The Three-Body Problem

Now a major Netflix series

By: Cixin Liu, Ken Liu - translator

Narrated by: Daniel York Loh

Bloomsbury presents The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, read by Daniel York Loh.

Read the award-winning, critically acclaimed, multi-million-copy-selling science-fiction phenomenon – soon to be a Netflix Original Series from the creators of Game of Thrones.

1967: Ye Wenjie witnesses Red Guards beat her father to death during China's Cultural Revolution. This singular event will shape not only the rest of her life but also the future of mankind.

Four decades later, Beijing police ask nanotech engineer Wang Miao to infiltrate a secretive cabal of scientists after a spate of inexplicable suicides. Wang's investigation will lead him to a mysterious online game and immerse him in a virtual world ruled by the intractable and unpredictable interaction of its three suns.

This is the Three-Body Problem and it is the key to everything: the key to the scientists' deaths, the key to a conspiracy that spans light-years and the key to the extinction-level threat humanity now faces.

Praise for The Three-Body Problem:
'Your next favourite sci-fi novel' Wired
'Immense' Barack Obama
'Unique' George R.R. Martin
'SF in the grand style' Guardian
'Mind-altering and immersive' Daily Mail
Winner of the Hugo and Galaxy Awards for Best Novel©2023 Cixin Liu (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Critic reviews

A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology (George R.R. Martin)

Wildly imaginative, really interesting... The scope of it was immense (Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States)

A marvellous mélange of awe-inspiring scientific concepts, clever plotting and quirky yet plausible characters, all conveyed in in a plain style capable of signalling hidden depths

A milestone in Chinese science fiction

The best kind of science fiction (Kim Stanley Robinson)

Liu Cixin's impressive The Three Body Problem won the 2015 Hugo award for best novel, the first time a Chinese writer has taken that prize

It's a stunning, high-concept, rollercoaster of a novel which offers an intriguing Eastern perspective... this is a trilogy which, like Asimov's Foundation epic, looks set to quickly become an essential science fiction classic'

China has a lively SF scene inaccessible to western audiences until recently, so it's a great pleasure to read this book by Cixin Liu – the country's most popular SF writer – in English. Handled expertly on the terms of the genre, it is seeing this tale played out through a different cultural lens that makes the book fascinating. The translation is exemplary. The book is top-flight SF; smart, informative and engaging

Hard science fiction at its finest, and fans will appreciate the superb attention to detail that drives this constantly evolving and impressive series

The writing is superb... The ideas are astounding, real eye-openers that expand the mind and really get the old grey matter going... A stand-out, award-worthy novel and one that deserves a place amongst the science fiction classics'

For a book that makes you think, and holds true to some of the traditional values of SF, this one can't be beat

[The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest are] the works of fiction I am most enthusiastic about

A celebration of science as saviour

This book lives and dies by the quality of its ideas. Fortunately, the many, many different questions posed are fascinating and imaginative and I barreled through this novel right up to its gripping conclusion

A book rich in ideas, puzzles and theories but each of them is explained in a way that isn't only accessible but is also absolutely engrossing... The ideas are vast but they are beautifully expressed and, for this, credit must also go to Ken Liu who has done a fantastic job of translating this masterpiece. I loved where The Three Body-Problem took me – it is tense, wondrous and fascinating and I am so ready to read its successor, The Dark Forest, the next in this exciting, original and gobsmacking trilogy'

A really fascinating book and I'm delighted that there are two more to come in the series... I'd recommend to readers who want to enjoy the science as much as the story'

Well worth listening

An excellent sci-fi book, worth listening both to experience the wonders of Three Body, and to observe the influence of author’s native culture on atmosphere and meaning of the story. The narrator sounds harsh, but he did a good job to convey not only the book’s content but also the nature of its original language.

Amazing story. Probably the best science fiction book I’ve read so far.

This book is very unique in so many ways. The author has done great job of building the characters in this book. Also I was amazed how he has used deep scientific knowledge to weave the story that is deeply profound!

First Asian book

This novel is extremely rich with real scientific and historical facts threaded together by the author in a beautifully illustrated piece of art

State of the art

Very interesting plot, tauches different aspects of life, science, morality and perspectives. Enjoed vety much

Out of this world

The way this book describes reality, even being science fiction, leaves you anxious and knee deep in cosmic horror. Be ready to swim in unfatomable hard scify waters and prepare yourself to face a reality that could, after all, not be fiction, because as history has taught us, the supernatural of today is the science of tomorrow.