Jackson Wolf’s Reviews > The Three-Body Problem > Status Update

- when he said that a Chinese pun existed between the word sophon and the word proton. Sophon is a word made up for these books, after all. I enjoyed the book and might try the second in the trilogy, but it moved too slow and there wasn't enough action to keep me consistently interested.

This book ended well - Ye Wenjie got a peaceful ending atop Radar Peak, and the repeated text between Wenjie responding and receiving the "Do not reply!!!" message as the Trisolaran's reception of Wenjie's transmission and his response worked very well. I especially liked how well it contrasted and the detail put into the description of how the Sophons were built. I didn't quite understand what the translator meant-

The planning for the nanofiber destruction of Judgement Day was very entertaining, but the actual destruction, due to the limitations of a book, was not nearly as fun as the TV show. It was just description of what Wang Miao could see from the forest and none of the entertaining chaos inside the ship. I don't hate it on the whole, but it was just a little boring.

Mike Evans being introduced as a character is exciting, but I don't fully understand his point of view. He has $4.5 billion but refuses to use it to save species because "wealthy countries have the same problems as poor ones". He's not wrong that wealthy countries do have problems, but he could still do good by spending his money to save dying species.

The book is getting interesting with the reveal that Ye Wenjie is the leader of the Adventists and the Redemptionists, but I don't see how a payoff is going to be created in 140 pages. I want to keep reading, and I am seeing the parallels between the book and the show, but I don't know who Pan Han is in the show or what purpose he really serves in the book.

I enjoy the plot, but the book isn't really heating up. Nothing has really happened, no major conflict has been introduced aside from "wow, this game is so advanced". I am wondering what "Adventist" and "Redemptionist" mean in the context of either the Frontiers of Science or possibly the PLA? The writing is still hilariously choppy - things like an entire sentence just being "He did", or "We built that part".

The book is still interesting, but keeping track of who characters like Xu Bingbing and Shen Yufei are is getting harder - the cast keeps expanding and remembering names that mean nothing to me is significantly harder than if the names were like more American. The introductions are still clunky - "I'm Leonardo da Vinci" and then saying what exposition needs to be delivered is getting old.

Two issues I have - in the game CALLED "Three Body" Wang Miao has no clue what the mysterious reason for the Chaotic and Stable Eras is. If he was some random person grabbed of the street, that would make sense. However, Wang Miao is one of the most advanced scientists in ALL OF CHINA. He is doing things thought impossible even today. Secondly, the Frontiers of Science are just so obviously evil it hurts.

The main change since the previous update: the writing is getting better. It feels more natural, and each sentence seems to flow into the next. During Da Shi and Wang Miao's lengthy conversation after the blinking universe, it was very hard to understand who was saying what - it could have gone either way, so I am still left a little confused. cont.

The book is getting very interesting, especially in the way that it reveals the technology that is present in this world (V-Suits, nanofibers, etc.). Pan is an interesting character, and even though he was just introduced the book did a good job of describing how he is and what he believes. One thing I am having trouble with is understanding exactly what the Frontiers of Science is and Shen Yufei's role in the story.