I just had to get this off my chest and have no one in real life to talk to you about it. Lol. I enjoyed the first book but I could definitely tell it was a translation, nonetheless I was eager to finish the series. I’m up to page 200 in The Dark Forest and I’m hoping it gets better, but what I really wanted to rant about was the little side story with Luo Ji and his imaginary book girlfriend. This has to be something lost in translation both literally and culturally… It is just so ridiculous and annoying. Also, the wall breakers sharing their plans with everyone completely contradicts everything from that first meeting. I really hope this book gets better. OK, rant over. Thanks for listening.
I thought Ken Liu’s translation of Three-Body Problem was superb — I read a couple of his other translations since (Invisible Planets, Waste Tide). The Dark Forest is a different translator, it was a bit of a chore for me but had its moments. I wonder how much of it has to do with the translation. They went back to Liu for the third book, which I haven’t read yet.