The culmination of a milestone of sci fi that fuses original ideas, cultural uniqueness, and mindblowing long time space development concepts to an amThe culmination of a milestone of sci fi that fuses original ideas, cultural uniqueness, and mindblowing long time space development concepts to an amazing overkill.
From 2 dimensions up to 4, although this might just subjectively seem better Because how dimensions work and evolved in universe is just mind blowing, the short 4 dimension trip is just the beginning and preparation for the epic showdown towards the 2 dimensional interlude and the multidimensional end. Before, there is already a big „We´re so small“ moment when the grand finale is prepared by (view spoiler)[an unimportant, little worker who has to clean up such emerging problems such as humans by manipulating space and reality (hide spoiler)], one of the most unimportant jobs in this culture. And that´s just the preparation for one of the highest
Interconnectivity grade of all 3 parts of the series at über 10 dimensional level with extra great integration of characters, their legacy, kids, and impact on human evolution, possible extinction, and hopeful resurrection. Cixin may say that he doesn´t care that much about the characters who are just necessary for the plot, but because of his prodigy godmode writing level, even this seems amazingly suspenseful and thrilling. What makes this even better to handle and more compelling is
Deep freezing and some kind of immortality Thereby, characters came, went to cryogenic sleep, had descendants, froze again, and completed a whole social sci-fi picture of societies and ideologies throughout the series. Everything from 20th century China to a future 21st century before and after first contact and many good and bad, post scarcity and cannibalistic dystopian future human society models are presented in a mixture of unique soft and hard sci fi ideas and tropes.
Acceleration towards the end like I´ve hardly ever seen it before But at the price of a pretty slow start and heavy first part, something making it not as accessible as it could be. On the other hand, with an earlier introduction and further explanation, the blown away impact might not have been that high. Tricky to say, but let me assure you that the first book is just like a warm up exercise towards the real elite training in the 2nd part and the boss battle against physics, Clarketech, and reality itself in the great, epic, last piece of the puzzle.
Each part makes humankind feel and seem even less important and fading away in the endlessness of cosmic cycles That´s the running gag of the whole series, in the first part the Trisolaris people seem like gods, and this level changes and increases throughout the whole series until the third part wipes the floor with everything we deem technological superiority or understanding of the universe, big bangs, freezes, and especially the delicious crunches, although they´re cosmic catastrophes for the cholesterol level. And the freaking great amazing thing is that it´s totally possible, because we don´t just don´t know if there are billion year advanced aliens in our own universe, but also not what´s behind where we can see at the moment, if there are endless coming, dying, and resurrecting universes, dimensions, realities, timelines, now, then, and forever.
Some of the most amazing Sci-fi I´ve read, because it perfectly balances the character and (not as hard as in the first part) hard science proportion Some of the most amazing Sci-fi I´ve read, because it perfectly balances the character and (not as hard as in the first part) hard science proportion with exceptional epic language, unique ideas, and innuendos en masse.
An explosion of creativity and style, even when compared to the first part This is one of the most extreme cases of a series getting better and more accessible and just look at the third one, amazing. While the first part was a great read for nerds and historyholics focused on China, the series starts truly lifting off with not as complicated and more easygoing plot and settings while everything stays smooth and stylish.
The dark forest This grim concept and especially the 2 rules that force all intelligent species to be evil to survive, cosmosociology, technological explosion, etc. come close to psychohistory and some of the series seems to be an homage to the incredible Asimov. It´s kind of ironic that Cixin is compared with Clarke, although he subjectively seems to be much closer to Asimov with a grain of Lem. Clarke was much more meta, less character focused, and über sophisticated, while Asimovs´ style is much closer to what Cixin, the living legend, produces.
Special ideas One character is haunted by (view spoiler)[a virus forcing each smart device to kill him (hide spoiler)], which can be pretty annoying in a fully automated world and is kind of a tech variant of an ethnic bioweapon. The seemingly harmless (view spoiler)[probe leads to a kinetic overkill (hide spoiler)] nobody sees coming in one of the best sci-fi battles I´ve ever read. Drawing a big and long time picture of humankind that seems to get even bigger in the third part I´m reading at the moment. This plethora of many more new, perfectly executed ideas with an incredible sense for style and language is what makes Cixin so amazing.
The concepts of love and consciousness are deeply interwoven and add an etxra, unusual layer onto the usual hard sci-fi cake. Combined with the, already inflationary overmentioned, lyrical language, metaphors, and Cixins´amazing sense for style, many passages are closer to high quality nonfiction than the often more clinical, constructed sci-fi landscapes. The focus on even more character than in the first part makes it even more accessible too.
Extreme we´re so small moments Hardly a series could show the primitivity and technological stone age level of humankind like this one, owning us as the ones who are just entering the multidimensional stages on a ridiculous just 3 dimensional level. And just as modern military wipes the floor with medieval knights, a species multi k, million, or even billion years expanding into the universe and developing Clarketech so unimaginable we deem it impossible will just see us as bugs and parasites in the fur of primitives like Trisolaris people. Just pests with the potential to become as big as the exterminator, try to imagine future evolution and what we might look like in the year 1.000.002.022.
Future history timelines influenced by freaking cool people Thanks to cryogenic sleep, a far longer time period can be seen through the eyes of protagonists of the first part and I´m so looking forward to how this evolves in the third part I´m currently reading, damn I should stop being so redundant. It´s not just great for humor, for letting the, let´s say 23rd century humans look like primitive fools in the year 4000, but an incredible trope to play with economic, social, governmental, and especially technical aspects. Because saying that something is impossible is as arrogant as if bacteria eons ago would have said that they´re the pinnacle of evolution and thereby created a wacky microorganism sect. But look, we´ve evolved to a virus style, planet eating, parasitic, warmongering, and totally crazy superorganism. Still much room for improvement to become a galactic plague.
Comparing Cixin to Arthur C Clarke, as the press did, might be appropriate.
Reread 2022 with extended review
Hostility towards science ruins everythingComparing Cixin to Arthur C Clarke, as the press did, might be appropriate.
Reread 2022 with extended review
Hostility towards science ruins everything Ignorance and especially ideology fueled hate against science, and especially scientists who were torchbearers of the unwanted, enemy ideology are a certain way to ruin your world domination plans. No matter if Catholic church, the Nazis with their weird physics ( infodump, no required reading, and uchronia overkill: if they wouldn´t have been antisemitic, but instead anti communism, anti American capitalism, anti Muslim, etc., they would possibly have had the correct science to first build nuclear bombs. Because many people at the Manhatten project would have stayed in Germany) or, in this case, the Chinese. As soon as one bans certain science and doesn´t allow research, degeneration sets in, and keeping pace with more enlightened competitors becomes impossible. Cixin shows the historic examples and contrasts them with near future science, showing how far we came in such a short period of time thanks to the rise of science, relativizing the depressing beginning.
Epic, flowery language, which is unusual for the genre First, this seems more like an extremely well written, average nonfiction novel, because the science comes slowly (but boy, how it finally comes), and all the metaphors and character fused and focused exposition make one as interested in the characters as in the story itself, which is amazing for a genre that often prioritizes plot and worldbuilding over protagonists. Especially towards the second half and end, this acceleration leads to a culmination of both style and world that is a rare, exceptional enjoyment in the genre.
Unique ideas I can´t really mention much without spoilers, but this work has some mindboggling, ingenious ideas I´ve hardly ever seen in other sci-fi works, not even close. It may be Cixins´technical background that made him finetune such pearls of the genre into his work and, if I got it right, even added some innuendos to Chinese history and military tactics, although I am far from sure und too unknowing to definitively confirm that conjecture.
Drawing a (big) history picture of ones´ country Some other authors, I am too lazy and procrastinating to remember and name them here, did already use the real, alternative, future, alternative past, etc history of their countries to give great edutainment lectures of the sociocultural, epigenetic evolution and that it could have been completely different, often just decided by one improbable random event, a prodigy inventing or discovering something, or a lunatic hate preacher made god king, leader, or elected democratic president, whatever the difference is. ( Personal opinion: It´s not as if voting all few years and having a work environment that´s just slavery with extra steps, and sometimes even free social services in Europe at least still, speaks of true sociocultural evolution. See freaking end of history drivel. It´s just less inhumane and politically correct, but it stayed a de facto dictatorship.) That´s not just entertaining, but a great way to learn more about foreign cultures too, especially with the subtle criticism and satirizing element sci-fi loves to add to everything in general and which makes it the best genre of them all.
Maybe a bit too hard for the beginning and average sci-fi reader One prone to the genre and used or even in some theoretical concepts will enjoy it, for others it might be a bit too much, especially because so many protagonists are scientists too to make the infodumpy technobabble Elysium more credible and better and easier to plot. Skimming and scanning the theoretical, as in other less hard sci-fi works, isn´t a solution in this case too, because everything is so interconnected that one won´t get the whole picture anymore without it.
Old perspective before reading the whole trilogy: Can´t wait to see how the other parts are, especially regarding its outstanding role in the genre What I´ve heard, Cixin did an amazing job in connecting the whole trilogy, especially regarding the scientific, main tropes fueling this new milestone of the genre. With other of my favorite genre authors, whose perfect deliveries I do already know and love, this wouldn´t be so exciting, but because of the special, fresh taste of this first piece of orgiastic sci-fi nerdgasm, I am so looking forward to reading the next parts as unprepared and curious as I could be. And, without being narcissistic (again), this means something.
New view after having been enlightened and proselytized to just believe in the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster: This trilogy owns close to everything just aspiring to be a big sci fi we´re so small in comparison moment. If you can handle this epic triple, you´ll begin a never ending love affair with the best genre to rule, vivisect, and cosmic body horror them all.
Mario the lone bookwolf
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