this was a very entertaining book for
many reasons; firstly as it was written by a Chinese author it had a different
world view and the English translation seems to have kept some of the flavour
from the original language; secondly the science elements of the story had an
authentic feel t them – even the more outlandish alien ones; and lastly it had
some interesting characters in it that felt original and fresh. The pace was
slow and measured as it gradually built up tension through the book and now I
am looking forward to the next one in the series.
‘1967:
Ye Wenjie witnesses Red Guards beat her father to death during China’s Cultural
Revolution. This singular event will shape not only the rest of her life but
slao the future of mankind.
Four
decades later, Beijing police ask nanotech engineer Wang Miao to infiltrate a
secretive cabal of scientists after a spate of inexplicable suicides. Wang’s
investigation will lead him to a mysterious online game and immerse him in a
virtual world ruled by a tractable and unpredictable interaction of its three
suns.
This
is the Three-Body Problem and it is the key to everything: the key to the
scientists’ deaths, the key to a conspiracy that spans light-years and the key
to the extinction-level threat humanity now faces.’
I read the first book, Ancillary
Justice, some time back and enjoyed the writing style very much. Now I read the
next two in the trilogy back to back and still liked the flavour the author
gave the universe of the Radch and the deliberate ambiguous single pronoun
aspect of the language. The expansive scale and long history is reminiscent of
the Culture series.
‘What
if you once had thousands of bodies and near god-like technology at your
disposal?
And
what if all of it were ripped away?
The
Lord of the Radch has given Breq command of the ship Mercy of Kalr and sent her
to the only place she would have agreed to go — to Athoek Station, where
Lieutenant Awn’s sister works in Horticulture.
Athoek
was annexed some six hundred years ago, and by now everyone is fully civilized
— or should be. But everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions
are still troublesome, Athoek Station’s AI is unhappy with the situation, and
it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what’s going
on. With no guarantees that interest is benevolent.’
‘For
a moment, things seem to be under control for the soldier known as Breq. Then a
search of Athoek Station’s slums turns up someone who shouldn’t exist – someone
who might be an ancillary from a ship that’s been hiding beyond the empire’s
reach for three thousand years. Meanwhile, a messenger from the alien and
mysterious Presger empire arrives, as does Breq’s enemy, the divided Anaander
Mianaai – ruler of an empire at war with itself.
Anaander
is heavily armed and extremely unhappy with Breq. She could take her ship and
crew and flee, but that would leave everyone at Athoek in terrible danger. Breq
has a desperate plan. The odds aren’t good, but that’s never stopped her
before.’
