Remembrance of Earth's Past is science fiction trilogy written by Chinese author Liu Cixin. The three books in the series are called "The Three-Body Problem," "The Dark Forest," and "Death's End". I haven't read a lot of science fiction books, but I have heard a lot about this series so I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. Even though the books get very complicated at some points with physical theories I read through all of the books quickly and I found the ideas in them to be fascinating.
The books start with a simple premise. Trisolarans have discovered Earth and plan to invade it. The Trisolaran are much more technologically advanced then the people of Earth so there is little Earth can do to resist their invasion. Yet they try.
That part of the books is excellent. The technology that the Trisolarans have is described in a fascinating way. It is things that we wish we could have but our research in Quantum mechanics is simply not advanced enough in the real world as well as in their world. All of the theories that are presented in the books about physics, cosmology and theoretical astronomy are both fascinating and not unheard of if you like to learn about such things. The way this book looks at technology and the possibilities in our future is fascinating.
However, there is one thing that this book doesn't do well and that is characters. I don't just mean character development because characters in these books don't have character developments, just the characters themselves don't feel realistic at all. Generally speaking I do think that some disruptions of mass panic are pretty realistic, but the main characters themselves feel just like plot devices. Ye Wenjie for example. I understand her anger towards her country, not so much towards the entire human race. I also can't believe she is that innocent that she couldn't see the end result of her actions. Luo Ji's love life seems pointless to me, though his personality at least I get. I really didn't like Cheng Xin. You had one job. I don't get all of her loving personality. She just feels more like a concept than a person. Even Jane in "Pride and Prejudice" has more character development then her and they seemed to be made of the same material. So yeah, not great characters.
But the plot of the book was very interesting. The books have a lot of bigger than life concepts in them so you need to be prepared for that. The first two books are the most interesting as they are built at least in a somewhat conventional way, with a general plot and things happening and even some action. By the end of the third book you get into more ideas territory. But it is still interesting, you just won't find characters that you like in this book, or that you can remember. But I think the ideas are original enough and interesting enough to help you get pass all of that and enjoy the books.
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I have a tendency to finish the books I start. I read this whole trilogy and thought it was pretty mediocre. It does make you think tho. If you're interested in some better science heavy science fiction, I would recommend the Bobiverse books by Dennis Taylor https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Dennis+E.+Taylor&i=audible&ref=dp_byline_sr_audible_1 and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary/dp/B08GB58KD5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8Q3538RQ0Z8L&keywords=project+hail+mary&qid=1700194848&s=audible&sprefix=project+%2Caudible%2C151&sr=1-1 so excited to see this one hit the big screen!