Book Reviews from 2017

A first-rate novel. (I'm afraid I can't say the same about Amores, a collection of Lawrence's poems.)

I read this in Chinese. Anyone lauding The Three-Body Problem has not read enough classic 20th-century science fiction, which expected some effort from its readers. Occasional memorable scenes (like the ship assault) and the solid Cultural Revolution sections cannot save the daft plot. One example: the alien "videogame" lacks the features of an actual videogame -- motivation, progression, reward -- and is more like a series of weird lectures. While people do play bad videogames, the way this one is described, it's hard to understand why Earthlings would play it in large numbers.

Before bothering with this, read Roadside Picnic, Dune, and Starship Troopers. [And don't whine to me about Heinlein.]