Tonight I review Cixin Liu's 2015 Hugo Award winning novel "The Three Body Problem". I provide a spoiler free plot overview, discuss my likes, my dislikes, make some recommendations, I put it to the memory test and I rank it on our ever growing sci-fi shed ladder where I have been ranking all the Hugo and/or Nebula award winning novels.
00:00 Intro
00:28 Plot overview
04:05 What I Liked
06:17 What I didn't like
07:30 Recommendations
09:24 Memory Test
10:12 Ranking
15:55 Your feedback
Over the last year I have reread over 60 Hugo and/or Nebula award winning Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, and I have been ranking them on the ever growing SF Shed Ladder.
I use the following criteria to help me rank these wonderful novels.
1. Concept (how interesting/unique is the SF or F concept)
2. Execution of the concept
3. Characters (interesting character arcs, relatable, interesting)
4. Writing (how much did i enjoy the writing)
5. How memorable are these novels (the memory test)
6. Plot (interesting twists and turns)
7. Ending (does the ending satisfy)
Playlist of all the Hugo Winning Novels
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGMlrr25EAvnteXr3XCOhER4xmU-Po6B6
Playlist of all the Nebula Winning Novels
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGMlrr25EAvkHtGC90-Kqb3ZCfi0Pu0Qb
The Shed Ladder Rankings
1 Hyperion - Dan Simmons
2 Dune - Frank Herbert
3 Gateway Frederik Pohl
4 A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr
5 Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
6 Way Station - Clifford Symak
7 Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
8 Doomsday Book - Connie WIllis
9 To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer
10 A Case of Conscience - James Blish
11 Tehanu - Ursula LeGuine
12 The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
13 The Dispossessed - Ursula LeGuine
14 The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuine
15 This Immortal - Roger Zelazny
16 The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C Clarke
17 Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
18 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
19 Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
20 Ringworld - Larry Niven
21 The Claw of the Conciliator - Gene Wolfe
22 The Man in the High Castle - Philip K, Dick
23 The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
24 Falling Free - Lois McMaster Bujold
25 Red Mars - Kin Stanley Robinson
26 Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
27 Moving Mars - Greg Bear
28 A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
29 The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
30 Redshirts - John Scalzi
31 Flowers for Algenon - Daniel Keyes
32 Rite of Passage - Alexei Panshin
33 The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
34 Among Others - Jo Walton
35 The Uplift War - David Brin
36 A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge
37 Startide Rising - David Brin
38 The Saint of Bright Doors - Vajra Chandrasekera
39 The City and the City - China Mieville
40 Man Plus - Frederik Pohl
41 Babel-17 - Samuel R. Delaney
42 Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang - Kate Wilhelm
43 Double Star - Robert Heinlein
44 A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
45 Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie
46 A Time of Changes - Robert Silverberh
47 Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher
48 Forever Peace - Joe Haldeman
49 The Terminal Experiment - Robert J Sawyer
50 The Quantum Rose - Catherine Asaro
51 The Einstein Intersection - Samuel R. Delaney
52 The Big Time - Fritz Leiber
53 Timescape - Gregory Benford
54 No Enemy But Time - Michael Bishop
55 The Falling Woman - Pat Murphy
56 Slow River - Nicola Griffith
57 The Obelisk Gate - N.K Jemisin
58 The Fifth Season - N.K Jemisin
59 The Stone Sky - N.K Jemisin