At the beginning of this year, I was inspired by a fellow bookworm who had taken on the 100 books in one year challenge. One of the pieces of advise she gave was to give translations a try. They might surprise you. Well, boy was she right. 

This book blew. my. mind. Now bear with me as I describe it to you because it might sound REALLY strange. Cixin Liu is one of China's most renowned Scifi writers. This book is an odd mixture of physics, Chinese historical fiction, aliens, and virtual reality, all rolled up into one (kind of disjointed) entirely unique piece. It's nothing like I've ever read. The concept is very mysterious and it keeps that air about it through the majority of the book. 

The one thing I will say, I could definitely tell this book was a translation. Not because it was done poorly! But because the flow of the story, the build up of the characters, is very different from what I've grown to expect from reading books written in English and by American authors. I wouldn't recommend this book for the story necessarily, because it doesn't feel cohesive and complete all the time. But I do recommend it if you love science and fascinating concepts that really could be real. There were portions of this book that I read multiple times and then read out loud and got almost misty eyed every time. 

My mom thinks I'm weird, but I actually really really liked this book. 

p.s. Content wise, this book is pretty clean! Language wise, there is one character, a rough around the edges police officer, who has a bit of a mouth. So watch out for that.