There were parts of this that I really enjoyed, such as the codas, and other parts that I found really hard to follow, such as a lot of part 3. As the author note explains, this is essentially fan fiction set in the world of the Three Body Problem, fleshing out a couple of characters and providing some interesting speculations. I thought that Baoshu did a great job inhabiting the world, whilst also making it their own and I really enjoyed the direction taken towards the end of the book. Ultimately, I enjoyed this book, but I did find it difficult in places and don't think it's a must read, unless you are a big fan of the original trilogy.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I came to this as a standalone novel. It is among the strangest books I have ever read. It deserves and rewards attention. Its depths and mysteries welcome the new reader obliquely. Characters span from the intimate tho the cosmic, and feel powerfully relatable. Highly recommended for the reader up for a challenge.

The story of how Baoshu’s The Redemption of Time came to exist will ring true to anyone who has even fallen in love with a series of books.

When the final installment of Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (often referred to as the Three-Body novels) was published in China in 2010, Baoshu was studying in Belgium and couldn’t get his hands on a copy. The series was already a sensation in China, with its own well-established fandom; Baoshu had long been a “magnet,” the name die-hard Liu fans gave themselves. In lieu of flying home to China to buy a copy of the novel—a possibility he seriously considered—he arranged for a friend to photograph every single page of Death’s End and email it to him. I’ve done some time in midnight release lines, but nothing as beautifully devoted as this.

The closure of a beloved series often induces a strange ambivalence in fans. While Death’s End sticks the landing on an already prodigious series—the scale is downright universal—it marks the end of the trilogy. The online forums where Baoshu debated and explored the novels began to disburse. To stave off this melancholy, he wrote a dialogue between two characters in the series and posted it under the name Three-Body X. With encouragement from other Liu fans, he continued developing the story, and three weeks later, he completed what had bloomed into a novel. With the blessings of Cixin Liu, Baoshu’s paraquel was eventually released by the same publisher as Remembrance of Earth’s Past.

After the celebrated translation of the Three-Body trilogy to English , it seems only natural that Baoshu’s loving and timely fanfiction would follow suit. (A quick note on the translation: Ken Liu—no relation—who translated both The Three-Body Problem and Death’s End, has returned to translate The Redemption of Time; as ever, the resulting text is approachable and accomplished.)

The Redemption of Time follows a secondary character from Death’s End, Yun Tianming, during the timeline of that novel and after. Admittedly, though I have read Liu’s saga, I found it difficult to dive right into this book, which presupposes an obsessive fan’s intimate knowledge of its universe—a status I may have obtained three years ago upon closing Death’s End, but my familiarity has most definitely faded with time. Which is, admittedly, right in line with one of the major themes of Baoshu’s book: the perception of time’s dilation and contraction.

Because the events covered take place during or after the final volume of a trilogy with an incredibly broad scope, some exposition is in order. (Extensive spoilers for the trilogy follow.)

The Three-Body Problem, introduces us to the central conflict of the series: Aliens from an unstable system in Alpha Centauri called Trisolarans are mounting an invasion of earth. Because interstellar travel is relativistic, the Trisolarans have deployed quantum AIs known as sophons both to surveil humanity and to interfere with any and all scientific advancement during the hundreds of years it will take the Trisolaran fleet to reach Earth. Humanity is divided in its reaction to this threat (she said, understating things).

The Dark Forest, which takes place in the 400 years leading up to the invasion, examines these divisions more closely. Because of the sophon surveillance, no two humans can plan a defense of Earth; the Trisolarans will overhear and counter any defensive move. The governments of Earth chose several people to be Wallfacers: polymaths given broad discretion and virtually unlimited funds to develop a way of defeating the Trisolaran fleet. The pro-invasion factions then deploy an equal-but-opposite to the Wallfacer: the Wallbreakers, tasked with divining the Wallfacers’ intensions. The Dark Forest follows a Wallfacer, Luo Ji, who eventually positions the Trisolarans in a stalemate of mutually assured destruction if they try to invade Earth. (Luo Ji’s first reaction to being named a Wallfacer is to blow a decade doing whatever he wants with his unlimited funds, which I always thought was hilarious and awesome; still, he comes around in the end.)

Death’s End follows the scientist Cheng Xin. During the Crisis Era, when the fleet was on its way, she worked on an initiative called the Staircase Program, which planned to send a human to the Trisolarans in an attempt to gather data. Because of weight requirements, only a brain can be make the journey. This task ends up falling to Yun Tianming—Baoshu’s protagonist, you’ll recall–who has been in love with Cheng Xin since college. Cheng Xin falls in and out of hypersleep for the rest of the novel, reawakening as Earth’s conflict with the Trisolarans ripples out through the galaxy and is in turn influenced by other aliens in the dark forest of the universe. Yun Tianming returns, cloned by the Trisolarans, at a pivotal point in the Broadcast Era. He delivers three parables to Cheng Xin about the fate of the world. His part in the story ends with him trapped in a miniverse with his wife, 艾 AA, an astronomer and once-companion to Cheng Xin.


Death's End (Remembrance of Earth's Past Series #3)
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It is in this miniverse, on Planet Blue, that we are reintroduced to Yun Tianming and 艾 AA in The Redemption of Time. (You see why the exposition was necessary, no?) Much as it was in Death’s End, his role here is as a storyteller: he relates to 艾 AA his experiences while being held by the Trisolarans. This first third of the novel is the most dependent on the original trilogy; it is here that the novel’s origin in fanfiction is most evident. Though some of the parables and descriptions of Yun Tianming’s mental tortures are compelling, his interactions with 艾 AA are clumsy and embarrassing. Some of the recitation is dry, and I found myself skimming sections where his experience of the events Death’s End weren’t materially different. It feels almost as if Baoshu had to get this section out of his system before he could leap out into the more interesting possibilities presented by the Three-Body universe.

The last two sections of the novel are more original, and better for it. They concern Yun Tianming’s interactions with the Master and the Lurker, two entities locked in a conflict over the fate of the very universe. Here, Tianming is joined by Sophon (an avatar of the Trisolaran AI), who tells him of the conflict between the dueling galactic forces. Like the opening section, much of the action takes place in the guise of storytelling, though Sophon and Tianming are more balanced interlocutors (AA sometimes seemed to exist for the reaction shot).

As the novel barrels toward an ambitious conclusion, some seriously hard science fiction is balanced with fables and poetry; at times they seem to collapse together. The scope of the conflict, if anything, is broader than that of the original trilogy, an accomplishment to be sure. Just like his antagonistic almost-deities, Baoshu pushes the boundaries of the universe. Once he pulls away from the action of Death’s End, he comes into his own as a writer.

“The average person used only a small part of their brain, and the cruel Trisolarans unintentionall forced Tianming to realize more and more of his mind’s infinite potential. Despite repeated all-out assaults in this epic of pschomania, the technologically far superior Trisolarans failed to breach the fortress Tianming had constructed in his mind, and had to admit defeat.”

The Redemption of Time by Baoshu is a paraquel within Cixin Liu’s Remembrances of Earth’s Past trilogy, containing The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End. The events within The Redemption of Time take place in parallel with the events in Death’s End and shed light on a few open-ended questions raised in the primary trilogy.

While I think there’s a lot for Three-Body fans to enjoy in this novel, I felt that Baoshu’s contribution to the universe lacked the urgency and depth of the main trilogy. Where Cixin had a set, specific danger within each of his books, Baoshu takes on more of a historian role; the first third of the book is entirely contained within a conversation between two characters, Tianming and AA, discussing what has already happened to them. The section felt very dry, as it removed much of the tension – we know how it ends and we already have a general outline from The Dark Forest regarding the interim. The “romance” (if it can be called that…) between Tianming and AA felt forced and didn’t have that je ne sais quoi that makes a love feel genuine. I can buy that two people who live on a planet together without any other human contact would eventually fall in love. I can’t buy

However, that said, it was interesting to hear a few more details on Trisolaran culture, history, and appearance. I’d always been curious as to what they looked like and how their society was structured, and The Redemption of Time absolutely pays off on this front with clear and reasonable explanations that fit nicely in to the overall series mythos.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the direction the final two thirds of the book took. It changed the scope from being “multiple civilizations against one another” to, essentially, “God vs his fallen son, Lucifer” (albeit with altered terminology). It felt rather lazy and off-tone compared to the original trilogy, which had more nuance and made a statement about existence as it is rather than creating an off-shoot fantasy-style universe. It was an odd blend of fantastic elements, scifi, and religion that simply did not work well for me.

The prose is similar to that of Cixin Liu, likely due to Ken Liu being the translator for both authors. While it’s nothing to write home about, it is functional and easy to read. Fans of poetic, purple prose are not likely to enjoy this book unless they’re also okay with dry, workmanlike writing.

Overall, this is a short, worthwhile read for fans of Three-Body thirsting for more information with the Cixin Liu stamp of approval… but if you didn’t absolutely love Three-Body, I would not recommend it.

This is a fan fiction continuation of Cixin Liu's trilogy, Remembrance of Earth's Past, which includes the books: The Three-Body Problem; The Dark Forest; and Death's End.

The book can be read as a standalone, but will make more sense to people familiar with the original stories.

*****

In his prolog to this novel, the author Baoshu explains that he was one of many Chinese science fiction fans who ardently read and discussed Cixin Liu's trilogy. When Liu wrapped up his saga, many devotees were bereft, and continued the stories with fan fiction. Baoshu was lucky enough to have his book published, and this is it.

Cixin Liu's original trilogy is EXTREMELY complex, but the basic premise is this: alien beings called Trisolarans - from the planet Trisolaris- learn of the existence of intelligent life on Earth. They then head for the little blue planet, determined to wipe humans out. Earthlings become aware of the danger and try to take countermeasures. Complicated maneuvers are undertaken by each side, and there's an epic struggle....and disaster.

Baoshu picks up from there, with a narrative that consists almost entirely of beings talking to each other - so the book 'tells' rather than 'shows.' The lack of action robs the novel of excitement, which is a sharp contrast to the original trilogy, which was action packed. Moreover, Baoshu's 'plot' (such as it is) is murky and confused. Still, I found the book interesting from the point of view of catching up with a few of the original characters, and getting their take on what happened.

As Baoshu's story opens, a human couple - Tianming and his wife AA - are the only two humans living on a remnant of matter configured to look something like Earth. The duo spend their days walking, talking, lounging, sleeping, etc. Tianming has a high-tech ring that lets him conjure up most anything he needs, so the couple's lives are fairly comfortable (if lonely).

Tianming and AA share stories about themselves and discuss folktales popular in their culture. Over time, Tianming tells his wife about his tragic interaction with the Trisolarans. He explains that the Trisolarans captured his brain (it's a long story) and studied it for decades to discover how humans think. The aliens - who are incapable of lying - needed to learn how to be 'deceptive' so they could defeat humankind.

The Trisolarans weren't able to plumb the depths of human cogitation, so they tortured Tianming (with hallucinations and dreams) until he agreed to help them destroy Earth's inhabitants. Tianming tried to trick his captors, but one thing led to another and bad things happened. Cixin Liu didn't describe the Trisolarans in his trilogy, but Baoshu gives us a word picture of their appearance, which isn't impressive. 😏

After many decades in their Earth-like environment, Tianming and AA grow old.....and AA dies. Tianming then enters a mini-universe where a 'voice' - which calls itself the Spirit of the Master - explains a few things to him.

The Spirit informs Tianming that there are two immensely powerful entities in the universe, namely the 'Master' (think female God) and the 'Lurker' (her rebellious son). The Spirit goes on to say that the universe originally had ten dimensions, but the Lurker's attacks reduced the number of dimensions one by one, which resulted in changes in the nature of time and alterations in the speed of light. The Lurker seems determined to reduce the universe to rubble (so to speak) for his own purposes.

The Master wants to destroy the Lurker so she can start the universe again from scratch. There's a great deal of pseudo-scientific chit chat to explain all this, and it's all a bit muddled.

After the Spirit tells Tianming about the Master and the Lurker, she asks him to become a 'Seeker' - a being that searches for the Lurker so the Master can destroy him. To accomplish this, Tianming's mind is filled with 'ideabstractions' (knowledge) and he's given an indestructible brawny, athletic body. Tianming then goes off to look for other Seekers, in hopes they can join forces to locate the Lurker.

Tianming's quest spans billions of years, during which the Lurker's minions are busy destroying intelligent life in the universe.

As things play out, there's a great deal of trickery and deception - and things aren't always as they seem. After the book's climax, the author has some fun with 'alternative history', and this part is rather entertaining.

In addition to talking about the 'science of the universe', entities in the book often discuss myths, songs, and fairy tales popular in their culture. These, it turns out, pass vital information down through the generations.....which is an interesting idea.

I applaud Baoshu for the effort he put into writing this narrative, but - in the end - it lacks Cixin Liu's soaring imagination and inventiveness. In addition, it's confusing and hard to comprehend. Still, the book might fill a hole for some readers.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Baoshu), and the publisher (Head of Zeus) for a copy of the book.