The Three-Body Problem
By Cixin Liu & Ken Liu

- Release Date: 2014-11-11
- Genre: Science Fiction
Description
The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem!
WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
Over 1 million copies sold in North America
“A mind-bending epic.”—The New York Times • “War of the Worlds for the 21st century.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Fascinating.”—TIME • “Extraordinary.”—The New Yorker • “Wildly imaginative.”—Barack Obama • “Provocative.”—Slate • “A breakthrough book.”—George R. R. Martin • “Impossible to put down.”—GQ • “Absolutely mind-unfolding.”—NPR • “You should be reading Liu Cixin.”—The Washington Post
The Three-Body Problem is the first novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
The Three-Body Problem Series
The Three-Body Problem
The Dark Forest
Death's End
Other Books by Cixin Liu
Ball Lightning
Supernova Era
To Hold Up the Sky
The Wandering Earth
A View from the Stars
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews
Headache
4By Whim1954this book gave me a headache. It had potential but I couldn’t get into it. I tried to read the trilogy many times but all I got was a trilogy of headaches.Some of these 1- or 2-star reviews are asinine.
5By bookbanterIf your brain is too fried to keep track of names that are not Eurocentric, that’s on you. Not the author. This is an incredible piece of fiction. Can’t wait to pick up the other two.Eye opening
4By aawdcbhdThis book is one of the most captivating pieces of literature to me, it was HONESTLY a pleasure to read.Lost interest
1By jtheman5150Hard to keep all characters straightOverrated
4By PassepartoutI realize this is the “it” SF novel right now but the core idea is simply too silly. It’s like those James Bond stories where the major villain has his own space program, his own nuclear submarines, and his ambition is to get some ransom money. The aliens can fold a universe into a proton but they want to conquer Earth. Why?Just awesome
5By jalenh20Loved itBest of the best.
5By jillsie69Such a great read. Loved the book from start to finish. Can’t wait to read the 2nd book. Thanks for the thoughtful, challenging writing.Hard to describe.
2By Dav810This book was hard to get through for me. I like narrative driven stories and for the most part, this was not following a single protagonist who made a significant change to the narrative. It’s more like the story happened 30-40 years ago and now our protagonist is barely catching wind of it and the end results are to be determined. It’s the best way I can describe it. It was interesting but not engaging. It didn’t grip me. It just seemed like this book was leading to what the main story was going to be and whether all this will affect the story at the end is TBD with the other books. But hey that’s just my personal opinion.A fun read
5By Super StrubyA great sci fiExcellent
5By M ErnestFascinating and terrifying thrill rideHard Science Fiction Invasion
5By M. PetrovichA science fiction tale based on hard science. At times ponderous and at times page turning. Well written. The story is not unique, but the telling of it is. Highly recommend if the reader wishes a hard science fiction tale with colorful characters and a different spin on an invasion story.Excellent!
5By beans-72Of all the genres I read, science fiction is the one I read the least. I’ve had this one in my want to read list for a while. I wish I had read it sooner! Is one of the best books I’ve read. Yes it is complicated…you have to be willing to take the time to understand. If you can do that, then you will find an original, wild, imaginative story that is a joy to read. I highly recommend it!Tedious and unoriginal
2By taylorfausakI went into this with high hopes. Unfortunately the characters are paper thin, the story is meandering, and the sci-fi ideas are well worn tropes. There’s some interesting stuff about Chinese history but it’s buried under boring prose. The conclusion is basically a deus ex machina. Maybe things get better later in the trilogy, but I couldn’t stick with it.Great Story
4By FreshNastyOverall this was an amazing story. I just had a little bit of a tough time with all the technical jargon. I’m not sure you could tell this story without all of the tech stuff, but maybe it could have been made a little easier to digest somehow? Anyway, overall really good story, and I will definitely be reading the next installmentCool
5By orangeyongleI don’t read science fiction much but these concepts were very interesting. I was expecting some huge climactic battle or something but I don’t think it was really needed. The book was great.Great story
5By Joshwatkin504The story was so good the fact that I didn’t grasp much of the science was ok.Gripping!
5By blakefrymusicI blazed through this story in two short days when it usually takes me and my ADHD months to do so with other similarly sized books. The pacing in The Three-Body Problem is incredible, and the hard science is approachable. I loved the mystery and buildup throughout the narrative though wish I hadn’t read the premise as it unfortunately spoils a fair amount. Go into this book as blind as possible! Though I’ve always loved the genre, this is the first sci-fi novel I’ve read since I was a kid, reading William Sleator; I appear to be having a bit of a sci-fi phase and The Three-Body Problem is just what I was looking for. I can’t wait to read the sequels; I think I’ll go buy them right now!Do you believe??
5By KuhoxIf you like science and don’t mind stopping every now and then to do some research this book is for you. The first book in this series leaves us with more questions than answers but that’s where the fun is.Interesting novel
4By Travis*90Started off slow but Left me wanting more.