Going into this I knew two things: 1) Netflix was releasing an adaptation, and 2) the general premise was aliens invading Earth. I was in it for the aliens and I enjoy comparing screen adaptations with their original text (something I’m only just now realizing about myself). I started listening to the audiobook and quickly realized I would need to read a physical copy to fully take in the technical jargon and character names, so I ended up watching the Netflix series first. I found the screen adaptation to be very thorough and loyal to its text counterpart. Are there changes made? Absolutely. Some characters are shifted around (as well as some events that don’t happen until books 2 or 3 in the trilogy), but the changes were not completely unreasonable and I still enjoyed my viewer experience. In fact, I’d say it enhanced my reading experience once I was able to get my hands on the physical book!

Readers are thrown back into the past and right into the Chinese Cultural Revolution where we follow Ye Wenjie through the death of her father, her time in labor camps, and her eventual work with the Red Coast Base for several years. During this time, she makes a shocking discovery that will impact the future generations of Earth and all of humanity. Jumping forward in time, we encounter a string of inexplicable suicides (including Ye Wenjie’s daughter, another talented scientist). Wang Miao (working with advanced nanotechnology) and Shi Qiang (a detective) must work together to figure out why these suicides are happening. In the process, Wang discovers a perplexing online game that features a universe where three, unpredictable suns orbit the game’s planet.

Together, Wang and Shi uncover a secret society of scientists who display religious zealotry for an alien race known as the Trisolarans who have decided to make Earth their end destination for colonization to save their own world.