I haven't read anything like that in a long time. I mean, in the science fiction genre. And even so "solid", at least for my brain and, to put it mildly, a modest outlook on many of the issues and topics raised in the book - it's just as solid as it gets.
Liu Cixin (Chinese: 刘慈欣, pronounced [ljǒʊ tsʰɨ̌ɕín]; born 23 June 1963) is a Chinese science fiction writer. He is a nine-time winner of China's Galaxy Award and has also received the 2015 Hugo Award for his novel The Three-Body Problem as well as the 2017 Locus Award for Death's End. He is also a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. In English translations of his works, his name is given as Cixin Liu. He is a member of China Science Writers Association and the vice president of Shanxi Writers Association. He is also called "Da Liu".
Yes, the novel is complicated, in my opinion. The author has abundantly fertilized the plot with scientific details, which from time to time seemed to me like complete wilderness, but, as they say, Google helps us: I learned a lot of new things for myself. So if anyone is initially put off by books that are really aimed at at least a slightly technically erudite part of the reader, then perhaps you should pass by.
But I will recommend this novel anyway, because even with all these nuances and complexities of perception, it was very, very interesting. And then, here personally I was just devoured by a burning curiosity - about this book so much talk, write so many different reviews, well, how not to get interested.
It all starts a bit far from the main events - with the Chinese "cultural revolution. The descriptions, of course, impressive. Just for the sake of this part already worth reading this book, but it's only a small piece of the intricate chain of further events.
The second part, if conventionally singled out, will be the beginning of the main intrigue. One scientist working in the field of nanotechnology is summoned to a highly unusual meeting, where representatives of the military, police, scientific, all kinds of foreign structures are present. Everyone is frightened and extremely agitated. This scientist will have to help "this gathering" to figure out the cause of the wave of suicides among important and very talented scientists, swept like a tsunami across the scientific community.
What follows is a snowball effect.
This scientist begins to see a strange countdown everywhere: in his eyes, in the sky, in photos - the nature of the appearance of these numbers is completely inexplicable and fantastic, but it's a fact; then there are observatories, talks about the nature of physics and the question of what if there are no laws in physics at all; a strange virtual game where you have to make a calendar for an era and a season of disasters, favorable for human life; lots of historical references. In general, there is so much that my head is spinning. In this mess at first one thing is clear - some sort of war is coming, and on a universal scale. But who will fight who? ...The first novel - a starting point, so to speak, the beginning of something global, scary and fascinating.
It should be noted that the details, conversations, episodes, issues relating to astrophysics, physics, ecology, history, information technology, Chinese realities and a bunch of other things here are very well worked out by the translators - a lot of useful and necessary references will be, which greatly facilitates reading.
Of the minuses, I'll call, perhaps, in some ways dry author's language and extremely scarce emotional component. The characters, for all my interest, did not come alive in my mind, remained just puppets of the writer who used them to realize his fantastic ideas. No more than that.
One can probably write off all this avarice to the Asian mentality. I know from my own experience that it's hard to get an Asian (I don't know about the Chinese, but the Vietnamese and Koreans for sure) to be emotional and frank. You never know what's in their heads. They say one thing, but think and do something completely different. Hence a kind of emotional coldness.
And that's something similar I felt in this book. It's not the lack of development of the characters, but rather the Asian dryness and stinginess of expressing feelings. I may be wrong, though.
In any case, it was very entertaining, informative and worth reading.
I plan to continue reading.
This article was sponsored by Evgenia Kondrashina
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