The Good, The Bad, and the Redundant: Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy Review
This is my review of the now popular “The Three-Body Problem” book series written by Cixin Liu
This trilogy both fascinated and frustrated me in equal measure. I picked it up during a blissfully lazy holiday — a time when I had no work or responsibilities, and boredom was my only companion. Frankly, if I’d had anything remotely interesting going on, I’d have abandoned Book 2 faster than you can say “unnecessary subplots.”
Let’s start with the good!
You must’ve heard the name “3 Body Problem” — if not as a book, at least as the popular Three Body Problem Netflix series. Well, Netflix did a good PR job on the series promotion.
The series is based on Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, a book series written by Cixin Liu. The books are also very well-regarded. The first book in the trilogy, Three Body Problem, won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel making Liu Cixin the first Asian author to win the Hugo Award. The third book, Death’s End, won the 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. And rightfully so!
This is a sci-fi series, heavy on the science. Liu Cixin’s grasp of astrophysics and cosmic sociology is mind-blowing. His theories truly fascinated me. Not just the science, his view of how societies mutate in the face of danger is on-point! A great thinker, for sure!
I’ll give credit where it’s due: Liu is a master at crafting mind-bending concepts. The “droplets” in The Dark Forest? Amazing. The whole “Dark Forest” theory of cosmic sociology? Brilliant. His ideas about multi-dimensional universes and time-space compression in Death’s End are unparalleled.
His storytelling, though? Meh! The characters are one-dimensional, the subplots are pointless, and the pacing feels like watching paint dry…in space.
You’ve probably heard of The Three-Body Problem—if not as a book, then as the Netflix series adaptation with its excellent PR campaign. The series is based on the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Liu Cixin, a body of work that has received plenty of accolades. The first book, The Three-Body Problem, won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel, making Liu the first Asian author to win the prestigious award. The third book, Death’s End, snagged the 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. And you know what? Those awards are well deserved!
This is a sci-fi series, heavy on the science. Liu Cixin’s grasp of astrophysics and cosmic sociology is genuinely mind-blowing. His theories fascinated me—not just the science but also his portrayal of how societies mutate when faced with existential danger. It’s thought-provoking and eerily realistic. Truly, Liu is a great thinker.
I’ll give credit where it’s due: Liu is a master at crafting mind-bending concepts. The "droplets" in The Dark Forest? Amazing. The "Dark Forest" theory of cosmic sociology? Brilliant. His exploration of multi-dimensional universes and time-space compression in Death’s End is unparalleled.
His storytelling, though? Meh. The characters are one-dimensional, the subplots pointless, and the pacing feels like watching paint dry…in space.
Unnecessary, Unnecessary, Unnecessary Subplots!
Yes, I had to say it three times, because once just doesn’t cut it. I wonder what was Liu’s editor doing? Isn’t it their job to prune the book?
For example, in Book 2 (The Dark Forest) in the last chapter, there’s an entire sequence about Luo Ji hitching a car ride in the rain with a family, then getting kicked out of a car, only to catch a bus and get kicked out again! Wasn’t it enough to get him kicked out once to show society’s frustration towards Luo and his despair? Is there a need to repeat the same thing twice? Was this meant to symbolize humanity’s struggle? Because all it symbolized to me was wasted paper.
Actually, don’t get me started on Death’s End! Take the whole characterisation of Hunter. We get a painstaking description of his appearance, his weird fixation on a random woman glimpsed on a screen, his entire backstory — only for him to die immediately. Why? Who was he? Why did I spend three pages learning about him? Meanwhile, characters like the ship’s captain or West — both of them had a strong hand in carving the story — were screaming for some actual depth.
One-Dimensional Female Characters
Look, I get that groups of men in STEM can be misogynistic, but in Liu’s universe, it’s practically a requirement. Every male group in these books finds some way to insult or objectify the female leads. The worst of it all — Zhuang Yan. She’s reduced to a trope: the supportive woman who encourages the man, bears his child, and then gently fades into irrelevance. Are we still doing this?
Foreshadowing Overloaded
One of Liu’s favorite techniques is foreshadowing. Unfortunately, he takes it too far. The last 100 pages of Death’s End were basically a repetition of events that had already occured throughout the book. Every major event was hinted at so blatantly that the climactic “twists” felt like old news.
Liu Cixin is a visionary but an average storyteller. His world-building is extraordinary, but his characters are either subservient goats, crude villains, or sacrificial lambs. With tighter editing and better pacing, this could’ve been a masterpiece.
Would I recommend it? If you’re a hardcore sci-fi fan with a love for cosmic concepts and infinite patience, sure. But if you value tight storytelling and multi-dimensional characters, you might want to pass. Or at least read it during a holiday, when boredom lowers your standards.
