/lit/ - Literature

anything recent or out there that's really original?

When I first read pic related it stunned me how odd it felt, with a really weird narrative but overall great story. anything else that's strange but good?

how are the sequels?

Ok, if anyone's interested I just finished reading The Three Body Problem.

Here are my initial bad thoughts:
The story doesn't feel much like solid science fiction. It actually feels like something more akin to YA, and it would certainly fall in this category for me if the characters were younger. There seems to be an almost childlike take on the world, with matters that usually hold weight given very little. Too many coincidences and revelations without buildup. Hopefully you know what I mean.
Massive assuptions are made with the aliens having similar biology to our own, ie having eyes, and a caste structure that holds ministers of science and war etc. Nothing we're not seen before but it didn't seem very novel.
The three body problem games excuse as being "too abstract" doesn't distract from the fact anything deemed "impossible" on the internet is likely to be solved quickly by some smart-arse, no matter if it's subject matter is interesting or not. See, No Man's Sky: two players finding themselves on the day of release
The video-game interaction suits were introduced much too quickly
The version I read: Pic related, did not read very well in English. I know how hard it is for Chinese to turn into English, but a lot of phrases didn't ring well enough, nor did a lot of sentences flow very well.
Ultimately: Here's my biggest dislike. After reading the novel I couldn't for the life of me describe the main character for you. He's dull, acts as the plot needs him too, and doesn't really learn or change at all throughout the novel. He also solves the first 3body.net problem incredibly fast for a man who's not an astrophysicist. Overall he just wasn't a very enjoyable protagonist. He had no emotion, and it was dull to experience the story through him.

Here are my initial good thoughts:
I was certainly frazzled and excited when it was revealed the tristellar system was Alpha Centauri, and I was a little goose-pimpled when the "Do not reply!" message came in.
Scenes in the video game were abstract and entertaining.
The sections involving history were done well, and didn't exclusively hold the novel up.
The other main character, Ye, was very interesting and I enjoyed following her tale. The massive flashback section didn't feel that hammy despite its sudden appearance.
The scene where they cut the boat into a "deck of cards" was very good. I enjoyed that entire chapter a lot.

Overall:
Good, but not excellent. Doesn't live up to its supposed hype. For a Chinese equivalent of "babies first scifi" it's fair enough. I hope more scifi can be seen to coming out of China after this one's success. I do intend to read the rest of the series, so that certainly redeems it a bit. I could however go without reading the rest if I really had too, as it semi-finshes itself off. I have the heard Dark Forest is good though, so I will push on.

Thanks for reading.

Has anyone here read this?
I've been meaning to pick it up, although I've heard it can be hard to get into. But a Chinese Science Fiction novel sounds really interesting.

People just hype this because Chinese sci-fi is a novelty, right?

Just read this, one of the most original feeling SF novels to me in a while. Check it out if you like Clarke

Is it all hype /lit/?

Anyone else read this series? I just started, a friend recommended it to me