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Comment by soVeryTired | Hacker News Reader

The Three Body Problem had some flashy ideas (like controlling the CMBR, and building a computer the size of a proton), but I didn't really feel like it had much depth. It had none of the great social commentary that you often get in sci-fi, and I thought the characters were kind of two-dimensional. Overall it just didn't really do it for me.

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I actually disagree and have wondered myself how he got such a book published in China. He is very critical of China's history throughout the series and collectivism. Also the sophons seem (at least to me) to be a direct parallel to the 'surveillance state' concerns that China has right now and how the citizens feel about them

The translator for volume 1 and 3 addressed this in an AMA, actually.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SF_Book_Club/comments/30xhj0/three_...

I enjoyed the 3 books. After reading the first one I was intrigued but it didn't blow me away. After reading all of them I am very appreciative of the epic scope, and while the it seemed to have less character development, the ideas more than made up for it.

I found it lacking in depth and interesting ideas of almost any flavor. I've heard that it's better in Chinese and something is lost in translation, but I found myself very disappointed after finishing it and not understanding the strong positive response.

Same - as said already, not a single one of the characters was memorable, except the comically stereotypical ones (rich daddy tree-hugger fanatic).

As far as scientific ideas - they were all a stretch. He is neither Stephenson in accuracy, nor Gibson in the vague, but accurate, predictions.

The Three Body Problem is entirely a set up for the other books. It does indeed have social commentary- but that social commentary is coming from a Chinese perspective.

Same here. I think it might be a SF exposure thing: if you don’t read much of it, the book may seem better, but if you’re used to SF with big ideas, there’s so many so much better written novels out there that I don’t get the hype.

> It had none of the great social commentary

I mean, the author is an employee of the Chinese government, and doesn't seem to be a fool.

>It had none of the great social commentary that you often get in sci-fi,

I found it great for this reason. For once I was absorbed in the fiction and not put off by excess sermonizing or social commentary.

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