all. While he meets emperors, scientists and philosophers in the virtual world, he meets a myriad of people in the real world. The meeting of both the worlds is when Miao completes the game and is made privy to the secret of the existence of another planet complete with intelligent creatures (Yay! Aliens!)
The book is a grand in its setting - in terms of both time and space. The journey from the first to the last page is as if witnessing history unfold with lots of politics and drama sprinkled along the way. There is also a healthy dose of science talk that speaks in detail about black holes, relativity and time travel.
Though the translation is excellent, the only loose bits seemed to be when the action takes place on the other planet. The entire strategy of contacting and attacking humans seems sort of comical.
However, I loved the lyrical prose of the book. Even the plot was interesting enough to make me feel like picking up the next two books in the series.
