The new sci-fi show 3 Body Problem dropped on Netflix this week, an epic tale about humanity's first contact with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. While there are some mixed reviews, most seem to be enjoying the latest outing from Game of Thrones creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff, who created the series alongside True Blood's Alexander Woo. For those who have already watched all eight episodes and are now hungering for more ambitious science fiction stories, we've got several recommendations for you to keep you busy for the foreseeable future.
The following round-up consists of five series/standalone books worth checking out if you loved 3 Body Problem.
Obviously the first choice has to be the books that 3 Body Problem was actually based on. Cixin's award-winning trilogy is a genuine literary feat and ambitious sci-fi at its finest. The series begins with The Three-Body Problem, continues with The Dark Forest and wraps in its epic conclusion Death's End. Far more sophisticated and complex than the television series, the trilogy is unlike anything else in the genre.
If you try to search for books just like this trilogy, you'll see that countless people have struggled to come up with the perfect comparison. With each novel between 400 and 600 pages, it'll take you a while to get through all three books, so I suggest diving in as soon as you finish watching the show, especially if you enjoyed the Netflix adaptation and are eager to find out what happens next.
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu
After checking out the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, you might consider reading some of Cixin Liu's other works, like his standalone book Ball Lightning. Far more fast-paced than Cixin's acclaimed trilogy, Ball Lightning is an immersive and compelling story about a man devoted to uncovering the mysteries of ball lightning after his parents are incinerated in a tragic incident. His obsession with the phenomena brings him into conflict with scientists who have their own motives and are dangerously obsessed with using ball lightning to produce high-powered weaponry.
Orson Scott Card is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author. His novel Ender's Game was his breakout work. If you were intrigued by the virtual reality game in 3 Body Problem then this might be the right book for you! Set in the future, Ender's Game takes a unique approach to the alien invasion genre by being set after two different invasions.
With a third invasion potentially looming on the horizon, talented children from around the world are recruited into a Battle School where they learn how to play games and study subjects like politics, math, and physics. These children are studied with the hopes of honing a new generation of cutthroat commanders, elite soldiers, and tacticians that can finally defeat the alien threat for good.
Protagonist Andrew "Ender" Wiggin emerges as a genius that could save the human race. There is also a film adaptation of this one starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford.
The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey
Compared to 3 Body Problem, The Expanse is more of an epic space opera than hard science fiction, but its scope recalls Cixin's trilogy and universe. Beginning with the novel Leviathan Wakes, the book series takes place in a future where humans have colonized the Solar System and many are living in space stations and systems in orbit.
The books focus on a group of protagonists who find themselves at the center of a dangerous conspiracy that threatens to upend the fragile peace established between factions like the Earthers, the Martians, and the Belters who live on the asteroid belt. The Expanse was also adapted into a television series, with six seasons available to watch on Prime Video. There are nine books total in the series.
The Southern Reach trilogy, which consists of the novels Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance, is one of my personal favorite book series of all time. These books are much more cerebral and mind-bending than even 3 Body Problem and are certainly not for everyone. Despite being considered a popular sci-fi series, they're actually quite polarizing due to the book's mysterious nature. Some of the events are never explained and you just kind of have to be okay with that.
But if you're someone who enjoys truly unique stories, suspense, and open endings that leave you guessing, then I highly recommend giving these books a chance. The books center around the strange "Area X," a region of coastline where nature has reclaimed every aspect of human civilization. Several expeditions have ventured into Area X with each one perishing due to unexplainable circ*mstances.
Annihilation follows the twelfth expedition, a group of four women with a mission to map the area's terrain and record their observations—while trying to avoid contamination by the area itself. The film version of Annihilation from director Alex Garland (see above trailer) is also worth watching!
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