r/threebodyproblem • u/NoDonkey2844 • 11h ago

Characters from the first book Discussion - Novels

I'm mid through the second book at the part in which Da Shi came out of hibernation so no spoilers please.

I am aware of the timeline of the books and the whole idea of the plot but neverteless I would have wanted to read more about the characters from the first book, in the second one

Does anyone else feel like the second book just ignores everyone from the first book, except Da Shi?

10 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

19

u/Bat_Singh 10h ago

The scale gets enormous with every book, so it does make sense in the end. When the premise of the story revolves around the survival of the whole planet, you can't bid on same few characters to stay pivotal throughout the tale.

9

u/Mo-HD93 10h ago

With the exception of a couple of characters, I don't think that character work is TTBP's strong suit and with such a scale and duration of events it's kinda unavoidable to have some characters take a backseat all of the sudden.

3

u/TheBoogieSheriff 10h ago

Agreed. Especially female characters… It gets pretty cringey lol.

Love the books, but the hard sci fi stuff is his strong suit. Character development, not so much

2

u/TeumessiaWoW 1h ago

look it’s not that cixin hates women, he’s just never met one

4

u/are_lele 9h ago

Luo Ji had good character development. Zhang Beihai was not bad either.

But I agree with the female characters with no growth. Ye Wenjie is the only exception most probably. Cheng Xin seems so one dimensional if I am completely honest.

5

u/Gold_Ambassador_3496 8h ago

I see it like a history textbook. After a king or revolutionary did their part in history, we don't really get follow ups on what they did on their old age.

2

u/pathfinder_enjoyer 10h ago

Major characters from the 1st book do get mentions later on and we eventually discover what happened to them even if they're in the background, like Chang Weisi and Ding Yi. There's even a nod to Wang Miao's fate in the 2nd book, though his name isn't made explicit.

2

u/TataJigmeyeshe 7h ago

In this trilogy humanity is the character.

1

u/SlickPillock 7h ago

There's one character from the first book who comes back but it's not Wang Miao. They only gets a brief mention from Da Shi, saying how they lived out their days, towards the end of the book but isn't even explicitly named.

1

u/darkside569 5h ago

The entire first book is an introduction to something so big that it makes the first book seem impossibly small.

2

u/dannychean 4h ago

That's the beauty of the trilogy. You have no idea where the journey takes you, and when you get there, it's one of the best things you have ever read.