The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu 1.5 stars rounded up

[Karin]

Yes, 2 stars even though I plan to read the sequel because I want to see what comes next. I hope I'm not a glutton for punishment and like the second one better.

NB--this is a book for people who like hardcore scifi.

It's not unusual for me to not love a Hugo winner, and no doubt I'd have loved this if I could have read it when I was 14 or 15, or even 13 or 12.

Virtually everything about this novel is dark, and for the most part I just didn't connect with any of the characters. By and large they left me cold. The only one I ended up liking was the obnoxious cop, She Qiang, nicknamed Da Shi. In many ways, he's the smartest one of all. There were some interesting parts, such as some of the Physics stuff--A+ for Liu being able to explain them so the layperson can get an idea. A+ for imagination--it's good to have something impossible to actually do that makes for an interesting facet to the book (view spoiler)[unfolding something tinier than an atom that is supposedly 11 dimensions--if you don't agree with the supposedly, that's okay, it's physics and there is plenty of room for disagreement and questioning in physics, but actually unfolding this particular thing--pure fantasy based on scientific theory. (hide spoiler)]

Bear in mind that hard core scifi is rife with hard characters to like, which is why it rarely becomes popular with non-hardcore scifi readers. When I was a kid, that wasn't nearly as important to me in scifi. Also, like one of my GR friends who also gave this 2 stars, I like a little comic relief even in the midst of tragedy. My GR friends who rated this the highest tend to be prolific scifi readers.