missingvolume | #117 The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu Translator

I had been hearing about this book for a while now so I was able to get a review copy and try it out for myself. The story is set a few years ahead of us with the VR tech but it is very much in the modern time. There are several flashbacks to the Cultural Revolution in China that sets up motivation for the person that causes first contact. We don’t see the aliens except in a VR world that was set up by followers of the aliens to recruit more people to their cause. The book is studded with footnotes to give the reader historical and social context to the story since all the action is set in China. Nothing is resolved by the end of the book since there are two more in the series but the ending is interesting enough to leave you wanting to see what comes in the next book.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley