The Three-Body Problem

By: Cixin Liu, Ken Liu - translator

Narrated by: Rosalind Chao

This program is read by Rosalind Chao, who stars as Ye Wenjie in the Netflix adaptation, 3 Body Problem.

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

Over 1 million copies sold in North America

“A mind-bending epic.”—The New York Times • “War of the Worlds for the 21st century.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Fascinating.”—TIME • “Extraordinary.”—The New Yorker • “Wildly imaginative.”—Barack Obama • “Provocative.”—Slate • “A breakthrough book.”—George R. R. Martin • “Impossible to put down.”—GQ • “Absolutely mind-unfolding.”—NPR • “You should be reading Liu Cixin.”—The Washington Post

The Three-Body Problem is the first novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

The Three-Body Problem Series

The Three-Body Problem

The Dark Forest

Death's End

Other Books by Cixin Liu

Ball Lightning

Supernova Era

To Hold Up the Sky

The Wandering Earth

A View from the Stars

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2014 Cixin Liu (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“A breakthrough book . . . a unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation.”—George R. R. Martin

“Remarkable, revelatory and not to be missed.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"A must-read in any language.”—Booklist

love it!!!

I am a novice at physics, but the descriptions and analogies made it easier to understand. love the story!!!

Very Average Story

I honestly don’t understand all the love for this book. It rambles and lacks a clear direction. The narrator is good, but the story is SO BORING. If you enjoy books just because everyone else seems to love it, you will be happy with this book. If you are an intelligent and independent thinker, be prepared to be disappointed.

Unique and terrifying

I was surprised by the unique take on sci-fi in this book. And using China as the backdrop added a great layer to the story. Reading a non-euro centric sci-fi was a real treat.

This book builds up slowly, and the real reveal only comes in the last few chapters. The threat to humanity is quite terrifying. As far as monsters go, this one definitely tops the list. Not least because this is a plausible scenario for human race. The 3-body problem is an intriguing story within the main plot. All the high level physics sometimes went over my head, but it was great fun to explore anyways. The author, I expect, is very well versed in Physics which brought authenticity to the characters and the problems. The various “miraculous” experiences were treated with subdued drama and it fits the tone of the book. To have a scientist experience this miracle was a great choice!

This is ultimately a story of human nature screwing its own well-being while squabbling over personal conflicts and ambitions. The book is almost a reflection of our reality with few extra dimensions thrown in.

I would go with the original audible

Story itself gets confusing in places but has very interesting elements. But I don’t think the narration in this version is great. I would go with the original (pre-Netflix) narration version if I were doing it again. There just seemed to be mistakes here and kind of random variations in the narrator’s enthusiasm, probably due to her taking breaks.

Simply the best

I’ve read this series multiple times and with the Netflix show now out, it was time for another dive. Loved this audiobook, great narration by Rosalind Chao, who btw is excellent as Ye Wenjie in the show. The 3BP trilogy is hands down my favorite SFF series of all time.

An amazing story

It was an amazing story while narrated by Roslyn Chao … the Netflix adaptation leaves so much out that this covers it so good highly recommend

A Chore

The ideas presented were interesting, but the characters weren’t flushed out, and everything convenient happens. For instance, this is the hardest thing, only an expert can do it; the character did it the first time with no practice, amazing. There is a lot of that. Half way through, I thought I should just stop, but I pushed to the end. Get this is some free means, so you can put it down.

Fantastic narration!

Fantastic narration! I highly recommend this version of the audiobook. The narration and sound production made the listening more enjoyable.

Some Brilliant Ideas but Narratively Weak

This book is full of some of the most creative ideas I’ve seen in sci-fi, but ultimately it is held back by a weak narrative, some glaring translation problems, and very flat narration. The dialogue in particular felt so subpar, both in writing and performance. Every character sounded exactly the same. I can see why it’s so well-regarded by so many, but I ultimately did not find it fun to listen to.

Absolutely amazing book and narration

I checked out the book after watching the TV show, and this book did not disappoint. The show did a great job at respecting the source material, while they did change and update some of the technology, the overall goal and love is the same. Off to the next!