It's just as frightening to imagine we are alone in the vastness of space. The problem with the dark forest theory is you need to be aware of other civilisations. We can't just assume all alien life would want to destroy us unless you've actually come into contact with aliens and know of their intentions.
@@antonycharnock2993the dark forest theory posits that's its irrelevant if much of extant intelligent life is beneficent, because it only takes a few powerful species who are afraid of competition to silence any optimistic species, because past a certain point it's far easier to destroy than to understand or trust a truly alien stranger.
YES, for example i am african living in kenya, when the dwight man came he pretended to trade lol then he traded us then colonized us... well other aliens may do the same to humans or worse to be honest.
I had a completely different thematic interpretation of the ending - for me it was basically the author saying “nothing matters in this giant cold universe therefore everything matters” As in, yes humanity was small, and nothing but a blip on the cosmic scale, but they were still important, they mattered because they existed and were alive. The decision to end of the ecosphere alone in the empty pocket universe really drove this home for me
Wow I haven’t thought of that! That’s so beautiful 🥰 Thank you for sharing maybe this will change my opinion on a reread! That’s such a poetic interpretation 😊
Sounds like that one Quote from Angel. “If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.” Basically if there is no grand end point goal/win for our actions, then every small action is its own point. Without a bigger meaning to our actions, then the smallest act of kindness can be the greatest thing in itself.
In regards to the ending of the third book, I think, for me atleast. the running theme there is about understanding nothing lasts forever, no matter how big, how grand or how advanced anyone becomes. It ends. And embracing it. Infact i'd say most of the harm is done in the name of lasting as long as possible. Despite the inevitable. Even the godlike races responsible for the collapses will eventually run out of dimensions to run to, they will, one day doom themselves. Infact the only chance the universe has at a fresh start is all life letting go of their self importance in the name of life beginning again. But, it also has an opened ended aspect of how noble it is to survive so long we leave a mark in the memories left behind for the next universe, it does see nobility in the will to keep going forward. It just explores that instinct to its extremes. A balance of perseverance and humility I suppose. Atleast I feel that was atleast A theme when I read that part and I loved it for it.
The collapse of the Universe at the end of the books is necessary for the restoration of life and the legacy of past civilizations. The only way to achieve this is for remaining civilizations to cooperate, leaving their bastions of stability in pocket universes. In the dying dark forest, the path forward is to become pacifists and unite in one common goal. The alternative is eternal death for all. In retrospect, I believe it can give a lot of meaning to past struggles, as humanity is still one of the remaining players. The books end with humans making a small, selfless first step in the direction of restoring the cosmos. I see it as leaving the ending open to ultimately deny the dark forest hypothesis. Throughout the series, we were fighting against the threat to humanity's existence. Now we must fight for existence itself. Remembrance of the Universe's Past.
The Three Body Problem book series is insane ... I got introduced to the book by Quinn's Ideas channel on RUclips... He has the best explainers and deep dives of the lores and philosophy in the series, highly recommended, and is equally enjoyable.
Lady, how fast you read?! Found your channel a week ago because of the Dune's video (pure quality) and tought, damn there's no way I could read all that... Cause I'll tell you, Im STRUGGLING to finish Dune 1. And yet you finished another TRILOGY in the same time I take to mentally prepare for another chapter. Kudos
HAHAHAHA this made me laugh 🤭 I started Dune book 1 all the way at the end of January and had like just under 2 weeks for this trilogy (but I was in a time crunch for Deaths End I literally recorded that segment this morning 🫣 Good luck w Dune!!
I'm with you 100% on the emotions. It's the major failing of an otherwise amazing book. It would have been so easy to include little moments and conversations between characters to give them some more depth and make us care more as the reader. Usually I'm such a "character" guy when it comes to reading but for whatever reason it still worked for me. Great video.
Absolutely!! The little moments like the few examples I gave in the video would've elevated the book for me. Can't wait for your reaction video to The Dark Forest ending 😊
While I understand the perspective, personally It did not bother me that much. I think the ideas and concepts were so interesting that I focused on that entirely and was fine with the characters not being fully explored all the time. Also I dont agree with the rating for book 3, I loved the whole story about the dimensions, how they find the tomb and so on. I thought it was very intriguing to read about. I havent read it in a while, so sorry if i misremember anything, but I also thought the riddle from will (the brain that got send away), was really cool. The ending is maybe not perfect, but overall i thought it was a really good book. close to book 2 for me. But everyones different:)
I really liked the review a lot! I love these books but i do disagree about the ending of book 3. I get how if feels kind of like a "whomp whomp" ending to the trilogy but i think it brings up a really good point about futurism and some of the unjustified optimism that people sometimes hold when trying to push science forward. For me, the ending really drove home the idea that even if we achieve total domination of the universe and immortality in some form, we'll never outrun causality and the death of reality. I think it perfectly compliments the end of book 2 by tying in a philosophical idea that everything comes to an end no matter how hard we fight against that end and all we can really do is try to find ways of valuing what we have in the here and now in order to make life truly worth living.
You’re the second commenter to have approached the ending differently to me and your comments are making me view it from a different lens. That’s so interesting! Thanks for sharing 😊
Great video Wera! I did see this trailer and I was wondering were did it came from. Honestly this looks like something that people would really enjoy so hopefully the adaptation will capture the essence of the first book and hopefully it will have like 3 seasons and not only 1 season !
I thought the ending was pretty hopeful. The Universe is going to die no matter what, but without the matter from the pocket universes there wont be enough material to create another big bang. The fact that everyone chose death by dismantling their pockets so that there can be a new beginning was a beautiful sentiment. Also regarding the 2D solar system, it does exist as a 2D object however we are normally not able to perceive a 2D object because one molecule would be too transparent. What they were seeing when the solar system collapsed was the energy it gave off but eventually that energy will disappear and the 2D solar system will remain.
The most scary thing about this book series is that, although it is a science fiction, the theory and predictions in it could be very much true. So we are possibly reading a real future, and the future doesn’t seem very nice.
I've read the book in both languages, twice for each book. I would say the Netflix adaptation is good enough for a Western audience. It is not bad. They definitely make China look really bad for the show, and I get it. I don't like that personally.
ok, I'm 2/3 on your review. but at the end of the book2 review, when you said the title of the books doesn't make you optimistic for the ending. gals, did yoiu really read the books? there's no optimistic in the series ... it's dark and brutal, thru and thru.
I know it’s quite shocking when people have different interpretations than you! So much easier to denounce them and say that they haven’t read the text right!?? 🙄🙄🙄
My opinion of 3 Bodies Problem is quite close to yours. I totally loved all those thought provoking concepts which the books are full of (I have only read the first two), but besides the “Cultural Revolution” retrospective which I also loved, I haven’t felt any emotional attachment to characters (in fact, after a while I was not able to distinguish some of them!) or interest in their actions. Would still give the series 8/10 but with a sidenote that Cixin is a genius philosopher and a bad writer
There's a Chinese adaptation from last year that actually sticks very close to book 1 and they enhanced the flat characters from the book. It's 30 episode in total but I would suggest if could watch the 26 episode director's cut, which has better pacing and editing and minus the filler episodes in the original cut.
That's Tencent company's big Chinese New Year Holiday release last year. Was on YT, watched through like you - very faithful adaptation of first book, good subtitles, some cracking Chinese actors. EXCEPT... They didn't show the cultural revolution stuff at all; skimmed around it. Bit of a sensitive subject in china, I presumed...
This book broke me because I felt as if I was reading scripture. Amazing work. The ending was beautiful to me because everything has an ending. If the universe is a reflection of earth than I believe that and find peace in it.
I believe you would really enjoy the Tencent TV series (Chinese) on the 3 Body Problem. It is 30 episodes and a slow burn but i believe they went much fùrther into the characters.
Great review, thank you. I too was gripped by the books all three had so many new and interesting ideas. I agree that the ending was disappointing. I had invested so much into the characters and the story of humanity and the Trisolarians to see it all end, literally so flat, left me frustrated. As you said it would have made a better separate book. The dimensional pockets felt bolted on and all the wonderful; build up over three massive books simply counted for very little. Well worth the time and effort to read but an ending that fell short of the brilliance of the earlier text.
I think the reason you didn't like Death's End is because of the nihilism on display in the plot. Which i actually appreciated and enjoyed. The pointlessness of everything is exactly what the author was trying to convey.
I've seen the first two episodes, and so far .. eh.. kinda, ish. 1. The acting is kinda all over the place. The Chinese cultural revoltution parts are esp bad, many of the chinese actors act like they are in a soap opera. E.g. When Wenjie's father is on stage with the commies, she's doing the "hold me back, hold me back" thing and there is a random old dude next to her holding her arm (you know when a dude pretends like he's ready to fight but really isn't and expects others to hold him back, only she's pretending like she's about to run on stage. If I remember correctly in the book she just stood there frozen and terrified, which would have been much better. Of course we also don't get the context for what is happening, why the mother is acting like this (in the book she was a sociologist I believe, but in the show she's also a physicist.) Wenjie's background story is changed for worse. Her daughter, considering her very western name Vera, was obviously the daughter of Mike Evans (a name that always reminds me of Red Letter Media). Which is dumb, because it creates a needless romance between Wenjie and Evans. And cuts out the part where she married the guy in the military base and then pushed him off the cliff or whatever (I was pretty high and it's been a while). A lot of the same stuff happens to Wenjie, but the acting is poor, the way it''s conveyed is poor. When Wenjie hits the button to repond to the aliens, in the book we know how disappointed and even disgusted she is with humanity. How much she has suffered. In the show you don't get that as much. They just kinda glance over it all. The part where the girl with one arm was like "I don't repent" was kinda cringy. And nowhere near as impactful as when she met the 3 women in modern day china in the book and got that response 2. Da Shi is way too nice and he isn't the dirty cop with a golden heart and sharp wit from the book. Instead he's a nice guy detective working for the super secret British service. 3. This part I kinda get but they also took much of the story and the characters in the story out of China. 4. The new protagonist is a hot scientist lady who kinda looks like a discount Angelina Jolie in her prime. She's the one that invents the nano filliment.... she stops her research because ETO threatens her and she starts seeing the countdown. I don't remember the guy in the book ever stopping his research. She also has a black boyfriend or "situationship" who is portrayed as a very immature guy, which is kinda dumb. It feels like they're doing the interracial relationship for ESG points, but then they're portraying the black dude as a bad boyfriend who hangs out with other women while ignoring his distressed gf's calls.. And I can't stand her lips.. 1 mm more botox and ther lips will explode. 6. The traitors / alien sympathisers send a cute chick to go around and threaten scientists.. and even Da Shi. 7. In the book it was dumb that Wenjie's daughter canceled her self because, why wouldn't Wenjie be like: "I know what's happening." But at least you could argue that Wenjie might have wanted to keep her out of it or was worried she might judge her because she basically betrayed humanity etc etc. But in the show, she's now not just the daughter of Wenjie, who somewhat regrets her decision. But she's also the daughter of Evans, the obsessed anti human, misanthropist leader of the traitors, an obsessive PETA/Green peace type. And somehow he didn't indoctrinate his daughter? P.s. don't feel bad for scoring the book low. The books have incredibly fun and innovative sci fi concepts. But as far as story, characters etc. they are actually really bad. I quit reading them halfway through the second book. The second book's new protagonist seems to be a very obvious self insert. And when the author went on for 20 pages about his road trip with his imaginary gf. Everyone keeps telling him how he's be a brilliant author, and has a genius literary mind or whatever. At one point he goes to a therapist/psychologist and tells him that he's been seeing and interacting with an imaginary girl that he's falling in love with. And the therapists goes "oh, that's completely normal bro. You probably just have a brilliant literary mind. Ever considered becoming an author?" (p.p.s apparently he meets that same girl he imagined, exact copy, in the far future after a long time in cryo sleep, then marries her. Also, hilariously enough I hated the VR game because it goes nowhere... it's a VR game created to solve a problem that is unsolvable and doesn't get solved .. it's just exposition, a long winded way to explain how the aliens, their society and their planet functions. In the show, the VR goggles are super high tech, 100 year in the future, brain link helmets or whatever..
yeah i guess the acting could be better but i'm not too pressed about it (maybe it's because i don't watch a lot of tv/movies so it doesn't bother me as much?). But I totally agree that i think the mike evans romance is stupid especially because we miss out on the scene where she is forced to kill her husband (yes you remember it correctly haha) and AHHH you're so right as well abt the 1 armed girl scene. IT COULD'VE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER WITH THE FOUR GIRLS and them telling how the revolution harmed them as well! it was so impactful and there's four of them when Ye Zhetai is killed so why not use them in this other scene too? that's why i say I wish the pace slowed down a bit more. Personally I don't mind the change with Da Shi, I wish he had more scenes with Auggie (the Wang Miao equivalent character) bc it would allow his snark and intelligence come out more. like in the book with the scene where Wang Miao is crying in front of the church and they have that talk was a 10/10 scene for me. Ig I see why they made the series more international. I'm thinking it's because the sequels get very international and they wanted to show the global impact of the Crisis Era more easily? but (breaking the 4th wall) I wonder if this does have something to do with the fact that the Tencent version does exist and they didn't want to get into legal trouble with idk "copying someone elses intellectual property" or whatever im not a lawyer ahaha Wang Miao does stop his research in the book! It's because Shen Yufei (the "cute chick" i assume is supposed to be her? I wish they included the stuff with the Buddhist temple. once again could've had so much more depth if D&D SLOWED DOWN THE PACINGGGG) tells him to stop his nano research and to see if it will stop the countdown and it does. So the situationshp (i think he's her ex?) i heard that he's a stand in for Luo Ji (ig we'll see if he becomes a Wallfacer, I'm not there yet) but if he is then my theory is this: you know how Luo Ji has a gf that is killed by a car crash meant for him at the start of The Dark Forest? And then he makes himself his ideal girlfriend? I'm thinking that Auggie is the gf who gets killed by the car crash. IDK if the showrunners would want to kill off 2 of the "Oxford Five" in season 1, but Wang Miao doesn't do anything in the sequels so they might as well if they can't figure out what to do with this character And I agree the therapist scene was crazy. HE SAYS ITS OK THAT LUO JI MADE UP A FICTIONAL GIRLFRIEND AND NOW LIVES A CREEPILY OBSESSIVE LIFE WITH HER???? AND THAT THIS IS NORMAL???? Bro needs a new therapist ASAP thank you for the thoughtful comment!!
@@valliyarnlThat's why they changed Luo Ji into slacker Saul in the show and he's in love with Auggie, but disappointed her so much and so many times in the past that she doesn't trust him anymore. She's the girlfriend he pines after instead of some imaginary anime girl Luo Ji writes fanfic about like in the book. The latter is a creepy Asian nerd thing with guys who can't find a girlfriend.
I slowly came to agree with Matt from Bookpilled, who thoroughly thrashed the first book and dropped the series then and there. The writing is pretty bad in these books. The only thing going for them is the concepts and big ideas. Didn't like the ending, was too out there and underwhelming.
Wera, the space battle that confused you in DF is, I think, actually one of CL's finest moments; idea being that Earth has brazenly amassed an 'indestructible' space fleet of battlecruisers that are the apex of technological achievement and set to dwarf anything the Trisolarans have thrown across the galaxies- i.e the droplets. The great payoff is that this entire fleet is mangled in a matter of moments by those lethal droplets using an ancient naval battle technique of simply 'ramming' - using the super-dense material the droplets are constructed from to rip apart our finest technological achievements without breaking sweat. That's the point of utmost existential dread as the entire watching population of the planet realizes there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop them, and our fate is sealed. As for the ending in DE, I think you need to look at 2001:A Space Odyssey movie for the type of energy the book looked to achieve with it's super-high concept physics and projection of the nature of reality as the universe folds and renews for them to emerge into as the last survivors of mankind. That 2-dimensional apocalyptic weapon makes sense in the context of foreshadowing - they already explored 4D space 'bubbles' and believed that we all once existed in as many as 10 dimensions. But the deployment of dimensional weapons across the universe was the reason for existence crashing down through the dimensional realities until the inevitable final collapse. Definitely plenty to sit and muse upon after reading that madness, but it all make schilling sense. Though I'll be amazed if they manage to pull that last book off in a comprehensible fashion in future TV seasons.
ahhh I'm soooo glad that the mic difference is noticeable! hope you enjoy the video :)) (and tysm for letting me know you're from Instagram I'm trying to figure what to do with it)
Book 1: 7/10 . It was an excellent book for setting the stage for bigger events to come Book 2: 10/10. I loved both the character development of Luo Ji, turning from a nihilistic hedonist to the world 'savior' ;and the mind blowing dark forest hypothesis. Absolutely genius. Book 3: 8.5/10 Just like you the ending left big void. I don't know if i loved it or hated it to be honest. I hate fairy tale ending, but that one was the complete opposite of the spectrum. Netflix series: 5/10. I probably would have given it a 8/10 if not for two massive changes. Luo Ji's character portrayed as a physicist instead of a sociologist. And how they change the scene in the cemetery just ruins my experience of book 2.
Honestly, not a lot of books/movies/games scared me, the amount of horror movies/books that scared me can be counted on one hands. But man this book series, the first time I read it, scared the living crap out of me, I can't sleep well for a month, the existential dread is immense. I do agree in terms of characterization and emotional anchor, these books isn't the best, but in terms of philosophy and scientific theories, its fantastic and one of the best out there.
100% agree. And you’re so right about not being able to sleep. I have to have a light on and I’ve been having trouble sleeping for the past week since I read it …
Here's an answer for your confusion about Zhang Beihai's story line: I LOVE the dark forest because it's exactly like how science developed in our real history (actually the book 1 is the same like this): 1. there is usually some phenomenon that people observes and can't understand. 2. Theory scientists brought up some theories to explain the phenomenon 3. Experiment scientist design all kinds of experiment to verify all the theories and make the theory scientists to correct their ones. In Liu Cixin's book, 1.the phenomenon observed is : Fermi's paradox 2.The theory scientist Ye Wenjie (or Luo Ji) brought up the cosmic sociology (Basically the Dark Forest theory) 3.The experimentists Luo Ji (the curse) and Zhang Beihai (the battle of darkness) both verified the Dark Forest theory. Liu doesn't give a damn about his paper-like characters, he only wants to demonstrate his scientific thinking and ideas. He's very good at explaining the concepts and ideas both in a very abstract and visual way, and through some experiments (events like the battle of Darkness). I'm really fascinated by the step-by-step solid logic chain of the author. Really clear and clever. (I'm a Chinese fan of Liu, so pardon my inaccurate grammer/expression in English.)
Thanks for commenting this is so helpful! The thing im confused about is the Battle of Darkness and how it relates to the Dark Forest Theory. I understood Luo Jis part and was so happy when he explains it to Da Shi at the end. I just was unsure to how the Battle also proved it? Would u mind explaining because you’re very good at it :))
@@valliyarnl It basically simulates a small version of the universe in the dark forest state. The significance of the Battle of Darkesness is : It proves when 1. communication is even slightly limited plus 2.the resources are very limited so that the survival of all civilizations can't be guaranteed ------ the chain of suspicion (deception and miscommunication) + the survival first axiom (resources limited) will immediately start to work. This even happens within the human species (the ships), not to mention between different civilizations and species. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the details: First You can regards every ship as a civilization. And the food and fuels (resources) are not enough for all of them to reach their destination (survival), only enough to support one ship. ok, now Who will decide which is the one ship to live, and which other ships to die? Silence (refuse to comunicate) and attacking is already a sign of hostile, the only friendly option is communication that can avoid a war. But since survival is the first instinct and need of a civilization, you can't tell if a negotiation / democratic vote would work in this situation and even if you have a result, you can't trust that other ships are really willing to obey the vote and give up their life to make you live. (In the game theory this decision could brings a -∞ punishment.) We assume every civilization as reasonable and logical, then they won't choose this decision because of the "survival is most crucial" axiom. So when your fellow ship tells you "I will give up my life to make you live", and you know they are reasonable, this could be very likely a lie. Even if they are sincere, how do they prove it. the only sincere answer is immediate hand over of resources (aka, suicide), instead of continuing of living and communication. You can't risk trusting them ( if they betray you, you will get the worst punishment---death, remember survival is your first need) Now, let's say you are irrational and willing to sacrifice yourself, how do you convince the others that you are sincere? If the others understand the logic above, they don't believe you since they assume you are rational (understand dark forest theory) and trying to survive. Hence, the ONLY act of trustworthy is SUICIDE (in this case, self-disarming), and continuing of existence and communication is a sign of wanting to compete to be the only survivor. So as long as the other ships (civilizations) exist, it proves they are not sincere and friendly (since they clearly wants to extend their survival), the CHAIN OF SUSPICION is established and working, and the communication doesn't make any sense any more whether your communication is sincere or not. In the adaption of My Three Body season 3 (ruclips.net/video/guZtJ7h7F4Q/видео.html), there is a captainof one ship that tries to disarm itself (basically suicide by giving up their survival), and the vise captain started a coup and killed him and decided to keep the arm and attack instead. I really like this adaption here, because it could be regarded as a simulation of the TECHNOLOGY EXPLOSION in the dark forest theory. Even if one civilization is currently friendly (or weaker) in the communication, you can't make sure it won't turn into hostile (or stronger) in the future. Now every pieces of the theory are there, if you are rational and wants to survive, the only option left for you is to attack others and make you the only survivor in the situation. That's exactly what happens in the battle of darkness, and exactly fits every condition of the dark forest theory, a perfect experiment to prove it. ------------------------------------------------------------- I'm bad at explaining it but that's my best try, hope it helps you. (If you are interested in Game Theory or Reinforcement Learning, I think the dark forest theory is very straight forward and easy to model.) I remember reading this trilogy many years ago when I was like 14-15 old (in Chinese), it still made sense to me as a middle schooler and enabled me to see the world and universe differently (back then the series was not even popular in China), that's really impressive how the author built his whole imaginary and logical philosophy system so clear.
@@ploykickshaw9842 this is exactly what I needed and was looking for when making the video! If you’re bad at explaining like you say, then the rest of us are hopeless. I understand it so much better now! I keep thinking TDF rating will increase on a reread…
So D&D can do proper storytelling when they have the story… I wonder if they had to answer a question about it, like with GRRM and Jon Snows lineage… I feel like maybe the series is partially “an effect of its time” as in we have no idea if Netflix tells us tomorrow to cancel it,or give us another season, or maybe 10…
yeah and I wonder if the reason why they're scrambling to fit so much into season 1 is because they want people to get hooked and then slow down later? Netflix is very unpredictable...
Read these with ChatGPT open in front of me 😂 Everytime there was some physics theory, space stuff or historical character. I asked it to explain these to me. I enjoyed both books and netflix serie.
Czesc, great analysis of the three books. 🙌 I agree with you on most of your points. Like you, I also liked books 1 & 2 more than Death's End. I feel like this story could have ended with the ending of Dark Forrest. It would have been emotionally more satisfying. So far, I've watched 4 episodes of the Netflix show and I'm still on the fence. Let's see.
Finally got a chance to watch this. All very fair points for Death's End! Its funny that a lot of the things you did not like are the parts that I love about it and for me make it a must read for me
haha. Nice vids and even better comments. I seconded your reviews. Book 2 is like goat level. Book 1 is good /solid book. Book 3 is affected by what happened to cixin Liu. He almost got fire by his firm as an engineer. So he’s not in good faith of humanity too. I’ve heard he’s about to write a brighter end of the trilogy but he didn’t. i thought it was due to the culture difference ,Chinese reader loove Zhang beihai. To wrap it up as a Chinese reader I’d say this trilogy is poor writing,lack of character building, no arc. But the idea is too epic so I’d recommend this trilogy.
17:00 Very interesting take on the third book and its end. I was also very disappointed when I read about how things went. After finishing the book, I looked at the night sky, the stars, thinking about the trilogy, "our lives could be so pointless". I think considering Liu Cixin's background and the time when the trilogy was written, it can be quite normal for him to write the plot that way. From the perspective of Entropy, everything in the universe will mix together and becomes homogenized, eventually. That's your death by thermodynamics. And from the perspective of the popular Big Bang Theory, the universe was born from a blasting singular point, now expanding, but some say will collapse back into a singular point due to gravity related mechanisms. Those are the two most liked theories among popular science writers and Sci-fi writers. One way or another, in those theories the universe will surely have an end. But what so facinating about the Rememberance of Earth's Past trilogy is, the ultimate end is ploted to not be the natural process of the universe itself, but the making of some old, humongous civilzations that are too advanced for humans to comprehend. "Is the nature really natural?" (When I first read about the idea it greatly scared me). Life was born from the universe, and later completely changed the universe for its own good (or end). The nature is still the nature if u consider life as part of the nature, but it‘s not what we once thought it was, cause life is unbelievably powerful. Still, one could feel rather frastrated learning that everything has to end and start again, especially for the earthers and trisolarians in the book series. But I still wanna quote this from the book: "给岁月以文明，而不是给文明以岁月". The translation in the English version is "make time for civilization, for civilization won't make time", but I think it is different from Liu Cixin's original point. I'd like to directly translate it as "Give the years with civilization, rather than give civilization the years."
Nice review! I've been hanging out in a SF group and things have really gone downhill debating whether the books/show are an apologia for authoritarianism... well, it started debating, moved to gratuitous insults and politics, and right about now half the group seem to be about call in the aliens to save us. Very meta. I've watched the Tencent show, and it's flawed, sure. But the emotional core is Shi/Wang, and the Antagonists Shen/Ye. The rest are kind of irrelevant. I don't understand the D&D decision to do "The Famous Five Go Mad with Nano". In Dover. I really don't understand Wang being morphed into Augie and Jin. The interpersonal stuff is so underwritten and lame. And there are mistakes - in-show mistakes: I love Jess Hong, but why did it take 4 full episodes to have Ye infodump that her Kiwi accent is because of some nonsense flood in Hubei where her parents died, then she went to New Zealand. Ok, realism check, since I've lived in both countries: floods in Hubei are also known as "June", "July", and "August". Flood refugees by the millions are taken care of in China every year. This is not the 1940s. The first time Hong spoke I thought hey that's the woman from Brokenwood, what the hell is the dialogue coach doing? Anyway, must get back to the show. Will attempt to reserve judgment on the season until I've watched and taken a step back.
Wow what happened to your group was indeed very meta 😳 I finished the show and I agree it’s flawed now. I’d say a 6/10. It felt like they wanted to skip thru book 1 to get to book 2. I think they set up the friendships well at the start but then didn’t deliver on most of them (other than Will bc I do think they did his “end” well). I hope it does get renewed tho bc I’m curious to see their take on book 2. Thank you for the comment!
@@valliyarnl Thanks! I like your take. I finished it last night and have so many questions about the writing choices. Nevermind, if netflix want to throw 200 mil at it and get this outcome, then ... fine. It feels a bit like Foundation.
Imagine epic metaphysical SF done in cheesy YA drama mode, like Hari Selden and co mashed into The 100, with moments of Jupiter Ascending. It's not that much fun, even if you tap into your inner Absurdist ...
We also need to remember a lot of this book is also science fiction it's more science theory then real science which most humans are all struggling with. You also have to remember the focus will be different an 3 body problem has been written form a different emotional perspective. I think a big part we need to understand is human who reach out around looking for a new way to survive and for acceptance but we don't know what we are reading out too is it really a good idea? We could be getting manipulated by hidden aliens? Do the aliens out there already know we are here? Are they tricking us and trying to hide from others for themselves.
My favorite part of the book was the fairy tale-riddle that Yun Tian-ming told Cheng Xin. The fact that humans have to turn to the fairy tales to find a way to save the entire human civilization is so cool.
It took a second read for me to truly appreciate what the author did focusing on the fiction as the main driving point of the story. Don't feel bad about not being able to wrap your head around some of those concepts, most of us are on the same boat, back in Uni one of my professors told me he could understand the math behind a lot of physics concepts but he couldn't visualize some of the more crazy ones.
well to "finish" this trilogy nextflix will need the budget like stranger things. above 200Mil and at least 15-25mil per episode. if at all this adaption takes the timeline after the 2nd books' last quarter portion. the show writers of this adaptation are same as GOT benioff and weiss. i don't trust those guys 😂but so far they did fine for adaption. show didn't get that hype yet which they were expecting. that happened for 2 reason. > Lack of promotion > Story is a intellectual property. meaning not everyone is going to like the sciency things. the show doesn't have mix combination of fun, dark, comedy and thriller all in one like stranger things or squid game. the show is dark (books are even darker) it's thriller but a lot slow pacing. there are many details that book just mentioned it in 5 lines which show took literally 30 mins of it's time to establish that part. i feel like this show will get cancelled. this trilogy is like DUNE but at different scale.
This video is exactly what I needed! I just finished reading the Three-Body Problem and feeling totally lost. Especially the science parts. It sounds like I should just skip book three altogether. Unless I want my brain to explode. 😂 Also, who else is totally in love with Thomas Wade? 😍
I had a similar issue with the writing being very clinical and sterile when it came to the characters...I also made the mistake of listening to it on audiobook, which meant a lot of the character names didn't sink in as readily as when i read something. I found the theoretical science concepts fascinating, though i think there's some issues with the Dark Forest fermi-paradox solution. It's a little flawed (mainly that you couldn't mask the signs of a powerful civilisation, adequately enough, as they progress to that godlike scientific advancement, to remain hidden, although it's a fun concept to play with). I think the series ending does feel kind of empty, but i took from that the point that this perpetual hostility and paranoia is ultimately, utterly destructive. It's a cautionary parable, so to speak, reflecting our current distrust of each other, globally. The series has proved interesting too, the development of the interpersonal relationships was a welcome addition, for the most part, but the series also felt a little rushed with some aspects being almost dumbed down, while other parts just not quite working. The ending was a little anticlimactic, but overall I enjoyed the experience. Netflix have made far worse shows, but it's not quite the mind blowing scifi tv it's been advertised as. It also helped having experienced the books to follow the plot. I'll be curious how folk who've not read those, find understanding and following the story.
What an insightful comment thank you for writing it all out! I agree with u about the Netflix series as well. Hopefully for season 2 they will increase the science 🧪
If Star Trek essentially is a hopeful future, this series was the polar opposite. We are all doomed, everything sucks, give up and run away, or hide in a hole. No thanks. I will instead choose to be hopeful. The Dark Forest is the so nihilistic.
Awesome review, Wera! I really love how you broke down the scientific concepts that are covered in this series - as difficult as they can be to wrap one's head around. Continuing in my tradition of leaving book recommendations on your sci-fi novel reviews, I have one which I think you'll adore: Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It covers mind-bending concepts, has references to classic literature (Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in particular), and manages to be genuinely scary and profound, all at the same time. I'd be curious to hear your take on The Shrike and The Valley of the Time Tombs, especially. I promise these terms all make sense once you've read the book, lol. It's a bizarre one, but well worth the investment should you choose to undertake it. Thanks again for a great video. Cheers!
I haven't read the books, but from it sounds like, the Netflix series is more character driven than the books are, which makes it much more feasible for the average person to enjoy. I do know that the author signed off on the changes and the script though, so it does align with his imagining.
oh i didn't know that the author signed off on the changes! that's really cool. i'd say it's because the series does respect the source material. Quinn's ideas just made a video review and he went into that a bit deeper if you're interested
I watched the first two episodes of the Netflix series last night with my girlfriend, after watching this video I think we're going to have to take a break and read them first!! 😂
Science is just vehicle for a story, like magic in Game of Thrones or Witcher. 😊 BTW entangled particles cannot be used to communicate, there's no way.
Yeah ig for the quantum particles thing I just had to suspend my disbelief. But I’d disagree that the science was a vehicle for the story. I think it was kind of the other way around: the plot was a vehicle for the science. Thank you for commenting Thats such an interesting take! (Btw I loooove the Witcher… ur name looks kind of Polish so kocham Wiedźmina książki i gry. Najlepszy eksport naszego kraju tylko szkoda że Netflix zdecydował totalnie nie szanować jego podstaw)
The netflix adaptation has much more of the emotional/relationship stuff. I think that's a necessary change simply because a huge part of the book is inner monologues and that just doesn't translate well to TV, so you need characters with a reason to talk to each other. A lot of the emotional stuff is either changed drastically or invented from whole cloth for the show, but it works really well. also for the series, episode 7 absolutely wrecked me.
@@valliyarnl to be fair I was very high when I watched but I had the thought, what is a storm where the rain gets heavier as you approach, but there is only calm when you reach it? has to be death.
It's true. I'm serious, if you read online reviews thoroughly you see that the book is just made a hype in the west by influencers. It is not considered a great novel in China or Asia. It has some nice interesting ideas but I found much more fascinating theories of physics and thought experiments on science channels on YT. I didn't like the book, to be honest I could not finish it because I found it rather boring and depressing.@@valliyarnl
I understand that many ppl miss an emotional center in the books. But for me the ideas discussed in all 3 books and the scope of it all are so compelling that they make for one of the best Sci-Fi book series I have ever read. I encourage everyone to not stop at the third book! Death's End had me at the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down. ... and I am not a physics guy at all (but I am superinterested in popular science without all the equations :-D)
@@valliyarnl I'm sorry you didn't 😕 How did you feel about the section in Dark Forest where the main character (forgot his name, it's been a while) tries to find a woman he only experienced in his imagination? That struck me as kind of odd and even a bit chauvinistic
@@kwancomics ummm I definitely found it odd but not at all chauvinistic. to be honest I was quite surprised when I found out that quite a bit of readers came away with that impression. Here are my thoughts: Everyone (most people at least) do dream of finding a partner/friends that they feel seen and loved by. Luo Ji just happened to not be that lucky, so when he wasn't able to get out of the Wallfacer project he was like "ok. I'll give a huge 🖕🏻to the UN by using up their resources, and I'll find that partner I always dreamed of having. 2 birds with one stone." I did like the moment with the Mona Lisa in book 3, but overall I did find the start of this storyline to be odd and meandering (hence why I'd say the first 1/3 of TDF was a 3 star but I adored the rest)
@@valliyarnl ok, chauvinistic is a bit harsh 😅. I actually liked the aspect of rejecting the role he was given and all that. I think it was just the fact that he tried to find a woman with exactly all the traits that he desired and dreamed about. It felt oddly objectifying only in that sense. I hope that makes sense
I suggested this book to Merphy Napier, well, look where it is now. ☝️😉 The ships go to 2 directions. The 5 who are flying in a tandem know that they don’t have enough fuel. That’s the horror in space. Sooner or later someone has to make a choice. All the captains know it. But not everyone realizes that yet. At the end he is too late even when he planned it from the beginning. So they died. One ship remained. He is the same guy who killed the people in the space in book 1. So he couldn’t achieve his goal. At the end… now this book is not positive. You should realize that way before, not at the final book. At book 1 it’s already a losing side for humanity and how it describes our part in it? Totally dark. Maybe it doesn’t flash out the characters, but cultural revolution first then she betrays the entire world, next the “good guys” are not so much good guys, they kill a lot of people in the name of saving others. The aliens are not on earth but they already won. Next the wall facers. They basically want to kill a ton of people with their plans, and yes, that mind control idea would enslave everyone. That Dark Forest concept is also dark… that already not just telling that it’s better be quiet but it tells that a lot of strong and dangerous people are there hunting. And that’s why we never got an answer so far. It’s a depressing concept. Liu doesn’t want to paint a positive image for us. With the last comparison Wade maybe was morally dark (logical) yet in contrast his decision would be correct. Or not? That’s the idea. You have to decide if it would worth it in light of the final ending. Subscribed. Hope you will read the. Malazan Book of the Fallen soon. 😉
Thank you for this very analytical and insightful comment! It’s so cool that you suggested it to Merphy (loved her videos on this trilogy). I’m going to be reading Malazan with Matt’s Fantasy Book Reviews and his discord read along so there should be a video up in a month or so :D
@@valliyarnl oh so you join Matt’s? That will be fun. You won’t drop so lost easily. I read it 12~ years ago and somehow today people tend to feel that these books are hard reads at the beginning. Well… here the characters are very!! strong. The first book has 33 POVs so there is a that. And yes, the map… Roshar from Stormlight was a child’s game compared to it, it’s as earth and you will visit different continents. 😁 But don’t let to intimidate you. Even if you give 3/5 to the first book, continue it. Remember to the fact that Daniel Greene literally hated it and then he called it masterpiece when he finished with the series and in his top10 fantasy characters there are from Malazan. It’s only on changing the paradigm, how you connect to characters. You are a witness on that world so it won’t explain anything to you just the info that the characters know. You won’t understand the magic system because the characters don’t understand it or they don’t discuss it, in other words: 0 info dump, ever. You will see incredible history about the world because it’s not built like the usual fantasy worlds, everything has deep past and the characters see it. That’s how the wold builds up. Listen to the opinions and dialogues. What you don’t understand (yet) doesn’t matter, it’s not about cracking up everything at once. It’s not Cosmere. Later will make sense or not. So don’t make an issue about it. If you remember most of the things that’s enough for the moment and that’s it. Later there is a great payoff, sometimes in an other book. Gardens of the Moon is a good book still it’s an intro for everything. Ultimately the first book is not that strong in themes and ideas yet… (there are some tho) but this series is totally about them. And not on the level that Erikson will decide it for you, but give you the question and you can meditate on it, letting you the opportunity to decide.
@@nazimelmardi yeah i am motivated to read at least through Memories of Ice and I found Matt thru his guide to Malazan so I figured the best way to start it is with his guidance! Thank you for the heads up!
This is a polarizing book in my circle of Sci Fi reading friends. I ground my way through the first book and just couldn't motivate myself to see if the others were better. Flat characters, a preposterous premise (the mystery of which is given away by the title), and some frankly tired ideas just flat out bored me. I feel that most ppl that are blown away by the ideas in these books aren't reading far enough out on the edge of Speculative Fiction. Maybe it's masterfully written in its original language, but it feels like much was lost in translation. The fact that the Netflix series is being produced by the same team that is responsible for GoT and it's rapid decline outside of the plot of the books, I'll be passing on the show.
book 1 was fine but i think when people talk about loving this series then they probably talk about book 2. but yeah i can totally see how it's polarising
I thought book 1 was ok, but hated book 2 with a passion. Seems to me that some people really prefer book 2 and 3, while the people that prefer book 1 generally seem to really dislike the second and third book. Also, for an author that writes so candidly about the Chinese cultural revolution, it's really disappointing that at the same time he support the Uyghur genocide and claims the Chinese state is "civilizing" them. Also, really not that hard to comprehend why people sub to you. Your content is good, the editing is good, the subject matter is interesting and you're an attractive girl lol
What are your ratings of the books?
Have you seen the Netflix adaptation yet?
☄️🪐👽🔭☀️🌍🚀🛰️
This trilogy flipped me out so much that I am now a proponent of The Dark Forest theory. We need to stop looking for other life forms in the universe.
Yeah tbh after reading that I kind of agree. The argument presented was logical and brutal…
Same here, I do believe in escapism, but it's an amazing series that makes me feel this is a series more humans should read.
It's just as frightening to imagine we are alone in the vastness of space. The problem with the dark forest theory is you need to be aware of other civilisations. We can't just assume all alien life would want to destroy us unless you've actually come into contact with aliens and know of their intentions.
@@antonycharnock2993the dark forest theory posits that's its irrelevant if much of extant intelligent life is beneficent, because it only takes a few powerful species who are afraid of competition to silence any optimistic species, because past a certain point it's far easier to destroy than to understand or trust a truly alien stranger.
YES, for example i am african living in kenya, when the dwight man came he pretended to trade lol then he traded us then colonized us... well other aliens may do the same to humans or worse to be honest.
I had a completely different thematic interpretation of the ending - for me it was basically the author saying “nothing matters in this giant cold universe therefore everything matters”
As in, yes humanity was small, and nothing but a blip on the cosmic scale, but they were still important, they mattered because they existed and were alive.
The decision to end of the ecosphere alone in the empty pocket universe really drove this home for me
Wow I haven’t thought of that! That’s so beautiful 🥰
Thank you for sharing maybe this will change my opinion on a reread! That’s such a poetic interpretation 😊
Sounds like that one Quote from Angel. “If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.” Basically if there is no grand end point goal/win for our actions, then every small action is its own point. Without a bigger meaning to our actions, then the smallest act of kindness can be the greatest thing in itself.
In regards to the ending of the third book, I think, for me atleast. the running theme there is about understanding nothing lasts forever, no matter how big, how grand or how advanced anyone becomes. It ends. And embracing it. Infact i'd say most of the harm is done in the name of lasting as long as possible. Despite the inevitable. Even the godlike races responsible for the collapses will eventually run out of dimensions to run to, they will, one day doom themselves. Infact the only chance the universe has at a fresh start is all life letting go of their self importance in the name of life beginning again. But, it also has an opened ended aspect of how noble it is to survive so long we leave a mark in the memories left behind for the next universe, it does see nobility in the will to keep going forward. It just explores that instinct to its extremes. A balance of perseverance and humility I suppose.
Atleast I feel that was atleast A theme when I read that part and I loved it for it.
The collapse of the Universe at the end of the books is necessary for the restoration of life and the legacy of past civilizations. The only way to achieve this is for remaining civilizations to cooperate, leaving their bastions of stability in pocket universes. In the dying dark forest, the path forward is to become pacifists and unite in one common goal. The alternative is eternal death for all. In retrospect, I believe it can give a lot of meaning to past struggles, as humanity is still one of the remaining players. The books end with humans making a small, selfless first step in the direction of restoring the cosmos. I see it as leaving the ending open to ultimately deny the dark forest hypothesis. Throughout the series, we were fighting against the threat to humanity's existence. Now we must fight for existence itself. Remembrance of the Universe's Past.
The Three Body Problem book series is insane ... I got introduced to the book by Quinn's Ideas channel on RUclips... He has the best explainers and deep dives of the lores and philosophy in the series, highly recommended, and is equally enjoyable.
omg i didn't know Quinn's Ideas has videos on 3BP! watching them ASAP 👀
He made a 4 hour+ version of the books... Watching it now!! ruclips.net/video/IrCxmDl2o84/видео.htmlsi=_Zuv7nqIacE5kd1W
@@valliyarnl He made a 4 hour+ version recently on channel... Watching it right now...
Me too. 3BP due to Quinn. Delighted I did.
Lady, how fast you read?! Found your channel a week ago because of the Dune's video (pure quality) and tought, damn there's no way I could read all that... Cause I'll tell you, Im STRUGGLING to finish Dune 1. And yet you finished another TRILOGY in the same time I take to mentally prepare for another chapter. Kudos
HAHAHAHA this made me laugh 🤭
I started Dune book 1 all the way at the end of January and had like just under 2 weeks for this trilogy (but I was in a time crunch for Deaths End I literally recorded that segment this morning 🫣
Good luck w Dune!!
🎇Putting ✨Spakle-y Stars✨ in your _*Video Title:* = *§MÅRT* (Great Vid too 💖;-)
I'm with you 100% on the emotions. It's the major failing of an otherwise amazing book. It would have been so easy to include little moments and conversations between characters to give them some more depth and make us care more as the reader. Usually I'm such a "character" guy when it comes to reading but for whatever reason it still worked for me. Great video.
Absolutely!! The little moments like the few examples I gave in the video would've elevated the book for me. Can't wait for your reaction video to The Dark Forest ending 😊
While I understand the perspective, personally It did not bother me that much. I think the ideas and concepts were so interesting that I focused on that entirely and was fine with the characters not being fully explored all the time. Also I dont agree with the rating for book 3, I loved the whole story about the dimensions, how they find the tomb and so on. I thought it was very intriguing to read about. I havent read it in a while, so sorry if i misremember anything, but I also thought the riddle from will (the brain that got send away), was really cool. The ending is maybe not perfect, but overall i thought it was a really good book. close to book 2 for me. But everyones different:)
I really liked the review a lot! I love these books but i do disagree about the ending of book 3. I get how if feels kind of like a "whomp whomp" ending to the trilogy but i think it brings up a really good point about futurism and some of the unjustified optimism that people sometimes hold when trying to push science forward. For me, the ending really drove home the idea that even if we achieve total domination of the universe and immortality in some form, we'll never outrun causality and the death of reality. I think it perfectly compliments the end of book 2 by tying in a philosophical idea that everything comes to an end no matter how hard we fight against that end and all we can really do is try to find ways of valuing what we have in the here and now in order to make life truly worth living.
You’re the second commenter to have approached the ending differently to me and your comments are making me view it from a different lens. That’s so interesting! Thanks for sharing 😊
Great video Wera! I did see this trailer and I was wondering were did it came from. Honestly this looks like something that people would really enjoy so hopefully the adaptation will capture the essence of the first book and hopefully it will have like 3 seasons and not only 1 season !
thank you! apropos the number of seasons, personally i hope they stretch it out into more bc if that final book is smushed into 1 season 😬😬😬
I thought the ending was pretty hopeful. The Universe is going to die no matter what, but without the matter from the pocket universes there wont be enough material to create another big bang. The fact that everyone chose death by dismantling their pockets so that there can be a new beginning was a beautiful sentiment.
Also regarding the 2D solar system, it does exist as a 2D object however we are normally not able to perceive a 2D object because one molecule would be too transparent. What they were seeing when the solar system collapsed was the energy it gave off but eventually that energy will disappear and the 2D solar system will remain.
Its much better the chinese version
The most scary thing about this book series is that, although it is a science fiction, the theory and predictions in it could be very much true. So we are possibly reading a real future, and the future doesn’t seem very nice.
I've read the book in both languages, twice for each book. I would say the Netflix adaptation is good enough for a Western audience. It is not bad. They definitely make China look really bad for the show, and I get it. I don't like that personally.
I agree. They could’ve made China more redeemable :///
@@valliyarnl lol ikr. I agree with u on the third book. The ending is bizarre to me. I do enjoy the fair tales! They are brilliant!!!
ok, I'm 2/3 on your review. but at the end of the book2 review, when you said the title of the books doesn't make you optimistic for the ending. gals, did yoiu really read the books? there's no optimistic in the series ... it's dark and brutal, thru and thru.
I know it’s quite shocking when people have different interpretations than you! So much easier to denounce them and say that they haven’t read the text right!?? 🙄🙄🙄
what interpretation... it's not even subtle, you don't need interpretation if you're not creating a cult.@@valliyarnl
Netflix can't adapt it but it can make some bullshit from it.
My opinion of 3 Bodies Problem is quite close to yours. I totally loved all those thought provoking concepts which the books are full of (I have only read the first two), but besides the “Cultural Revolution” retrospective which I also loved, I haven’t felt any emotional attachment to characters (in fact, after a while I was not able to distinguish some of them!) or interest in their actions. Would still give the series 8/10 but with a sidenote that Cixin is a genius philosopher and a bad writer
There's a Chinese adaptation from last year that actually sticks very close to book 1 and they enhanced the flat characters from the book. It's 30 episode in total but I would suggest if could watch the 26 episode director's cut, which has better pacing and editing and minus the filler episodes in the original cut.
Yes definitely going to watch it! Cool name haha
That's Tencent company's big Chinese New Year Holiday release last year. Was on YT, watched through like you - very faithful adaptation of first book, good subtitles, some cracking Chinese actors. EXCEPT... They didn't show the cultural revolution stuff at all; skimmed around it. Bit of a sensitive subject in china, I presumed...
Don't call yourself stupid
1. It's intentionally complex
2. It's fictionalization of glorified "educated guesses"
Thank you for being so kind and open minded 😊🫶🏻
(I had people call me a child for not understanding parts of it :/)
This book broke me because I felt as if I was reading scripture. Amazing work. The ending was beautiful to me because everything has an ending. If the universe is a reflection of earth than I believe that and find peace in it.
That is beautiful in a melancholic way … maybe I’d think differently on a reread :)
I believe you would really enjoy the Tencent TV series (Chinese) on the 3 Body Problem. It is 30 episodes and a slow burn but i believe they went much fùrther into the characters.
Yeah I think I have to check it out since a lot of people have split opinions on it and I do love checking these things out!
Great review, thank you. I too was gripped by the books all three had so many new and interesting ideas. I agree that the ending was disappointing. I had invested so much into the characters and the story of humanity and the Trisolarians to see it all end, literally so flat, left me frustrated. As you said it would have made a better separate book. The dimensional pockets felt bolted on and all the wonderful; build up over three massive books simply counted for very little. Well worth the time and effort to read but an ending that fell short of the brilliance of the earlier text.
I think the reason you didn't like Death's End is because of the nihilism on display in the plot. Which i actually appreciated and enjoyed. The pointlessness of everything is exactly what the author was trying to convey.
I've seen the first two episodes, and so far .. eh.. kinda, ish.
1. The acting is kinda all over the place. The Chinese cultural revoltution parts are esp bad, many of the chinese actors act like they are in a soap opera. E.g. When Wenjie's father is on stage with the commies, she's doing the "hold me back, hold me back" thing and there is a random old dude next to her holding her arm (you know when a dude pretends like he's ready to fight but really isn't and expects others to hold him back, only she's pretending like she's about to run on stage. If I remember correctly in the book she just stood there frozen and terrified, which would have been much better. Of course we also don't get the context for what is happening, why the mother is acting like this (in the book she was a sociologist I believe, but in the show she's also a physicist.)
Wenjie's background story is changed for worse. Her daughter, considering her very western name Vera, was obviously the daughter of Mike Evans (a name that always reminds me of Red Letter Media). Which is dumb, because it creates a needless romance between Wenjie and Evans. And cuts out the part where she married the guy in the military base and then pushed him off the cliff or whatever (I was pretty high and it's been a while).
A lot of the same stuff happens to Wenjie, but the acting is poor, the way it''s conveyed is poor. When Wenjie hits the button to repond to the aliens, in the book we know how disappointed and even disgusted she is with humanity. How much she has suffered. In the show you don't get that as much. They just kinda glance over it all. The part where the girl with one arm was like "I don't repent" was kinda cringy. And nowhere near as impactful as when she met the 3 women in modern day china in the book and got that response
2. Da Shi is way too nice and he isn't the dirty cop with a golden heart and sharp wit from the book. Instead he's a nice guy detective working for the super secret British service.
3. This part I kinda get but they also took much of the story and the characters in the story out of China.
4. The new protagonist is a hot scientist lady who kinda looks like a discount Angelina Jolie in her prime. She's the one that invents the nano filliment.... she stops her research because ETO threatens her and she starts seeing the countdown. I don't remember the guy in the book ever stopping his research. She also has a black boyfriend or "situationship" who is portrayed as a very immature guy, which is kinda dumb. It feels like they're doing the interracial relationship for ESG points, but then they're portraying the black dude as a bad boyfriend who hangs out with other women while ignoring his distressed gf's calls.. And I can't stand her lips.. 1 mm more botox and ther lips will explode.
6. The traitors / alien sympathisers send a cute chick to go around and threaten scientists.. and even Da Shi.
7. In the book it was dumb that Wenjie's daughter canceled her self because, why wouldn't Wenjie be like: "I know what's happening." But at least you could argue that Wenjie might have wanted to keep her out of it or was worried she might judge her because she basically betrayed humanity etc etc. But in the show, she's now not just the daughter of Wenjie, who somewhat regrets her decision. But she's also the daughter of Evans, the obsessed anti human, misanthropist leader of the traitors, an obsessive PETA/Green peace type. And somehow he didn't indoctrinate his daughter?
P.s. don't feel bad for scoring the book low. The books have incredibly fun and innovative sci fi concepts. But as far as story, characters etc. they are actually really bad. I quit reading them halfway through the second book. The second book's new protagonist seems to be a very obvious self insert. And when the author went on for 20 pages about his road trip with his imaginary gf. Everyone keeps telling him how he's be a brilliant author, and has a genius literary mind or whatever. At one point he goes to a therapist/psychologist and tells him that he's been seeing and interacting with an imaginary girl that he's falling in love with. And the therapists goes "oh, that's completely normal bro. You probably just have a brilliant literary mind. Ever considered becoming an author?"
(p.p.s apparently he meets that same girl he imagined, exact copy, in the far future after a long time in cryo sleep, then marries her. Also, hilariously enough I hated the VR game because it goes nowhere... it's a VR game created to solve a problem that is unsolvable and doesn't get solved .. it's just exposition, a long winded way to explain how the aliens, their society and their planet functions. In the show, the VR goggles are super high tech, 100 year in the future, brain link helmets or whatever..
yeah i guess the acting could be better but i'm not too pressed about it (maybe it's because i don't watch a lot of tv/movies so it doesn't bother me as much?). But I totally agree that i think the mike evans romance is stupid especially because we miss out on the scene where she is forced to kill her husband (yes you remember it correctly haha) and AHHH you're so right as well abt the 1 armed girl scene. IT COULD'VE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER WITH THE FOUR GIRLS and them telling how the revolution harmed them as well! it was so impactful and there's four of them when Ye Zhetai is killed so why not use them in this other scene too? that's why i say I wish the pace slowed down a bit more.
Personally I don't mind the change with Da Shi, I wish he had more scenes with Auggie (the Wang Miao equivalent character) bc it would allow his snark and intelligence come out more. like in the book with the scene where Wang Miao is crying in front of the church and they have that talk was a 10/10 scene for me.
Ig I see why they made the series more international. I'm thinking it's because the sequels get very international and they wanted to show the global impact of the Crisis Era more easily? but (breaking the 4th wall) I wonder if this does have something to do with the fact that the Tencent version does exist and they didn't want to get into legal trouble with idk "copying someone elses intellectual property" or whatever im not a lawyer ahaha
Wang Miao does stop his research in the book! It's because Shen Yufei (the "cute chick" i assume is supposed to be her? I wish they included the stuff with the Buddhist temple. once again could've had so much more depth if D&D SLOWED DOWN THE PACINGGGG) tells him to stop his nano research and to see if it will stop the countdown and it does. So the situationshp (i think he's her ex?) i heard that he's a stand in for Luo Ji (ig we'll see if he becomes a Wallfacer, I'm not there yet) but if he is then my theory is this: you know how Luo Ji has a gf that is killed by a car crash meant for him at the start of The Dark Forest? And then he makes himself his ideal girlfriend? I'm thinking that Auggie is the gf who gets killed by the car crash. IDK if the showrunners would want to kill off 2 of the "Oxford Five" in season 1, but Wang Miao doesn't do anything in the sequels so they might as well if they can't figure out what to do with this character
And I agree the therapist scene was crazy. HE SAYS ITS OK THAT LUO JI MADE UP A FICTIONAL GIRLFRIEND AND NOW LIVES A CREEPILY OBSESSIVE LIFE WITH HER???? AND THAT THIS IS NORMAL???? Bro needs a new therapist ASAP
thank you for the thoughtful comment!!
@@valliyarnlThat's why they changed Luo Ji into slacker Saul in the show and he's in love with Auggie, but disappointed her so much and so many times in the past that she doesn't trust him anymore. She's the girlfriend he pines after instead of some imaginary anime girl Luo Ji writes fanfic about like in the book. The latter is a creepy Asian nerd thing with guys who can't find a girlfriend.
I slowly came to agree with Matt from Bookpilled, who thoroughly thrashed the first book and dropped the series then and there.
The writing is pretty bad in these books. The only thing going for them is the concepts and big ideas. Didn't like the ending, was too out there and underwhelming.
Wera, the space battle that confused you in DF is, I think, actually one of CL's finest moments; idea being that Earth has brazenly amassed an 'indestructible' space fleet of battlecruisers that are the apex of technological achievement and set to dwarf anything the Trisolarans have thrown across the galaxies- i.e the droplets.
The great payoff is that this entire fleet is mangled in a matter of moments by those lethal droplets using an ancient naval battle technique of simply 'ramming' - using the super-dense material the droplets are constructed from to rip apart our finest technological achievements without breaking sweat.
That's the point of utmost existential dread as the entire watching population of the planet realizes there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop them, and our fate is sealed.
As for the ending in DE, I think you need to look at 2001:A Space Odyssey movie for the type of energy the book looked to achieve with it's super-high concept physics and projection of the nature of reality as the universe folds and renews for them to emerge into as the last survivors of mankind.
That 2-dimensional apocalyptic weapon makes sense in the context of foreshadowing - they already explored 4D space 'bubbles' and believed that we all once existed in as many as 10 dimensions. But the deployment of dimensional weapons across the universe was the reason for existence crashing down through the dimensional realities until the inevitable final collapse.
Definitely plenty to sit and muse upon after reading that madness, but it all make schilling sense. Though I'll be amazed if they manage to pull that last book off in a comprehensible fashion in future TV seasons.
Thank you so much for the explanation it helps a lot
I’m from Instagram and ur mic sounds way better :)
ahhh I'm soooo glad that the mic difference is noticeable! hope you enjoy the video :))
(and tysm for letting me know you're from Instagram I'm trying to figure what to do with it)
Book 1: 7/10 . It was an excellent book for setting the stage for bigger events to come
Book 2: 10/10. I loved both the character development of Luo Ji, turning from a nihilistic hedonist to the world 'savior' ;and the mind blowing dark forest hypothesis. Absolutely genius.
Book 3: 8.5/10 Just like you the ending left big void. I don't know if i loved it or hated it to be honest. I hate fairy tale ending, but that one was the complete opposite of the spectrum.
Netflix series: 5/10. I probably would have given it a 8/10 if not for two massive changes. Luo Ji's character portrayed as a physicist instead of a sociologist. And how they change the scene in the cemetery just ruins my experience of book 2.
great comment! thanks for sharing :)
Honestly, not a lot of books/movies/games scared me, the amount of horror movies/books that scared me can be counted on one hands. But man this book series, the first time I read it, scared the living crap out of me, I can't sleep well for a month, the existential dread is immense. I do agree in terms of characterization and emotional anchor, these books isn't the best, but in terms of philosophy and scientific theories, its fantastic and one of the best out there.
100% agree. And you’re so right about not being able to sleep. I have to have a light on and I’ve been having trouble sleeping for the past week since I read it …
'Existential dread'. Exactly the phrase I use when telling people about 3BP.
@@valliyarnl the dread is exactly what I felt is missing from the Netflix drama.
Here's an answer for your confusion about Zhang Beihai's story line:
I LOVE the dark forest because it's exactly like how science developed in our real history (actually the book 1 is the same like this):
1. there is usually some phenomenon that people observes and can't understand.
2. Theory scientists brought up some theories to explain the phenomenon
3. Experiment scientist design all kinds of experiment to verify all the theories and make the theory scientists to correct their ones.
In Liu Cixin's book,
1.the phenomenon observed is : Fermi's paradox
2.The theory scientist Ye Wenjie (or Luo Ji) brought up the cosmic sociology (Basically the Dark Forest theory)
3.The experimentists Luo Ji (the curse) and Zhang Beihai (the battle of darkness) both verified the Dark Forest theory.
Liu doesn't give a damn about his paper-like characters, he only wants to demonstrate his scientific thinking and ideas. He's very good at explaining the concepts and ideas both in a very abstract and visual way, and through some experiments (events like the battle of Darkness). I'm really fascinated by the step-by-step solid logic chain of the author. Really clear and clever.
(I'm a Chinese fan of Liu, so pardon my inaccurate grammer/expression in English.)
Thanks for commenting this is so helpful! The thing im confused about is the Battle of Darkness and how it relates to the Dark Forest Theory. I understood Luo Jis part and was so happy when he explains it to Da Shi at the end. I just was unsure to how the Battle also proved it? Would u mind explaining because you’re very good at it :))
@@valliyarnl It basically simulates a small version of the universe in the dark forest state.
The significance of the Battle of Darkesness is : It proves when 1. communication is even slightly limited plus 2.the resources are very limited so that the survival of all civilizations can't be guaranteed ------
the chain of suspicion (deception and miscommunication) + the survival first axiom (resources limited) will immediately start to work. This even happens within the human species (the ships), not to mention between different civilizations and species.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the details:
First You can regards every ship as a civilization.
And the food and fuels (resources) are not enough for all of them to reach their destination (survival), only enough to support one ship.
ok,
now Who will decide which is the one ship to live, and which other ships to die?
Silence (refuse to comunicate) and attacking is already a sign of hostile, the only friendly option is communication that can avoid a war. But since survival is the first instinct and need of a civilization, you can't tell if a negotiation / democratic vote would work in this situation and even if you have a result, you can't trust that other ships are really willing to obey the vote and give up their life to make you live. (In the game theory this decision could brings a -∞ punishment.) We assume every civilization as reasonable and logical, then they won't choose this decision because of the "survival is most crucial" axiom.
So when your fellow ship tells you "I will give up my life to make you live", and you know they are reasonable, this could be very likely a lie. Even if they are sincere, how do they prove it. the only sincere answer is immediate hand over of resources (aka, suicide), instead of continuing of living and communication. You can't risk trusting them ( if they betray you, you will get the worst punishment---death, remember survival is your first need)
Now, let's say you are irrational and willing to sacrifice yourself, how do you convince the others that you are sincere? If the others understand the logic above, they don't believe you since they assume you are rational (understand dark forest theory) and trying to survive.
Hence, the ONLY act of trustworthy is SUICIDE (in this case, self-disarming), and continuing of existence and communication is a sign of wanting to compete to be the only survivor.
So as long as the other ships (civilizations) exist, it proves they are not sincere and friendly (since they clearly wants to extend their survival), the CHAIN OF SUSPICION is established and working, and the communication doesn't make any sense any more whether your communication is sincere or not.
In the adaption of My Three Body season 3
(ruclips.net/video/guZtJ7h7F4Q/видео.html), there is a captainof one ship that tries to disarm itself (basically suicide by giving up their survival), and the vise captain started a coup and killed him and decided to keep the arm and attack instead.
I really like this adaption here, because it could be regarded as a simulation of the TECHNOLOGY EXPLOSION in the dark forest theory. Even if one civilization is currently friendly (or weaker) in the communication, you can't make sure it won't turn into hostile (or stronger) in the future.
Now every pieces of the theory are there, if you are rational and wants to survive, the only option left for you is to attack others and make you the only survivor in the situation.
That's exactly what happens in the battle of darkness, and exactly fits every condition of the dark forest theory, a perfect experiment to prove it.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I'm bad at explaining it but that's my best try, hope it helps you.
(If you are interested in Game Theory or Reinforcement Learning, I think the dark forest theory is very straight forward and easy to model.)
I remember reading this trilogy many years ago when I was like 14-15 old (in Chinese), it still made sense to me as a middle schooler and enabled me to see the world and universe differently (back then the series was not even popular in China), that's really impressive how the author built his whole imaginary and logical philosophy system so clear.
@@ploykickshaw9842 this is exactly what I needed and was looking for when making the video! If you’re bad at explaining like you say, then the rest of us are hopeless. I understand it so much better now! I keep thinking TDF rating will increase on a reread…
@@valliyarnl Glad that helped!
So D&D can do proper storytelling when they have the story… I wonder if they had to answer a question about it, like with GRRM and Jon Snows lineage…
I feel like maybe the series is partially “an effect of its time” as in we have no idea if Netflix tells us tomorrow to cancel it,or give us another season, or maybe 10…
yeah and I wonder if the reason why they're scrambling to fit so much into season 1 is because they want people to get hooked and then slow down later? Netflix is very unpredictable...
Read these with ChatGPT open in front of me 😂 Everytime there was some physics theory, space stuff or historical character. I asked it to explain these to me. I enjoyed both books and netflix serie.
this is the realest comment i've gotten on the video. you win.
WAIT IVE BEEN MEANING TO READ THIS FOR SO LONG
(perfect timing)
I eould suggest the chinese adaptation of 3 body problem uts amazing
Czesc, great analysis of the three books. 🙌 I agree with you on most of your points. Like you, I also liked books 1 & 2 more than Death's End. I feel like this story could have ended with the ending of Dark Forrest. It would have been emotionally more satisfying. So far, I've watched 4 episodes of the Netflix show and I'm still on the fence. Let's see.
Hard sci fi …
😮
Finally got a chance to watch this. All very fair points for Death's End! Its funny that a lot of the things you did not like are the parts that I love about it and for me make it a must read for me
Good review. Good spoiler alert. Subbed. PS what brand / model of mic is that?
Thank you! It’s the FIFINE microphone for like 40€ you buy it off their website. If u text me on instagram I’ll send you a picture of the box!
Is there something wrong with your mic stand?
just can't afford to get one, but i don't have muscular dystrophy yet so my arm will do for now :)
haha. Nice vids and even better comments. I seconded your reviews. Book 2 is like goat level. Book 1 is good /solid book.
Book 3 is affected by what happened to cixin Liu. He almost got fire by his firm as an engineer. So he’s not in good faith of humanity too. I’ve heard he’s about to write a brighter end of the trilogy but he didn’t.
i thought it was due to the culture difference ,Chinese reader loove Zhang beihai.
To wrap it up as a Chinese reader I’d say this trilogy is poor writing,lack of character building, no arc. But the idea is too epic so I’d recommend this trilogy.
17:00 Very interesting take on the third book and its end. I was also very disappointed when I read about how things went. After finishing the book, I looked at the night sky, the stars, thinking about the trilogy, "our lives could be so pointless".
I think considering Liu Cixin's background and the time when the trilogy was written, it can be quite normal for him to write the plot that way. From the perspective of Entropy, everything in the universe will mix together and becomes homogenized, eventually. That's your death by thermodynamics. And from the perspective of the popular Big Bang Theory, the universe was born from a blasting singular point, now expanding, but some say will collapse back into a singular point due to gravity related mechanisms. Those are the two most liked theories among popular science writers and Sci-fi writers. One way or another, in those theories the universe will surely have an end.
But what so facinating about the Rememberance of Earth's Past trilogy is, the ultimate end is ploted to not be the natural process of the universe itself, but the making of some old, humongous civilzations that are too advanced for humans to comprehend. "Is the nature really natural?" (When I first read about the idea it greatly scared me). Life was born from the universe, and later completely changed the universe for its own good (or end). The nature is still the nature if u consider life as part of the nature, but it‘s not what we once thought it was, cause life is unbelievably powerful.
Still, one could feel rather frastrated learning that everything has to end and start again, especially for the earthers and trisolarians in the book series. But I still wanna quote this from the book: "给岁月以文明，而不是给文明以岁月". The translation in the English version is "make time for civilization, for civilization won't make time", but I think it is different from Liu Cixin's original point. I'd like to directly translate it as "Give the years with civilization, rather than give civilization the years."
Nice review! I've been hanging out in a SF group and things have really gone downhill debating whether the books/show are an apologia for authoritarianism... well, it started debating, moved to gratuitous insults and politics, and right about now half the group seem to be about call in the aliens to save us. Very meta.
I've watched the Tencent show, and it's flawed, sure. But the emotional core is Shi/Wang, and the Antagonists Shen/Ye. The rest are kind of irrelevant. I don't understand the D&D decision to do "The Famous Five Go Mad with Nano". In Dover. I really don't understand Wang being morphed into Augie and Jin. The interpersonal stuff is so underwritten and lame. And there are mistakes - in-show mistakes: I love Jess Hong, but why did it take 4 full episodes to have Ye infodump that her Kiwi accent is because of some nonsense flood in Hubei where her parents died, then she went to New Zealand. Ok, realism check, since I've lived in both countries: floods in Hubei are also known as "June", "July", and "August". Flood refugees by the millions are taken care of in China every year. This is not the 1940s. The first time Hong spoke I thought hey that's the woman from Brokenwood, what the hell is the dialogue coach doing?
Anyway, must get back to the show. Will attempt to reserve judgment on the season until I've watched and taken a step back.
Wow what happened to your group was indeed very meta 😳
I finished the show and I agree it’s flawed now. I’d say a 6/10. It felt like they wanted to skip thru book 1 to get to book 2. I think they set up the friendships well at the start but then didn’t deliver on most of them (other than Will bc I do think they did his “end” well). I hope it does get renewed tho bc I’m curious to see their take on book 2. Thank you for the comment!
@@valliyarnl Thanks! I like your take. I finished it last night and have so many questions about the writing choices. Nevermind, if netflix want to throw 200 mil at it and get this outcome, then ... fine. It feels a bit like Foundation.
@@mxvega1097 i haven't watched the Foundation show, but i wasn't in love with the books so idk if it is worth it for me to watch it :/
Imagine epic metaphysical SF done in cheesy YA drama mode, like Hari Selden and co mashed into The 100, with moments of Jupiter Ascending.
It's not that much fun, even if you tap into your inner Absurdist ...
Sounds very much like the arguments between the Adventists and Redemptionists of the Earth Tri-Solaris Organization.
Loved the video, earned a sub. I completely agree with your takes on Death's End and Dark Forest. The second book was the best by far for me
Love intelligent women, as well as cute. Your comments were just great. Congrats. Greetings from Brazil
We also need to remember a lot of this book is also science fiction it's more science theory then real science which most humans are all struggling with. You also have to remember the focus will be different an 3 body problem has been written form a different emotional perspective. I think a big part we need to understand is human who reach out around looking for a new way to survive and for acceptance but we don't know what we are reading out too is it really a good idea? We could be getting manipulated by hidden aliens? Do the aliens out there already know we are here? Are they tricking us and trying to hide from others for themselves.
My favorite part of the book was the fairy tale-riddle that Yun Tian-ming told Cheng Xin. The fact that humans have to turn to the fairy tales to find a way to save the entire human civilization is so cool.
Wang Miao's family just disappears from the story and are never mentioned again.
It took a second read for me to truly appreciate what the author did focusing on the fiction as the main driving point of the story. Don't feel bad about not being able to wrap your head around some of those concepts, most of us are on the same boat, back in Uni one of my professors told me he could understand the math behind a lot of physics concepts but he couldn't visualize some of the more crazy ones.
I only know if it’s… reputation 🐍🖤 hahaha 🤭 great video!
;))) 🐍🖤
well to "finish" this trilogy nextflix will need the budget like stranger things. above 200Mil and at least 15-25mil per episode. if at all this adaption takes the timeline after the 2nd books' last quarter portion.
the show writers of this adaptation are same as GOT benioff and weiss. i don't trust those guys 😂but so far they did fine for adaption. show didn't get that hype yet which they were expecting. that happened for 2 reason.
> Lack of promotion
> Story is a intellectual property. meaning not everyone is going to like the sciency things. the show doesn't have mix combination of fun, dark, comedy and thriller all in one like stranger things or squid game. the show is dark (books are even darker) it's thriller but a lot slow pacing.
there are many details that book just mentioned it in 5 lines which show took literally 30 mins of it's time to establish that part.
i feel like this show will get cancelled. this trilogy is like DUNE but at different scale.
Good point! I think season 2 tho is already in production so let’s see how it does. But yeah they have to put more money into marketing for sure
This video is exactly what I needed! I just finished reading the Three-Body Problem and feeling totally lost. Especially the science parts. It sounds like I should just skip book three altogether. Unless I want my brain to explode. 😂 Also, who else is totally in love with Thomas Wade? 😍
Me 🙋♀️
I had a similar issue with the writing being very clinical and sterile when it came to the characters...I also made the mistake of listening to it on audiobook, which meant a lot of the character names didn't sink in as readily as when i read something. I found the theoretical science concepts fascinating, though i think there's some issues with the Dark Forest fermi-paradox solution. It's a little flawed (mainly that you couldn't mask the signs of a powerful civilisation, adequately enough, as they progress to that godlike scientific advancement, to remain hidden, although it's a fun concept to play with).
I think the series ending does feel kind of empty, but i took from that the point that this perpetual hostility and paranoia is ultimately, utterly destructive. It's a cautionary parable, so to speak, reflecting our current distrust of each other, globally.
The series has proved interesting too, the development of the interpersonal relationships was a welcome addition, for the most part, but the series also felt a little rushed with some aspects being almost dumbed down, while other parts just not quite working. The ending was a little anticlimactic, but overall I enjoyed the experience. Netflix have made far worse shows, but it's not quite the mind blowing scifi tv it's been advertised as. It also helped having experienced the books to follow the plot. I'll be curious how folk who've not read those, find understanding and following the story.
What an insightful comment thank you for writing it all out! I agree with u about the Netflix series as well. Hopefully for season 2 they will increase the science 🧪
If Star Trek essentially is a hopeful future, this series was the polar opposite. We are all doomed, everything sucks, give up and run away, or hide in a hole. No thanks. I will instead choose to be hopeful. The Dark Forest is the so nihilistic.
very nihilistic indeed...
(one of the most nihilistic things I've read now that i think of it...)
Awesome review, Wera! I really love how you broke down the scientific concepts that are covered in this series - as difficult as they can be to wrap one's head around.
Continuing in my tradition of leaving book recommendations on your sci-fi novel reviews, I have one which I think you'll adore: Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It covers mind-bending concepts, has references to classic literature (Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in particular), and manages to be genuinely scary and profound, all at the same time.
I'd be curious to hear your take on The Shrike and The Valley of the Time Tombs, especially. I promise these terms all make sense once you've read the book, lol. It's a bizarre one, but well worth the investment should you choose to undertake it.
Thanks again for a great video.
Cheers!
Definitely want to read Hyperion some day ^^^
I haven't read the books, but from it sounds like, the Netflix series is more character driven than the books are, which makes it much more feasible for the average person to enjoy. I do know that the author signed off on the changes and the script though, so it does align with his imagining.
oh i didn't know that the author signed off on the changes! that's really cool. i'd say it's because the series does respect the source material. Quinn's ideas just made a video review and he went into that a bit deeper if you're interested
Um... Six and a half?
“You are all bugs"
I watched the first two episodes of the Netflix series last night with my girlfriend, after watching this video I think we're going to have to take a break and read them first!! 😂
Do!!
Story is pretty straight forward. What is there to break?
Hope you dont read Dune then...
I’ve got bad news for you…
RUclips recommending this channel to me... Interesting
In a good way I hope!
no
glad you liked the books!
Yes I truly did (esp book 2 was ✨fantastic✨)
@@valliyarnl my favourite as well
I’m waaaaaayyy too much of a layman to understand anything that the author is trying to say 😅
Yeah it took me a while as well. I found this podcast Rehydrate which breaks down each segment so when I was lost I referred to that!
I'll look it up right now!
I'm up to ep 4 and I am quite happy right now.
yeah like i don't think it's bad, but I do wish they slowed it down a bit :)
thanks for sharing!
😄😄17:04 Your reaction is really funny.🤣🤣
😁
Science is just vehicle for a story, like magic in Game of Thrones or Witcher. 😊 BTW entangled particles cannot be used to communicate, there's no way.
Yeah ig for the quantum particles thing I just had to suspend my disbelief. But I’d disagree that the science was a vehicle for the story. I think it was kind of the other way around: the plot was a vehicle for the science.
Thank you for commenting Thats such an interesting take! (Btw I loooove the Witcher… ur name looks kind of Polish so kocham Wiedźmina książki i gry. Najlepszy eksport naszego kraju tylko szkoda że Netflix zdecydował totalnie nie szanować jego podstaw)
@@valliyarnl haha, niespodzianka. Jeszcze nie skończyliśmy drugiej serii Wiedźmina, na razie ponownie oglądam Three Body Problem. :)
The netflix adaptation has much more of the emotional/relationship stuff. I think that's a necessary change simply because a huge part of the book is inner monologues and that just doesn't translate well to TV, so you need characters with a reason to talk to each other. A lot of the emotional stuff is either changed drastically or invented from whole cloth for the show, but it works really well.
also for the series, episode 7 absolutely wrecked me.
GAHHH THE ENDING OF EPISODE SEVEN HAD ME BAWLING.
@@valliyarnlwhen the rain stops in the dream, it is a metaphor for death and I was inconsolable
oh my gosh i didn't realise... that makes it even more depressing. SO SO GOOD@@ArbitraryConstant
@@valliyarnl to be fair I was very high when I watched but I had the thought, what is a storm where the rain gets heavier as you approach, but there is only calm when you reach it? has to be death.
@@ArbitraryConstant that's so poetic no I totally see it now you're so smart
T3BP is the most overrated Sci-Fi novel of all time !
Interesting take that I haven’t seen before!
It's true. I'm serious, if you read online reviews thoroughly you see that the book is just made a hype in the west by influencers. It is not considered a great novel in China or Asia. It has some nice interesting ideas but I found much more fascinating theories of physics and thought experiments on science channels on YT. I didn't like the book, to be honest I could not finish it because I found it rather boring and depressing.@@valliyarnl
I think Netflix did better job with the characters, giving them personality and making us get emotionally invested in them.
Character wise I agree 100% (ending of Ep7 was *chefs kiss*)
I understand that many ppl miss an emotional center in the books. But for me the ideas discussed in all 3 books and the scope of it all are so compelling that they make for one of the best Sci-Fi book series I have ever read. I encourage everyone to not stop at the third book! Death's End had me at the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down. ... and I am not a physics guy at all (but I am superinterested in popular science without all the equations :-D)
Glad you had that experience!!
@@valliyarnl I'm sorry you didn't 😕 How did you feel about the section in Dark Forest where the main character (forgot his name, it's been a while) tries to find a woman he only experienced in his imagination? That struck me as kind of odd and even a bit chauvinistic
@@kwancomics ummm I definitely found it odd but not at all chauvinistic. to be honest I was quite surprised when I found out that quite a bit of readers came away with that impression. Here are my thoughts:
Everyone (most people at least) do dream of finding a partner/friends that they feel seen and loved by. Luo Ji just happened to not be that lucky, so when he wasn't able to get out of the Wallfacer project he was like "ok. I'll give a huge 🖕🏻to the UN by using up their resources, and I'll find that partner I always dreamed of having. 2 birds with one stone." I did like the moment with the Mona Lisa in book 3, but overall I did find the start of this storyline to be odd and meandering (hence why I'd say the first 1/3 of TDF was a 3 star but I adored the rest)
@@valliyarnl ok, chauvinistic is a bit harsh 😅. I actually liked the aspect of rejecting the role he was given and all that. I think it was just the fact that he tried to find a woman with exactly all the traits that he desired and dreamed about. It felt oddly objectifying only in that sense. I hope that makes sense
Good work, Wera!!! This is hard SiFi Book
Thank you! 😊 I do adore my hard scifis (one was my top book of last year 😄)
I suggested this book to Merphy Napier, well, look where it is now. ☝️😉
The ships go to 2 directions. The 5 who are flying in a tandem know that they don’t have enough fuel. That’s the horror in space. Sooner or later someone has to make a choice. All the captains know it. But not everyone realizes that yet. At the end he is too late even when he planned it from the beginning. So they died. One ship remained. He is the same guy who killed the people in the space in book 1. So he couldn’t achieve his goal.
At the end… now this book is not positive. You should realize that way before, not at the final book. At book 1 it’s already a losing side for humanity and how it describes our part in it? Totally dark. Maybe it doesn’t flash out the characters, but cultural revolution first then she betrays the entire world, next the “good guys” are not so much good guys, they kill a lot of people in the name of saving others. The aliens are not on earth but they already won.
Next the wall facers. They basically want to kill a ton of people with their plans, and yes, that mind control idea would enslave everyone.
That Dark Forest concept is also dark… that already not just telling that it’s better be quiet but it tells that a lot of strong and dangerous people are there hunting. And that’s why we never got an answer so far. It’s a depressing concept. Liu doesn’t want to paint a positive image for us.
With the last comparison Wade maybe was morally dark (logical) yet in contrast his decision would be correct. Or not? That’s the idea. You have to decide if it would worth it in light of the final ending.
Subscribed. Hope you will read the. Malazan Book of the Fallen soon. 😉
Thank you for this very analytical and insightful comment! It’s so cool that you suggested it to Merphy (loved her videos on this trilogy).
I’m going to be reading Malazan with Matt’s Fantasy Book Reviews and his discord read along so there should be a video up in a month or so :D
@@valliyarnl oh so you join Matt’s? That will be fun. You won’t drop so lost easily. I read it 12~ years ago and somehow today people tend to feel that these books are hard reads at the beginning. Well… here the characters are very!! strong. The first book has 33 POVs so there is a that. And yes, the map… Roshar from Stormlight was a child’s game compared to it, it’s as earth and you will visit different continents. 😁 But don’t let to intimidate you. Even if you give 3/5 to the first book, continue it. Remember to the fact that Daniel Greene literally hated it and then he called it masterpiece when he finished with the series and in his top10 fantasy characters there are from Malazan. It’s only on changing the paradigm, how you connect to characters.
You are a witness on that world so it won’t explain anything to you just the info that the characters know. You won’t understand the magic system because the characters don’t understand it or they don’t discuss it, in other words: 0 info dump, ever. You will see incredible history about the world because it’s not built like the usual fantasy worlds, everything has deep past and the characters see it. That’s how the wold builds up.
Listen to the opinions and dialogues. What you don’t understand (yet) doesn’t matter, it’s not about cracking up everything at once. It’s not Cosmere. Later will make sense or not. So don’t make an issue about it. If you remember most of the things that’s enough for the moment and that’s it. Later there is a great payoff, sometimes in an other book. Gardens of the Moon is a good book still it’s an intro for everything.
Ultimately the first book is not that strong in themes and ideas yet… (there are some tho) but this series is totally about them. And not on the level that Erikson will decide it for you, but give you the question and you can meditate on it, letting you the opportunity to decide.
@@nazimelmardi yeah i am motivated to read at least through Memories of Ice and I found Matt thru his guide to Malazan so I figured the best way to start it is with his guidance! Thank you for the heads up!
@@valliyarnl now I joined the server to see it trough how the new readers will progress. 😉 Btw: hi from Hungary! I see you are from Poland.
@@nazimelmardi the channel for the malazan read hasn't been created yet but I'm excited to discuss it with everyone there :)
Broke my bra brought me, cuteness made me stay.
Haha thanks !
@@valliyarnl Will you read the first scene of my new sci-fi novel? Its a quick, fun read, I'd love your thoughts...
Excellent video❤❤❤
Glad you liked it!
This is a polarizing book in my circle of Sci Fi reading friends. I ground my way through the first book and just couldn't motivate myself to see if the others were better. Flat characters, a preposterous premise (the mystery of which is given away by the title), and some frankly tired ideas just flat out bored me. I feel that most ppl that are blown away by the ideas in these books aren't reading far enough out on the edge of Speculative Fiction. Maybe it's masterfully written in its original language, but it feels like much was lost in translation. The fact that the Netflix series is being produced by the same team that is responsible for GoT and it's rapid decline outside of the plot of the books, I'll be passing on the show.
book 1 was fine but i think when people talk about loving this series then they probably talk about book 2. but yeah i can totally see how it's polarising
I thought book 1 was ok, but hated book 2 with a passion. Seems to me that some people really prefer book 2 and 3, while the people that prefer book 1 generally seem to really dislike the second and third book. Also, for an author that writes so candidly about the Chinese cultural revolution, it's really disappointing that at the same time he support the Uyghur genocide and claims the Chinese state is "civilizing" them.
Also, really not that hard to comprehend why people sub to you. Your content is good, the editing is good, the subject matter is interesting and you're an attractive girl lol