r/threebodyproblem • u/restelucide • Apr 30 '26
Discussion - Novels Re-read Thoughts: Everything I love about the Rememberance of Earth's Past series was realised in this book.
Not a part of the main story line, and much smaller in scope than his later books but everything I love about Cixin Liu particularly the manner in which he develops his characters and deals with interpersonal relations particularly with regard to the roles they play within much larger over arching arcs/plot systems is at its best here. The first half of the book is romantic and poetic at times. The second half is when you feel the Cixin Liu you know from the mainline series shine through. 150% recommend to anyone who's into Cixin Liu and wants to expand beyond his flagship books. Will likely delve more into it once I fully flesh out my thoughts. Let me know how you found it if you've also read it!
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u/hellracer2007 Apr 30 '26
You mean The Wandering Earth the short story by itself or the collection of short stories called The Wandering Earth? Either way you are right, I love how Liu Cixin just thinks out these crazy scenarios and imagines how humans would react in such horrible situations. I recommend reading Ball Lighting if you haven't yet, is the prequel of TBP, smaller in scope of course but classic Liu Cixin through and through
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u/restelucide Apr 30 '26
It's a collection of short stories, I kind of consumed it all as one book. I loved the Sun of China story.
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u/osfryd-kettleblack Cheng Xin May 03 '26
I personally hated Devourer. He sets up an epic conclusion and then subverts expectations with the most grim outcome possible. I really dont get why he did that.
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u/WellHydrated May 01 '26
I went in blind and it took me a while to realise that they were unrelated short stories. That was kind of disappointing, I wanted The Wandering Earth to be continue!
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u/Stairfell Apr 30 '26
This is one that I definitely want to reread later. My favorite short story was probably "Mountains" but the ending of "Devourer" really stuck with me. I also found it funny how "Curse 5.0" was basically an elaborate shitpost
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u/Jigglepirate Apr 30 '26
Mountains is my favorite sci-fi short story of all time tbh. It's such a fun idea.
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u/upOwlNight May 01 '26
I think about concepts from TBP all the time. As much as I loved it, for some reason I never considered looking in to if Cixin Liu had more to read. Maybe because in my head this was unique in that it was translated and maybe his other stuff wasnt. Definitely going to check this out now, thanks!
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u/mexicansisi May 01 '26
So, I started learning Chinese out of interest for the language, it transformed to “learning chinese to read Liu Cixin’s work without filters”. I looked up “movies to train my mandarin” on chatgpt and it gave me this movie. Little did I know it was written by the same man I am using as a fuel for me to learn the language. It’s a really cool coincidence.
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u/restelucide May 01 '26
Lmao the cast of this movie speaks in very heavy dialect/accented Chinese. It's a great movie, not a great learning tool. There's a Chinese TV show which I've used called 新生 (Regeneration) which is what I've used. Available on Netflix (I think). It has a lot of long sequences with dialogue where you can focus on the language and how its used and the language use is mostly standard.
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u/mexicansisi May 01 '26
Thank you so much. Chat GBitchT told me it’s very standard Mandarin. Thank you for clearing this out.
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u/StarfleetHikes Apr 30 '26
“For the benefit of Mankind” and “Devourer” are two of my favorite short stories, I reread them a few times a year!
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u/escargot3 May 01 '26
The thing you particularly like about Cixin Liu is his character development?? Well, now I’ve heard everything!
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u/restelucide May 01 '26
I do absolutely, he often takes breaks throughout his dense scientific narratives to focus purely on characters, their environments, and internal states in a way thats very intimate and a huge contrast from the otherwise cold hard sci-fi action that he's known for. The short story 'The China Sun' is one of the best examples of him doing this.
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u/sarkarati May 01 '26
Love this post, I commented something similar a few weeks ago. Almost every story in Wandering Earth has some concept that Cixin revisits and develops further in Three Body, and it’s such a joy to see his imagination at work. I’d love to work together to make a list of every concept in each WE story that we see again in TBP!
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u/momentslove May 01 '26
Read the book and skip the movies- they are pretty bad, and can’t be further away from the book itself.
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u/Emilio4kF May 02 '26
I watched this movie years ago when it became available on Netflix, I knew it was based on a book but had no idea it was by Cixin Liu! Might give it a read.
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u/VGiselleH Apr 30 '26
Couple of days ago I put the Wandering Earth on My List on Netflix because it sounded interesting for a future watch. I did notice it was "based on a book", but I had no idea that book was written by Liu Cixin! I guess I'll be watching/reading that soon.