90-something-percent of the novel was spent following some frustrating character or just otherwise not going anywhere, just for all the interesting things to happen in basically the epilogue, and for every novel to have some frustrating deus-ex-machina be wheeled out at the last second, because of reasons, I guess? It all felt frustrating and pointless. It was like the fiction equivalent of that person who goes “nah space marines would win because uhm actually they have the xyz”.
Maybe I just have low standards for literature, I didn't realize so many people disliked the books but on r/scifi and here on HN people really dislike the Three Body Problem series.
I liked it but after the first 50 pages of book one I realized "Oh, this is anime". I think that having consumed a lot of anime in my teenage years I have more tolerance for story arcs that overstay their welcome, but make up for it with epic twists/payoff. I think that these expectations make it more palatable.
