Ball Lightning

By: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator

Narrated by: Feodor Chin

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

"Wildly imaginative." (Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy)

A new standalone military science fiction adventure from the New York Times best-selling and award-winning author of the Three-Body Trilogy.

When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of the mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station.

The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his lonely life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own: a beautiful army major with an obsession with dangerous weaponry, and a physicist who has no place for ethical considerations in his single-minded pursuit of knowledge.

Ball Lightning, by award-winning Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu, is a fast-paced audiobook about what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against a push to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences.

This program is read by Feodor Chin, voice of Zenyatta in Overwatch.

©2005, 2018 Liu Cixin; Translation copyright by China Educational Publications Import & Export Corp., Ltd. (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

starts slow, but rewards persistence

the novel starts slow, especially if you read the three body trilogy. but it picks up the pace and gets a lot better about halfway through. recommended for hsf fans.

An interesting read.

The author has a great imagination and grasp of theoretical science (most of which was over my head). His trilogy the three body problem, is a masterpiece. So much more to read.

good book bad reading

I don't get why in this day and age you teach a narrator how to pronounce chinese names correctly. zheng, xu, etc. sorry but this lazy and unprofessional.

Tough Read

I have not read “The Three Body Problem”. This was my first exposure to Cixin Liu and his writing. Ball Lightning is a near-term SCI FI Novel and definitely not typical of the genre. The plot, which revolves around China’s military scientific efforts to weaponize lightning, follows a Chinese scientist and his coworkers through the military testing associated with their experiments.

Overall, I found the novel to be a very slow tough read, but worth it in the end. As I struggled to stay engaged with narration, I was confused about the universally high reviews contained in Audible. The first 4/5ths of the book are dull and the characters wooden and stiff. Not until 8 hours into the narration does the story change from a clinical experimental test plan to an interesting story. The author then introduces a war with an unnamed but identifiable American foe, who is also exploring the future of atmospheric weapons.

Ultimately this book revolves around the pursuit of science for military application without conscience and without regard for the potential consequences. Humanity has certainly demonstrated such activity through history and as our science advances, the potential for increased self-destruction increases. There are some surprises at the end, and while the conclusion and ideas achieved in this book are interesting and redeeming, the journey to get to there was difficult. Ultimately, I can only give it 3 stars.

A solid Three-Body prequel

As a fan of the Three-Body trilogy, I was neither pleased nor displeased with this book. It has all of Liu’s trademarks from three-body: wild, fantastical science fiction concepts used and misused by fascinating characters in a strange and very atypical narrative flow that has pretty significant pacing issues. I was hoping the author would improve on her narrative and pacing weaknesses from the trilogy, but that does not happen here. However, if that did not bother you, you will greatly enjoy this book. It is a very solid read, and the lead-in to the three-body trilogy at the very end is a nice touch.

Meandering and dull

There's some fun to be had in the speculative science, but that gets too silly to take seriously pretty early on. The book doesn't have much on terms of a plot (I'd have trouble telling anyone what it was about) and the characters are pretty dull. Ultimately the story was kind of random.

It's worth your time of you're a huge fan of Cixin Liu or of you're curious about Chinese styles of sci-fi that don't have direct Western parallels. If you're looking for an engaging story, you won't find it here.

A Wild, Wild Brainy Non-Western Ride

Ball Lightning precedes The Three Body Problem trilogy — and while it may not be "as developed" as Cixin Liu's masterpiece, it's still brilliant and wonderful.

In a text, I described Ball Lighting to a friend this way: What a whacky, brilliant, OCD, cutting-edge-science-informed, Russian doll after Russian doll after Russian doll of a non-Western SF yarn! READ IT!

If your SF preferences are heroes with ray guns killing aliens, this won't tickle your fancy.

But if you want a wild non-Western SF romp... READ IT! Intensely satisfying!

Memorable and Fun

The story was cool and kept me engaged with a unique style. Not much to do with the three body problem books but that was not an issue.

Definitely The Science in Science Fiction

Overall I really enjoyed the title. It was a pleasure to hear Feodor Chin narrate.
I do want to add that there isn’t a lot of drama in the story, it is very scientific. The theories in the story are interesting, and I appreciate how the author explained Chinese Science Fiction in the afterward. This makes a lot of sense as the storytelling is a bit different that our typical Western Sci-Fi. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

Love cixin liu

This was mostly an exposition novel with a lot of science and little actual action and much of the action takes place in past accounts. I still loved the story and felt like it was a great take on a fun idea.