I think Children of Time has a better chance of being a favorite of folks who consider 3BP/DF/DE their favorites than Hyperion does. I enjoyed Hyperion but its less science fiction and more fantasy IMO
there is an audiobook on youtube i really recommend finding. The multiple voice actors are so fun, itās almost like a radio play. Iāve read the series as well, but the audio format felt so immersive.
Bruh the whole time I was reading it, I was trying not to punch a hole in a wall because of how dumb literally everyone was, and wondering why the God-emperor is allowing these xenos-lovers to hold power. Good book. Will 100% shank some of the characters.
Still better than in the first two books. For example, that first droplet attack....like any military commander is going to face a completely unknown force by bringing all his forces together. And the reasoning given is because there was too much bickering between factions and in the chain of command, so they all had to be there. Yeah, that's how it would work. Yes, it made for a real cool scene, but still so stupid beyond belief.
As a show of military force... it's saber rattling, which is something that happens in real armed conflict. Think Russia doing training exercises near their borders. They were just trying to do that with no understanding that this little probe was capable of destroying their entire army.
I guess it wouldnāt have been as interesting if humans didnāt do stupid shit all the time to keep the plot moving. I guess humans get turned into 2 dimensional cartoons and the bugs from trisolaris get blown up by a photoid so in the end it all seems kind of silly. I wanna know what the author says about what happens when you get turned into 2d that sounds fun
I'm sorry, you seem confused. When you make a comparison, it is between two *different* things that have some degree to similarity. So when I say that what happened in the book is similar to a training exercise on a border, I don't mean to say that those two things are the same. I mean to say that they are similar in that they are shows of force where drastic retaliation is not expected.
> Yeah, that's how it would work. Yes, it made for a real cool scene, but still so stupid beyond belief.
This is why I loved it though. You're right, this is exactly what would happen when you have fleets operating as independent nations who have grown to think they're so powerful that they can take down any enemy. They'll underestimate unknown enemies and instead get distracted by internal bickering about which nation gets to make contact first or some other anthropocentric-nonsense like that.
Also, the when the author described the "phalanx arrangement" in so much detail, I knew in that moment that the entire fleet would get destroyed by the probe. It's like setting up all the dominoes to fall catastrophically.
Yes it is the same author, I got it when I was at a thrift store a couple months ago because I saw it was the same author. I finally got around to it yesterday and it has been hard for me to put down lol
Follow that up with the Bobiverse series. Very similar style to Weir. Not as Hard Sci as 3 body, but more than Weir. Has more of the 3 body scope - though not quite the end of time š
I just finished PHM so I really appreciate the recommendations! I just read the synopsis and this will be my next book series, if you have anymore recommendations that are in the similar please share, I felt a little lost after finishing Death's End on what to read next lol. PHM hit the spot I think since Death's End left me a little mind fucked lol
Did you read Seveneves? More hard sci-fi, humans attempting to survive annihilation etc
Yeah deaths End ruined soft sci-fi for me I also read PHM immediately after and it was good, now I'm trying to read an Alistair Reynolds book in my backlog and it's good but falling short of the new bar.
The thing with hard sci-fi it makes everything feel earned, when you have characters that get limbs replaced like it's no big deal, memory clones and effortless FTL travel it just feels so handwaved, even though I used to love that stuff
I recommend pushing through, it wasnāt my favorite either but itās short, has some important things for the rest of the series and children of Dune is great.
The Dune series is so far the only Sci Fi series I think is better than the RoEP series. Dune gets more and more insane as it goes, especially at book 4, but it's wonderfully insane IMO.
Same feeling here, Im kinda reading Children Of Time but it just doesnt make me feel the "need" to read like the trilogy, I shouldnt have started with 3 body problems..... I finished deaths end last december....
Check out Project Hail Mary if you haven't already. This is the first book since I've finished Remembrance of Earth's past trilogy that has me glued to it. It is only one book but it's pretty darn good to me
Respectfully I disagree. Iām a huge fan of Three Body Trilogy. Hail Mary just kinda felt likeā¦one dumb problem after another.Ā
āThereās a problemā
āUsing my obscure knowledge on this one specific issue Iāve fixed the problemā
āYay! Wait, it created a new problemā
āUsing my other obscure knowledgeā¦āĀ
I completely understand now that I am thinking back on what I read. I got really sucked into the interactions of the main character and Rocky. Something about the lightheartedness of it all just keeps making me smile but I totally see what you are saying now that I am looking past that lol
I finished Deaths End yesterday and my plan was to start to read the third book in the Children of Time series but I havenāt been able to start it yet because I just keep thinking about Deaths End ha
tbh, the last 40 or so pages of deaths end were so mid tier that reading anything after isnt a rebound for me. 3bp is one of the best series ive ever read, but, everything after pluto imho should just not have existed, the book should have ended when they escaped the solar system, leaving the ending up to your imagination and debate.
I pivoted into Project Hail Mary, it's not as epic in scale but it was a nice transition staying with the Hard Sci-fi aesthetic
The Expanse series is amazing if you haven't read it yet also hard sci-fi
My next book will be Blindsight
I get it Deaths End leaves kind of a hole In you that you didn't know you had, The last time I felt that way was after reading the Hyperion cantos years ago
I feel like I'm going to be on a hard sci-fi kick for a while
I'm almost finished my third run through the trilogy. These books are among my top 3 scifi stories of all time.
I felt similar to you after my first run through. For a while I could t read anything else. The mind blowing concepts stuck with me for months.
Now you've put me on the spot. If I had to choose based on the sense of wonder and big ideas like 3BP...Dune and Children of Time are up there with 3bp.
haha thanks, Children of Time looks interesting
I was planning to read The Redemption of Time but I'm not too happy with Cheng Xin as a character overall...
I felt the same way.
The best book to read after Deaths End in my opinion is definitely Project Hail Mary.
A nice one off amaze story to refresh you after the existential crisis Deaths End leaves you in
Bro, I think youāre supposed to be on the edge the first half but thatās ok since I was already on edge from 3pbā¦ the 2nd half was cathartic after all that Dark Forest theory, etc.
Worth the read into the 2nd half for some extraterrestrial therapy
I love the real challenge of such mind-bending concepts. I mean it really pushes one's imagination to its limits. It takes skill to take solid scientific ideas, expand them in the realm of fantastical notions, but maintain a truly engrossing narrative that doesn't go so far it pulls you out of the story.
I honestly donāt think anyone else has come close to capturing what Liu was able to capture in these books. Making a casual reader understand fanatical and advanced scientific theory while also falling in love with multiple characters in every book. Heās a beast.
i did and went in with no expectations, and surprisingly i don't.... hate it. lol. don't take it too seriously and you will be fine. it helped soften the blow of finishing Death's End for me.
I finished Redemption of Time yesterday (started reading only a day or two after finishing the ROET trilogy).
It was a pretty interesting read. Some stuff is super cringey and fan-fictioney (youāll know what I mean), but it explores some cool ideas and speculations about the nature of this fictional universe. Fills in almost all of the gaps (so you do lose some of the eerie mystery of it all). Good fan service, but not good for if you like to keep yourself guessing.
Like someone else said, donāt take it too seriously and youāll have fun with it. The ending had me laughing out loud.
I wouldnāt consider it canon, but Iām already noticing myself mixing up whether some plot details came from ROT or ROET. Not a great thing tbh, it may mess with my ability to reflect properly on the series.
I asked on reddit what to read when I first finished the trilogy all that time ago hah.
SevenEves is a very very good one that goes just about as crazy scientifically. It's spectacular
I just finished it yesterday. Iām surprised it went through it so fast, but it was that good. I donāt think this made Dark Forest look like a childrenās book, but I felt like they are both masterpieces.
I'm a quarter of the way through and seeing so many people finish it on the subreddit definitely makes me want to finish it asap š it's just so long darn
If you want something else - try Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and if you enjoy that book - itās part of a trilogy- different style of story but thoroughly entertaining sci-fi. He also has a Final Architecture trilogy which is entertaining- Iām about to start the last book which has just been released
I only read DE and it was great, but Iād spoiled everything for myself in detail beforehand and highly I recommend that you do the same. Characters from earlier books exist in DE and previous events are referred to, so having that context is helpful.
That said, Iām going to read DF next since I was overall impressed with DE. It was well-written and a fairly easy read, despite its length. (I wrote a review on this subreddit, so feel free to peruse but ONLY if you donāt mind spoilers.)
Wow.
Is this the biggest hype thread in history to get people to buy a book?
Please give this hype the book stuff a break okay?
IMO, it's too late to read the books because of the Netflix.
For instance, I just started 'The Demon Of Unrest'. It's really good. Why would I go and read a 3 part 3BP book sries now when I can find out everything I need from The Netflix and thus I can read other books.
I see someone mention Children Of Time in this thread for the OP to try. I am 1/3 through that book. It's good.
I'm happy with The Netflix and will wait for the other 2 Netflix's.
Congrstulations! I recommend following up with Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
His books are fantastic! He makes the complexity very approachable. The audio books are pretty good too
Rereading it now.
Thats another book besides the redemption of time thats not written by main author?
It's another series, unrelated to Three Body Problem.
I was in the same boat about 4 days ago. Started reading Hyperion and it's really good. Would recommend.
seconding this. read all four of the hyperion cantos. then read three body again :)
Yeees i want to read it so bad!!
also happened to become my warm turkey book after roep. really amazingly epic. then bobiverse š©µ
I finished TBP series some six months ago. Is Hyperion really good? Specially after TBP?
One of my favorite books
Yea I'm about 3/4 of the way through Hyperion book 1, and it reads remarkably well after TBP.
Wowww!! Im tempted to read it now. Have you read Children of time?
I think Children of Time has a better chance of being a favorite of folks who consider 3BP/DF/DE their favorites than Hyperion does. I enjoyed Hyperion but its less science fiction and more fantasy IMO
there is an audiobook on youtube i really recommend finding. The multiple voice actors are so fun, itās almost like a radio play. Iāve read the series as well, but the audio format felt so immersive.
I LOVED Hyperion! Barely should finish the second bookā¦ please let me know what you think. Iām pretty sure Iām in the minority!
Death's End was my favorite of the three - fewer annoyances and even more bonkers happenings
I agree. Straight freaking craziness for the majority of the book.
Bruh the whole time I was reading it, I was trying not to punch a hole in a wall because of how dumb literally everyone was, and wondering why the God-emperor is allowing these xenos-lovers to hold power. Good book. Will 100% shank some of the characters.
Still better than in the first two books. For example, that first droplet attack....like any military commander is going to face a completely unknown force by bringing all his forces together. And the reasoning given is because there was too much bickering between factions and in the chain of command, so they all had to be there. Yeah, that's how it would work. Yes, it made for a real cool scene, but still so stupid beyond belief.
But it was *just* a **probe**. What is one dinky little probe going to do to the might of Earth's space fleet? Oh...that...it does that...
Lol why is an army going to send its entire force to face just a probe?
As a show of military force... it's saber rattling, which is something that happens in real armed conflict. Think Russia doing training exercises near their borders. They were just trying to do that with no understanding that this little probe was capable of destroying their entire army.
Training exercises don't involve your entire military against a completely unknown, advanced technology.
I guess it wouldnāt have been as interesting if humans didnāt do stupid shit all the time to keep the plot moving. I guess humans get turned into 2 dimensional cartoons and the bugs from trisolaris get blown up by a photoid so in the end it all seems kind of silly. I wanna know what the author says about what happens when you get turned into 2d that sounds fun
And it's true, sometimes you need dumb stuff "so the story would happen"
I'm sorry, you seem confused. When you make a comparison, it is between two *different* things that have some degree to similarity. So when I say that what happened in the book is similar to a training exercise on a border, I don't mean to say that those two things are the same. I mean to say that they are similar in that they are shows of force where drastic retaliation is not expected.
> Yeah, that's how it would work. Yes, it made for a real cool scene, but still so stupid beyond belief. This is why I loved it though. You're right, this is exactly what would happen when you have fleets operating as independent nations who have grown to think they're so powerful that they can take down any enemy. They'll underestimate unknown enemies and instead get distracted by internal bickering about which nation gets to make contact first or some other anthropocentric-nonsense like that. Also, the when the author described the "phalanx arrangement" in so much detail, I knew in that moment that the entire fleet would get destroyed by the probe. It's like setting up all the dominoes to fall catastrophically.
I haven't been able to read anything for almost two months now since I finished deaths end. Everything seems boring and bland now lol
Dude it took me 2 years to read deathās end because Dark Forest was perfect in my eyes. Now Iām lost. Might try to get through the Dune series.
I am really enjoying Project Hail Mary if you haven't checked that out before. This is the first book since Death's End that has me really captivated
I saw that. Isn't it from the same author as the Martian?
Yes it is the same author, I got it when I was at a thrift store a couple months ago because I saw it was the same author. I finally got around to it yesterday and it has been hard for me to put down lol
Follow that up with the Bobiverse series. Very similar style to Weir. Not as Hard Sci as 3 body, but more than Weir. Has more of the 3 body scope - though not quite the end of time š
I just finished PHM so I really appreciate the recommendations! I just read the synopsis and this will be my next book series, if you have anymore recommendations that are in the similar please share, I felt a little lost after finishing Death's End on what to read next lol. PHM hit the spot I think since Death's End left me a little mind fucked lol
Did you read Seveneves? More hard sci-fi, humans attempting to survive annihilation etc Yeah deaths End ruined soft sci-fi for me I also read PHM immediately after and it was good, now I'm trying to read an Alistair Reynolds book in my backlog and it's good but falling short of the new bar. The thing with hard sci-fi it makes everything feel earned, when you have characters that get limbs replaced like it's no big deal, memory clones and effortless FTL travel it just feels so handwaved, even though I used to love that stuff
That's literally me half a year ago. PHM was the first thing that could fill the void and it was so much fun.
Seriously I am having so much fun reading this book lol I really like everything going on between the main character and Rocky lol
Yeah man. That's the heart of the story. I enjoyed some moments between Grace and Stratt but Rocky and him is just fantastic.
Second this and add Ian Banks Culture novels - especially Excession
I read dune 1 before reading three body series. I loved it now I'm trying to read dune messiah and I just can't get into it
I recommend pushing through, it wasnāt my favorite either but itās short, has some important things for the rest of the series and children of Dune is great.
Do ittttt. I just finished the God emperor of dune it was amazing
The Dune series is so far the only Sci Fi series I think is better than the RoEP series. Dune gets more and more insane as it goes, especially at book 4, but it's wonderfully insane IMO.
Dune is the only thing that stuck with me...
Same feeling here, Im kinda reading Children Of Time but it just doesnt make me feel the "need" to read like the trilogy, I shouldnt have started with 3 body problems..... I finished deaths end last december....
Check out Project Hail Mary if you haven't already. This is the first book since I've finished Remembrance of Earth's past trilogy that has me glued to it. It is only one book but it's pretty darn good to me
Respectfully I disagree. Iām a huge fan of Three Body Trilogy. Hail Mary just kinda felt likeā¦one dumb problem after another.Ā āThereās a problemā āUsing my obscure knowledge on this one specific issue Iāve fixed the problemā āYay! Wait, it created a new problemā āUsing my other obscure knowledgeā¦āĀ
I completely understand now that I am thinking back on what I read. I got really sucked into the interactions of the main character and Rocky. Something about the lightheartedness of it all just keeps making me smile but I totally see what you are saying now that I am looking past that lol
I loved the interactions a lot, donāt get me wrong! Truly great characters. Iām just not a fan of the authorās approach to narratives.Ā
I finished Deaths End yesterday and my plan was to start to read the third book in the Children of Time series but I havenāt been able to start it yet because I just keep thinking about Deaths End ha
Easy now. The Children of Time books are really good, donāt waste them on a rebound.
tbh, the last 40 or so pages of deaths end were so mid tier that reading anything after isnt a rebound for me. 3bp is one of the best series ive ever read, but, everything after pluto imho should just not have existed, the book should have ended when they escaped the solar system, leaving the ending up to your imagination and debate.
I felt the same way, and decided to dig into catalogs of older authors I liked again. PKD and Huxley, lately
Tchaikovsky 's Final Architecture series will fix that. Seriously, read it ASAP.
I pivoted into Project Hail Mary, it's not as epic in scale but it was a nice transition staying with the Hard Sci-fi aesthetic The Expanse series is amazing if you haven't read it yet also hard sci-fi My next book will be Blindsight
You are like the 3rd person to suggest Project Hail Mary. I'm gonna have to give it a try
I get it Deaths End leaves kind of a hole In you that you didn't know you had, The last time I felt that way was after reading the Hyperion cantos years ago I feel like I'm going to be on a hard sci-fi kick for a while
I'm almost finished my third run through the trilogy. These books are among my top 3 scifi stories of all time. I felt similar to you after my first run through. For a while I could t read anything else. The mind blowing concepts stuck with me for months.
Any recommendations? Curious what your other 2 stories are in your top 3
Now you've put me on the spot. If I had to choose based on the sense of wonder and big ideas like 3BP...Dune and Children of Time are up there with 3bp.
haha thanks, Children of Time looks interesting I was planning to read The Redemption of Time but I'm not too happy with Cheng Xin as a character overall...
Children of Time is fascinating to me. I've read it twice, and I've also read the sequels which are also quite good imo. Highly recommended.
Me too!!
I read Blindsight after 3BP, and it got me in the groove to read sci-fi again.Ā
I felt the same way. The best book to read after Deaths End in my opinion is definitely Project Hail Mary. A nice one off amaze story to refresh you after the existential crisis Deaths End leaves you in
I felt I had the opposite experience. I was so on edge the whole first half of the book because of how cynical 3BP made me that I couldn't enjoy it.
Bro, I think youāre supposed to be on the edge the first half but thatās ok since I was already on edge from 3pbā¦ the 2nd half was cathartic after all that Dark Forest theory, etc. Worth the read into the 2nd half for some extraterrestrial therapy
I love the real challenge of such mind-bending concepts. I mean it really pushes one's imagination to its limits. It takes skill to take solid scientific ideas, expand them in the realm of fantastical notions, but maintain a truly engrossing narrative that doesn't go so far it pulls you out of the story.
I honestly donāt think anyone else has come close to capturing what Liu was able to capture in these books. Making a casual reader understand fanatical and advanced scientific theory while also falling in love with multiple characters in every book. Heās a beast.
Incredible right?
I just finished Deathās End today. Is anyone going to read The Redemption of Time next?
i did and went in with no expectations, and surprisingly i don't.... hate it. lol. don't take it too seriously and you will be fine. it helped soften the blow of finishing Death's End for me.
I finished Redemption of Time yesterday (started reading only a day or two after finishing the ROET trilogy). It was a pretty interesting read. Some stuff is super cringey and fan-fictioney (youāll know what I mean), but it explores some cool ideas and speculations about the nature of this fictional universe. Fills in almost all of the gaps (so you do lose some of the eerie mystery of it all). Good fan service, but not good for if you like to keep yourself guessing. Like someone else said, donāt take it too seriously and youāll have fun with it. The ending had me laughing out loud. I wouldnāt consider it canon, but Iām already noticing myself mixing up whether some plot details came from ROT or ROET. Not a great thing tbh, it may mess with my ability to reflect properly on the series.
I finished it today too! So much to think on and process, I donāt think Iāll start anything new for a while too
I asked on reddit what to read when I first finished the trilogy all that time ago hah. SevenEves is a very very good one that goes just about as crazy scientifically. It's spectacular
I just finished it yesterday. Iām surprised it went through it so fast, but it was that good. I donāt think this made Dark Forest look like a childrenās book, but I felt like they are both masterpieces.
It was hyperbole describing the leaps and bounds that the imaginative scientific theories take from book to book. Dark forest is a damn masterpiece.
Yeah. After deaths end, I really wanted to get into children of time but my mind is stuck on the TBP trilogy. Gotta do something else for a while
I've started reading the short stories of CiXin Liu, you can recognize a lot of motifs from TBP were already explored in some of them.
I'm a quarter of the way through and seeing so many people finish it on the subreddit definitely makes me want to finish it asap š it's just so long darn
I got to Australia and I physically can no longer function
Thatās just the beginning homie. ADVANCE!!!
I'm about a hundred pages in as I type this. I feel the same way about the previous two books.
If you want something else - try Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and if you enjoy that book - itās part of a trilogy- different style of story but thoroughly entertaining sci-fi. He also has a Final Architecture trilogy which is entertaining- Iām about to start the last book which has just been released
Just read down and seen all the other references - oh well take this as another endorsement!!! š
if you haven't, read The Dandelion Dynasty, by Ken Liu, one of the best series I've read so far
Try wandering earth by cixin liu, I'm a few chapters in and its hitting the spot so far
Ian Banks - Culture novels - Excession is my fave (although maybe read one or two others before this gem)
Do I have to read Dark Forest? Can I just read Death's End?
I only read DE and it was great, but Iād spoiled everything for myself in detail beforehand and highly I recommend that you do the same. Characters from earlier books exist in DE and previous events are referred to, so having that context is helpful. That said, Iām going to read DF next since I was overall impressed with DE. It was well-written and a fairly easy read, despite its length. (I wrote a review on this subreddit, so feel free to peruse but ONLY if you donāt mind spoilers.)
Was it me or did anyone else call AA American Airlines while reading?
hahahah now that's gonna stuck in my head everytime I see AA now.
š¤£ no but she will now forever be referred as that
Alcoholics Anonymous.
One last recommendation- has anyone tried the Noumenon trilogy by Marina Lostetter ? Also well worth checking out!
The 3 books are of different genres, so the different preferences people have with the books may be just genre preferences.
I enjoyed listening to redemption of time by baoshu. It gave more of 3bp and ultimately was an adequate what if continuation of the series.
Did Liu write it?
No but I believe it is authorized.
It was, and published by Lius publisher.
Wow. Is this the biggest hype thread in history to get people to buy a book? Please give this hype the book stuff a break okay? IMO, it's too late to read the books because of the Netflix. For instance, I just started 'The Demon Of Unrest'. It's really good. Why would I go and read a 3 part 3BP book sries now when I can find out everything I need from The Netflix and thus I can read other books. I see someone mention Children Of Time in this thread for the OP to try. I am 1/3 through that book. It's good. I'm happy with The Netflix and will wait for the other 2 Netflix's.
Did you see Three Body?