First Lines of Cixin Liu's "The Three-body Problem"

 "The Red Union had been attacking the headquarters of the April Twenty-eighth Brigade for two days. Their red flags fluttered restlessly around the brigade building like flames yearning for firewood."

Cixin Liu, The Three-Body Problem

I picked this up after reading Cixin Liu's excellent story "Moonlight" in Ken Liu's curated Broken Stars compilation. Marketed as "the best Chinese science fiction novel translated into English," the book plays out a unique spin on a first-contact scenario. The perspective of such an event from someone who has a completely different experience and culture from mine alone was worth reading. I can't say I enjoyed all of the novel: I found it's tone to be schizophrenic, and the chapters detailing the eponymous "Three-Body" game didn't speak to me at all. But Cixin Liu's immersive worldview is powerful and got me thinking. I just won't be reading the rest of the trilogy.