The Three-Body Problem

Remembrance of Earth's Past

Content Ratings

No Romance

There is no meaningful romance; relationships are professional and familial within the story's scientific and historical framework.

Intense Themes

The Cultural Revolution's political terror, the ethics of betraying one's own species in despair, and the philosophical implications of a universe governed by predatory logic are sustained and deeply unsettling themes.

Moderate Violence

The Cultural Revolution sections depict executions and public struggle sessions with real historical brutality; alien proton technology is used to drive a scientist to suicide; violence is present and historically grounded.

Synopsis

Beginning during China's Cultural Revolution, when a scientist secretly contacts an alien civilization and triggers a countdown to their invasion, the novel leaps to the present day where physicist Wang Miao encounters a mysterious virtual reality game and a secret organization preparing for first contact. Liu Cixin's award-winning novel blends hard science, political history, and cosmic horror in a scope unlike most Western science fiction. A landmark work of Chinese science fiction.