The Three-Body Problem is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. The title itself refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. The work was serialised in Science Fiction World in 2006, published as a book in 2008 and became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. An English translation by Ken Liu was published 2014 and that's the one that I have. It won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel and was nominated for the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
It was on the basis of those recommendations that I bought it from Dymocks Bookshop in Melbourne in November 2018. While I did enjoy the read and the unfolding complexity of the story, I do not rate it quite as highly as perhaps others do. I felt that, while the scenario was very innovative and the science was first rate, the book lurched around a bit awkwardly and eventually ended unsatisfactorily (at least for me). Will I read the second and third books in the series? Well, I might but I have not marked them down as essential reading at this stage.
And my view was not alone. Quite a few other people commented similarly on Goodreads. But that's not universal. Both Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg have it amongst their favorite novels.
For completeness, here is a brief summary of the series, starting with book 1.
The series explores the world of the Trisolarans, a race that is forced to adapt to life in a triple star system, on a planet whose gravity, heat, and orbit are in constant flux. Facing extinction, the Trisolarans plan to evacuate and conquer the nearest habitable planet, and finally chooses a candidate/victim when it intercepts a message—from Earth.
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