Too grand to bear itself

This book concludes the three body problem trilogy by trying to outdo the previous two books - which it does, but not necessarily in a good way.

While the ideas presented in this book are interesting and thought provoking, most of the ideas doesn't have much room to breathe. One after another an even grander concept than the one before is presented to the reader. It's captivating at first, but after a while it becomes tiring to listen through yet another grand new thing almost indescribable by human words.

It doesn't help that the author doesn't fully commit to the ideas. Once the world building around one idea is done the book leaves it as an anecdote and focuses on the next big idea.

Overall an enjoyable book because I liked many of the ideas, but it showcases that more doesn't necessarily mean better. Dark forest stands as my favorite in the trilogy.

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Ideas over story

I had a hard time enjoying not just this book but the series as a whole. After struggling through the second book I waited several years before starting the third but I did want to know the ending after all. The scope and amount of ideas was impressive and the ideas appear to be rooted in proper science. Some truly made me consider the universe in new ways. However, good ideas don't make an enjoyable novel.

It's likely something important is lost in the translation from Chinese but I had a hard time empathizing with the characters or even understanding their actions or personal development. The characters' speech almost never felt natural to me and quite often the dialogue felt like pure exposition. An important principle in western composition is "Show, don't tell", which I feel would've made the book much more enjoyable if applied. I felt the author often did the opposite. This may be a cultural thing, and admittedly my experience with Chinese authors is very limited, but I can only write this review from my own western perspective with the translated version.

So many ideas were introduced one after the other with barely any time to consider the consequences that it sometimes felt the author just needed to get those out of the way as a foundation for the next big one. The human factor was sometimes lost. This fits the premise so who knows, it may have been intentional, but I doubt it.

Audible has two versions of this audiobook in their catalog. I returned the edition narrated by P. J. Ochlan because I didn't like the narration and knew there was another version available. The other narration, by Bruno Roubicek who also narrated the first two audiobooks, was more enjoyable though I feel Roubicek was hampered by the book. His pronunciation of Chinese and other non-English names was excellent. There were very few errors for almost 30 hours of material.

Am I glad I read this series? Yes, but not for the story. Just the ideas.

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Truly brilliant

Thank you. Best Sci Fi in years. Third book the best! Enjoyed every moment

Satisfying conclusion for the trilogy

Really writing this from the perspective of the whole trilogy.
The story starts few decades in the past in the first book, builds and goes very far until the end in this one.
This is the kind of story where it is best enjoyed when you know as little as possible about it before-hand.
There are imaginary, but plausible twists and the whole story is very cleverly written.

This 3rd book brings the amazing story to satisfying conclusion. No cheap tricks or open ending to allow continuing the story and endlessly writing about the same thing again and again for 10+ books. The story arch is near perfection.

Could this be the best sci-fi, I have read? It think it was.

end of the trilogy

for me it was a wierd summary of the story, nevertheless still dark and pack with science.

Fairy tales

Fairy tales written by a scifi author are quite dull. Otherwise good book. Bit heavy to get through.

Truly mind blowing

Rarely do you find a book that takes it's time and subtly exports your mind and imagination away from the here and now into the infinite.
The entire series is a masterpiece but this book ties it all up very nicely.

excellent

loved it, I wish I had more to listen to. the series is well worth it...let's hope netflix doesn't butcher it

Mind blowing

Just finished the trilogy , absolutely amazing !!! Can’t believe this mans imagination and scientific explanations. Mind blowing!!

Amazing, well thought out science fiction.

When I started the series I thought book one was a tad slow.. Man has that been turned around. What a brilliant, massive expansive world he has created in this book series. Wrapping it up in a satisfying conclusion.