三体 (2008)

Liu Cixin's trilogy moves from a scientific mystery towards questions about civilisation's place in the universe. Its enlargements change the meaning of earlier decisions, rather than simply offering a more powerful opponent. Read The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest and Death's End in that order. Ken Liu translates the first and third into English; Joel Martinsen translates the second. The completed three-book arc is strongest on ideas and unsettling scale, with character intimacy sometimes yielding to the argument.