Sci-Fi of the Day
Out of context: Reply #304
- Started
- Last post
- 440 Responses
- Nairn1
Hey cannonball - I finally started reading The Three Body Problem the other day and see what you mean about 'poor writing'! I'm not sure if it's a translation thing or perhaps it was his first book - or both - but a lot of it is incredibly clumsy. Dialogue and exposition is almost pulp fiction in parts.
That said, I barely had three hours sleep last night reading it, so should be finished soon and can get started back on Dark Forest and compare - that edition is translated by what sounds like an Anglophone*, so I'll see if there's much difference.
It's a completely different book to what I was expecting - although I'm not sure what I WAS expecting. Some of it's brilliant (hence the poor night's sleep...)
* I'm probably being racist now - translator of TTBP has a Chinese moniker. He could well be third generation American.
- I was going to say last time I mentioned this - some of the best sci-fi has terrible dialogue and characterisation - Niven, Simmons & Clarke spring to mindNairn
- Its true, good writing is not always the hallmark of good Scifi. Tree Body Problem is a fantastic story, I just had issues with the delivery.cannonball1978