The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem is a dense and theoretical Chinese science fiction novel that imagines the invasion of Earth by an alien civilization (the Trisolarans) as set against the backdrop of modern Chinese history. The book is not merely an intelligent space opera, but it uses the invasion to consider how the Chinese population would actually react to such a threat. Liu's narrative is not always easy to follow, and his characterization is sometimes quite weak, but the book builds to an extraordinary conclusion. (This is the first book in a planned trilogy.)