book review on once

virtual wonders
guest posts
review policy

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Review: once.

Member Login

Written by Morris Gleitzman Review by Annemarie Simmons

This novel is about a young Jewish boy growing up in the 1930s in a Catholic orphanage in the German mountains. This boy has two secrets: one is that his parents are both alive, and two is that he’s Jewish (which the other children don’t know). His parents told him when they left him that they were going to find more books, as they owned a bookshop, and they promised him that one day they would send him a message when they would collect him. The young boy, Felix, thought that he’d got the message because a whole carrot was in his soup, so he decided to leave the orphanage in search of his parents. But little did he know of the terror in the outside world, the Nazi control, and the constant danger. On his journey he meets several different people, including Zelda, who he saved from a house fire, a German soldier with toothache, and Barney the Dentist.

I thought that this book was a thoroughly enjoyable read; I’ve read some of Morris Gleitzman’s more popular books in the past such as Worry Warts and Puppy Fat. This book isn’t like the other Morris Gleitzman books I know, but I do think that it is a fantastic book for children to read and learn about the 2nd World War and a different insight into life as a Jew in Nazi Germany.

APPEARED IN

REVIEW FORMAT

Share Book Reviews

Latest articles

Dive deeper into your favourite books, eras and themes:

Here are six of our latest Editor’s Choices:

Browse articles by tag

Browse articles by author, browse reviews by genre, browse reviews by period, browse reviews by century, browse reviews by publisher, browse reviews by magazine., browse members by letter, search members..

Search by display name *

70 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-14

Chapters 15-17

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Summary and Study Guide

Published in 2005, Once is a children’s historical fiction novel by Morris Gleitzman. Set in Poland during World War II, the story follows Felix, a 10-year-old Jewish boy being hidden from the Nazis in a Catholic orphanage, as he embarks on a quest to find his parents. Gleitzman was inspired by the true experiences of the Polish-Jewish educator and author Janusz Korczak during the Holocaust. Korczak is the inspiration for the character Barney , who sacrifices himself to try to ensure the well-being of Jewish orphans. Gleitzman has been writing books since 1985, and he is best known for his award-winning children’s stories. Once is the first title in his seven-book series that follows Felix through World War II into old age. Once has been translated into several languages, including German, and is regarded as an important Holocaust introduction for children. This guide was written referencing the Barnes & Noble Nook edition of Once .

Plot Summary

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

7,350+ In-Depth Study Guides
4,950+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
Downloadable PDFs

It is summertime in Poland in the year 1942, and Felix Salinger has been at the Catholic orphanage in the mountains for three years and eight months. When he was six years old, his Jewish parents had left him there, promising that they would return for him once they fixed the problems with their book-selling business. Since then, Felix has waited patiently, secure in the knowledge that God, Jesus, Mary, the Pope, and Adolf Hitler are taking care of him and the rest of the world. To pass the time, he makes up adventure stories starring his parents.

One night at dinner, Felix receives a whole carrot in his watery stew. Receiving such a thing is a miracle due to wartime food scarcity, and he takes it as a sign that his parents are finally returning for him. When a car arrives at the orphanage the next day, Felix assumes it is his parents; he is shocked to see stern looking men exit the car, each wearing a band on his arm. One of the nuns calls them “Nazis.”

The SuperSummary difference

8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
100+ new titles every month

When the Nazis begin emptying the orphanage library, burning the books, Felix wonders why the Nazis hate books so much. He realizes that if the Nazis find his family’s bookstore, his parents may be in danger. He decides to sneak out of the orphanage to go warn them, despite the warnings of a recently arrived Jewish orphan. It is several days’ walk back to his family’s village, but along the way, Felix finds all the food and clothing he needs at an empty house. The houses look as if the occupants left suddenly, but because of all the gunfire in the distance, Felix assumes they have gone hunting.

Finally, Felix arrives at his village; he is shocked to find it nearly empty. He wonders if he has misremembered where he used to live until he sees his family’s bookstore. Instead of his parents, a strange man and woman are living there, and they tell Felix to leave. Another man, who seems frightened, tells him he needs to run away because all the Jews have been taken to the city. Felix decides to see if he can find his parents there.

On the road, Felix encounters a burning house. Running to the property to see if anyone needs help, he sees a dead man and woman and an unconscious six-year-old girl. Hoisting her up piggyback, he carries her with him as he journeys to the city. When she wakes, she cries for her parents. He distracts her with a story about a child who spent three years and eight months living in a castle in the mountains. The girl, whose name is Zelda , helps him make up the story as they go along.

Eventually, Felix and Zelda encounter a crowd of Jewish people being forced to march to the city by gun-wielding Nazis. Since they are going that way anyway, Felix does not object when the Nazis find him and Zelda and force them to join the Jews. After many miles, they finally arrive. Dismayed, Felix sees there are so many Jews there that it will be nearly impossible to find his parents. He begins to wonder if the Nazis hate the Jews for more reasons than just books.

When Felix and Zelda try to sneak away, the Nazis nearly shoot them, but a man stops. He speaks to the Nazis for a few moments, and then is allowed to take Felix and Zelda with him. Introducing himself as Barney, he brings them to a basement where several other children are hiding. Felix falls ill but gradually recovers. Barney and Zelda beg Felix to tell stories to help pass the time, but he is tired of stories and impatient to find his parents.

Recognizing Felix’s talent at making up entertaining and fantastical stories, Barney tells him that he has a job for him. Felix discovers that Barney is a dentist. The usefulness of his trade keeps him relatively safe from the Nazis, who enlist his help as well. Barney takes Felix to his nighttime dental appointments. Felix tells stories to distract the patients from the pain of dental work without anesthetics. One patient is a Nazi officer; he is entertained by Felix’s story and wants him to write it down for his children.

One night, Barney and Felix go out in search of water. Barney finds some vials of dental anesthetics. Putting them in his pocket, he warns Felix that anyone who takes too much of the drug will go to sleep and not wake up. Felix discovers a dead toddler in a highchair; this traumatic moment haunts him. In tears, Barney explains that parents cannot always protect their children. Barney tells him that once Jews arrive at the city, they are sent to death camps. Heartbroken, Felix realizes that his parents are most likely dead.

Zelda falls gravely ill. Concern for Zelda breaks Felix out of his depression. Barney charges Felix with searching the empty houses of the Ghetto for a bottle of aspirin. After nearly being captured, Felix discovers in Zelda’s locket a picture of her parents: Her father is in a Nazi uniform. When they return home, they find that Nazis have discovered their basement hiding place. The Nazis march them all to the station and pack them into train cars with hundreds of other Jews.

While on the train, Felix discovers a hole in the wall. The Jews work together to make it bigger, and several of them jump out. However, Nazis riding on the top of the train fire machine guns at them, and some of the Jews that jumped are killed. Some escape and run to the woods, so Felix and Zelda say they want to take the chance. The other kids from the basement are too afraid, so Barney stays with them. Felix remembers the drugs in Barney’s pocket and knows that when they arrive at the death camp, he will tell the children a bedtime story and then put them to sleep.

After saying their goodbyes, Felix and Zelda jump from the train, avoiding the gunfire. Together, they wonder what the future has in store for them. The story continues in the series’ next book, Then .

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Ready to dive in?

Get unlimited access to SuperSummary for only $ 0.70 /week

Related Titles

By Morris Gleitzman

Morris Gleitzman

Featured Collections

7th-8th grade historical fiction.

View Collection

The Tech Librarian

Elevating Library Services with Technology

Morris Gleitzman, ‘Once’ and Censorship. A Book Review

INF330 | Professional Development Blog – Censorship | 3 min read

“Everybody deserves to have something good in their life. At least once” ― Morris Gleitzman, Once

‘Once’, is an excellent book unafraid of describing the harrowing events of World War II and Hitler’s heinous reign. Written by popular children’s author Morris Gleitzman, Once is a popular book that is unafraid to explore dark themes and censorship through children’s literature. Set in World War II the novel follows the tale of a Jewish child named Felix, who adventures from his catholic orphanage in a quest to find his book-keeper parents after witnessing the Nazi book burnings (Gleitzman, 2017). The story sends Felix across Poland as he meets many different people all with their own morals, good and bad. Likewise, it is a rare and daring narrative that is not afraid to retell the events of the war and the holocaust.

I first discovered this book during a class reading as a child, it was the beginning of a deep love for dark themes and World War II’s book burnings. After being read a few paragraphs I had immediately taken the opportunity to loan and read all the books available at my school library. Now as an adult I realize that the themes were darker than anticipated, and after re-reading all the series I now understand the complex adult themes presented daringly and thrillingly through children’s literature. Felix’s adventure through World War II is both heart-breaking and encaptivating, death is not an unwelcomed concept and characters are realistic and genuine.

The 2005 novel is followed by six sequels: Then, Now, After, Soon, Maybe and Always. Each book continuing Felix’s journey and survival against World War II. Gleitzman’s storytelling is brief, addictive and written exceptionally well. The Once series does not always have a comforting end and is an excellent choice for young readers seeking mature themes. I highly recommend this book for young readers and young adults alike, as it still stands as an excellent series even after sixteen years. Harrowing but well written and an excellent choice for all types of readers looking to read about World War II and the Holocaust.

5/5. An addictive and harrowing children’s narrative centred on censorship and World War II.

References Fitzsimmons, R. (1945). Censorship intellectual freedom librarianship and the democratic state . Libraries books ideology during the second World War. Lativa, Riga. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/faife/lectures-papers/fitz96.pdf

Gleitzman, M. (2017). Once . Puffin Books https://morrisgleitzman.com/once.htm

Holocaust Encyclopaedia. (2021) Book burning . United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/book-burning

Review of Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

12.29.2023 by Jen Ryland // 4 Comments

This Page to Screen Review of Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben will look at the 2016 book and the 2024 Netflix adaptation. How was this twisty popcorn thriller updated and adapted from a US story on the page to a UK story on Netflix? Need a guide to understanding Episode One, which is super confusing?

I’m here for you!

The cover of Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben alongside the Netflix series poster

Written and edited by Jen Ryland . Last updated on:

This Page to Screen review will cover:

A Plot Summary of Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben (book; NO major spoilers)
Fool Me Once Character List
Fool Me Once: the book’s Ending Explained with SPOILERS
My Questions About Fool Me Once
Fool Me Once: Book vs Netflix series

Plot Summary for Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben (book)

I will try to keep this succinct, but Fool Me Once is one of Coben’s more convoluted books. Leave your questions in the comment section!

Also, I love how books can evoke moments in time. In this 2016 title, you can see many hot topics from the 2010s: Wikileaks, nanny cams, evil pharma families, and the Iraq war.

I’m excited to see how this was modernized. Or not!

Maya Stern is still reeling from the shock of watching two masked men shot her husband to death in Central Park. She’s also dealing with the fallout of a crusading Wikileaks style blogger who leaked footage about civilian deaths on one of Maya’s former military missions.

Hands typing on a laptop with a manuscript

(Okay I just have to mention this scene because it’s so bizarre: Maya attends her niece’s soccer game and, enraged at the coach’s bullying, confronts him after the game and yanks down his pants.)

After Maya’s best friend gives her a nanny cam to ensure her safety, Maya makes a shocking discovery: the nanny cam filmed her (dead) husband Joe walking around inside her house.

In addition to her husband’s death and the pesky blogger, Maya is also still mourning her sister Claire, who was killed in an home invasion four months before, while Maya was still deployed in the Middle East.

Maya hears from the police that same gun that killed Joe also killed Claire.

Maya finds a burner phone used by Claire and starts tracking Claire’s connection to a New Jersey strip club. Note that Claire also worked with Joe in his family’s business.

Picture of an old fashioned flip phone that could be a burner phone.

Joe’s free-spirited sister Caroline talks to Maya about her brother Andrew. Maya recalls that Joe said Andrew took his own life years before. Caroline mentions that she never saw either Joe’s or Andrew’s bodies after their death. (Red flag or red herring, or is Caroline just a flake?)

In a twist move, Maya teams up with Corey “The Whistle” (the whistleblower (haha) blogger who had been harassing her) and the two start looking into all these deaths and whether they are connected.

That’s pretty much what you need to know to understand the show. Scroll down for SPOILERS.

Fool Me Once Characters

Main characters from the book:

Maya Stern Burkett: former military Special Ops pilot

Joe Burkett: Maya’s late husband

Judith Burkett: Joe’s mother

Neil Burkett: Joe’s brother

Caroline Burkett: Joe’s sister

Andrew Burkett: Joe’s late brother

Lily Burkett: Maya and Joe’s young daughter

Eileen: Maya’s best friend

Alexa and Daniel: Joe’s niece and nephew

Shane: Maya’s former platoon member

Claire: Maya’s late sister

Eddie : Claire’s husband

Roger Kierce: NYPD officer assigned to Joe’s case

Isabella: Lily’s nanny and daughter of Joe’s former nanny

Corey “The Whistle” Rudzinski: notorious secret-leaking blogger

To see the SPOILERS below (and to protect those readers who HATE spoilers) you will need to enter your email. By doing so, you agree to be added to my email list and receive weekly updates about new books you’ve got to try! If you’ve already peeked at spoilers by setting up a Grow account you should still be logged in. If you are having any issues PLEASE leave a comment as I want to help!

Protected Spoilers for Fool Me Once: The Book’s Ending Explained

WHAT on earth is going on with Maya and the Burketts, who have a total of three deaths between them?

Maya learns that, years ago, Joe was responsible for the alcohol poisoning death of a fellow student at his private high school. Joe then killed his own brother Andrew to cover up his crime.

Black and white photo of people sitting in church pews during a funeral service.

The Burkett family was also involved in the sale of harmful pharmaceuticals that caused patient deaths, something Claire had uncovered.

Claire seems to be investigating ALL the Burkett family’s misdeeds and found the family paid bribes to Tom Douglas, the police officer assigned to Andrew’s case. Around the time Joe is killed, Tom Douglas, now a PI, goes missing.

Who Killed Whom in Fool Me Once? Buckle Up!

Who killed Claire? Joe , because he learned that Claire was investigating him and his family, including crimes he committed in high school.

Who killed Joe? Maya , because she returned home from her deployment and discovered that one of her guns had been used. She KNEW Joe must have killed her sister (but got Shane to test a bullet just in case).

Joe actually lured Maya to the park to kill her, because he knew that Maya was on to him. But Maya was onto Joe being onto her (still with me?) and removed the pin from the gun so it wouldn’t fire. Then Maya pulled out another gun (the one Joe had used to kill Claire) and shot Joe. All in the middle of Central Park.

What did blogger Corey “The Whistle” have to do with it? Maya accuses Corey of using the footage he had of Maya’s helicopter causing the civilian deaths to blackmail Claire to get dirt on the Burketts.

Who was responsible for the civilian deaths in combat? Maya. She admits to Shane that she made call in the heat of the moment and didn’t care about those civilians and doesn’t feel guilty.

Photo of a helicopter against a blue sky

Who set up the fake nanny cam footage? Isabella , Lily’s nanny. Her mother had worked for the Burketts and they suspected that Maya killed Joe, so they got Isabella’s brother Hector to dress up in Joe’s clothes to freak Maya out. Why was Maya fooled by some random guy in her husband’s shirt? idk!

Who killed Tom Douglas? Joe , before he was killed by Maya.

After all these dramatic reveals, Joe’s mother Judith says fine, she will just blame everything on Joe because he’s dead anyway. Seems fair, as he is responsible for FOUR deaths and intended to kill his own wife.

But then Neil (Joe’s brother) shoots Maya.

We get an epilogue two decades later from Eddies’ POV that explains that Maya had live-streamed her own murder. With the nanny cam. Wow – that 2010s nanny cam was on point.

Eddie, Claire’s widower, raised Maya’s daughter along with his two kids.

My Questions About Fool Me Once (book)

I hope some of these will be addressed in the series.

If Maya knew that Joe killed Claire, why did she kill him first and then spend half of the book investigating what Claire found out about the Burketts AFTER she’d already killed Joe? I hope the series has this investigation as flashbacks BEFORE she kills Joe. She got her revenge. Why didn’t she just kill Joe and then lay low and keep her mouth shut for at least a while? Or cover her tracks more?

If Maya was determined to dig into and avenge the Claire situation, why didn’t she also kill Corey? She and Joe were both eliminating people left and right. If she’s right that Corey blackmailed Claire to dig into the Burketts (which he sort of admits) leading to Claire’s death, why not kill him too? I’m sure a blackmailer like Corey “the Whistle” had plenty of enemies.

Did Maya know or suspect that one of the Burketts was going to kill her at the end? In the book, Eddie suggests she did. She didn’t want to end up in prison. She was a pretty tough and erratic person, an impulsive pantser with a lot of issues. I found her a cold and unsympathetic narrator in the book, but I thought Michelle Keegan humanized her a little. Still, it’s a strange ending. Surprising, but not in a good way.

I hope the series keeps the bizarre pantsing episide , because in retrospect, it is the clearest sign that Maya is no innocent victim, but TOTALLY off the rails like a middle schooler on Red Bull and Candy and clearly up to no good.

Fool Me Once on Netflix: What We Know

Photo of the cast of Fool Me Once on Netflix

Main Cast of Fool Me Once on Netflix :

Maya Stern: Michelle Keegan

Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce: Adeel Akhtar

Joe Burkett: Richard Armitage (also in Coben’s Stay Close)

Judith Burkett : Joanna “AbFab” Lumley

Shane Tessier: Emmett J. Scanlan

NEW CHARACTERS NOT IN THE BOOK

Marty McGregor: Dino Fetscher (a new character who is the police partner of Sami Kierce)

Molly Nolastname: Sami Kierce’s pregnant fianceé. Why can’t she get a last name?? If you know it, drop me a comment.

Nicole Johnson: Sami’s AA sponsor.

Alexander Dosman: former boyfriend of Maya’s sister Claire

The series will be eight 60-minute episodes. In keeping with previous Harlan Coben adaptations like Safe (2018), The Stranger (2020), Stay Close (2021), Fool Me Once will relocate the story from the US to the UK. Coben’s books have also been made into French and Polish adaptations.

Differences Between Fool Me Once (book) and Netflix Series

Jen’s overall take on the Netflix series:

I appreciated that the series gave Kierce a personal storyline and the kids something to do BUT
I think that the episodes of Fool Me Once were much too long
For the love of all that is holy, what is with MORE Coben DNA tomfoolery?
Poor Sami Kierce – with all this evil in this show, he gets the bad karma? Let’s hope not.

If you have NOT read the book, scroll up and read my non-spoiler run down above . The first episode of Fool Me Once is CONFUSING.

There are weird people dancing in masks, there’s a funeral, there’s a (regifted?) nanny cam and a mum being pepper sprayed by her own nanny. There’s a police officer crashing his car to avoid an invisible cat.

I could barely follow it and I’d read the book and done this summary! By Episode Two, things get better.

Photo of Michelle Keegan as Maya Stern in Fool Me Once on Netflix

THE MAIN CHANGES TO THE NETFLIX VERSION OF FOOL ME ONCE:

Sami Kierce gets a whole host of subplots regarding his sobriety, his medical issues, his impending wedding, and his new work partner
There’s a subplot about Eddie and Claire’s kids investigating their mom’s secret baby (will this tie into anything else?)

Episode One : NYPD detective Roger Kierce (renamed Sami) has been given a pregnant fiancé, a Gen Z work partner, and a tendency to black out and crash his car. Make it all make sense and I’m here for it!

Other than that and a few other name changes (Maya’s BFF Eileen is now Eva; Joe’s niece Alexa becomes Abby) this episode sticks pretty close to the book. Including the pantsing!!

Episode Two: The New Jersey “Leather and Lace” strip club of the book becomes an arcade (thankfully for all of us!)

Episode Three: Whistleblower/blogger/Julian Assange-adjacent character Corey “The Whistle” shows up in this episode and tells Maya that the Burketts (who are obviously evil) paid off someone named “Tommy Dark,” who must be Tom Douglas, the PI from the book. In the series he seems to be the captain of the ship that Joe’s brother Andrew was on before he died.

Episode Four : Tracks pretty closely with the book. Military therapist Dr. Wu notices that Maya is losing it. Finally! Maya also puts poor Eddie out of his misery about the reason for his late wife’s burner phone except …. oops! Claire had a secret baby twenty years ago and her own kids are tracking this person down. More DNA shenanigans, HC? I am TRIGGERED after The Match . But love “Bolitarfan04…”

A family tree from a DNA site as part of the Netflix series Fool Me Once

Episode Five: We circle back to the creepy people in the masks from E1, who are apparently 1990s-era football players celebrating the big game a little too hard. Maya is told that a WiFi nanny cam can be hacked. Poor Sami gets told that his brain is seriously messed up. And we finally start getting to the bottom of what Joe was up to in the 1990s (nothing good!)

Episodes Six : Again, this tracks the book pretty closely, Maya realizes that the police are closing on on Joe’s killer, and Maya manages to track down Christopher Swain, a classmate of Joe and Andrew’s who witnessed Andrew’s death.

Episode Seven: Things finally start to connect (except for Claire’s secret baby. I must have missed the point of that. If you know, please leave a comment!) Sami isn’t brain damaged from his excessive drinking. He’s been taking a Burkett pharmaceutical, which causes suicidal thoughts, seizures, and more. (Okay, I’m rather disturbed by the fact that the NHS doesn’t seem to consider that a medication Sami is taking could be the cause of his symptoms. They do an MRI and then kind of shrug the whole thing off.)

In the book, Maya almost gets kidnapped, but not in the show. Instead, she kidnaps Isabella, who has been hiding out since pepper-spraying Maya.

Episode Eight: As in the book, Maya stages an elaborate nanny cam sting operation to record Judith and Neil talking about all the deaths the Burkett family is responsible for. Neil starts shooting but it’s all caught on tape!

There’s an epilogue 25 years in the future. The book had a similar epilogue, but it seemed less weird in the series.

What are YOUR questions about the book and/or the series of Fool Me Once? Please leave them in comments and let’s discuss!

About Jen Ryland

Over 12 years of book blogging and reviewing, I have read over 1500 books. A fair and honest reviewer who loves book discussions, I'm here to help you find a book you'll love to read AND give you a place to talk about it and ask questions. Find me on Instagram and Pinterest as @jenryland!

I liked the show up to the ending which for me was filled with holes. I also suspected that Maya killed Joe for killing her sister so like you, she could have killed him, got her revenge and then just stopped. Nothing added up for me after that or she could have got some goods on the pharmaceutical company and sent an anonymous tip to the NY Times. I am kind of glad that the Detective 20 years later seems to be okay although he was on all those drugs. Also I found the character Lily at the end not to look remotely like Maya or Joe and didn’t seem to be cast well. So I was enjoying this show up to the last two episodes and for a thriller reader of tons of books it just ruined it for me.

Hey thanks for coming to discuss with me. Had you read the book?

I admired the gutsiness of having Maya be an unreliable narrator and I’m guessing that having her be in the military (and having past disregard for civilian lives) was the set up for making it plausible that she killed her own husband in cold blood and then burned her whole life (and her in laws’ lives) down to the ground!

Her plan had a lot of flaws though. Her nanny cam thing seemed like deliberate provocation for one of the Burketts to kill her. Why would she be willing to risk orphaning her daughter, and, even worse, open up the possibility that Lily would be raised by a Burkett if her nanny cam thing got dropped by the Burkett wifi? Eddie was an alcoholic (can’t remember if he was also one in the book) and luckily he got it together in time.

And I agree – child Lily looked nothing like Maya nor did adult Lily.

I feel that way about all his books. They are fun and enjoyable but usually have huge plot holes.

I didn’t read the book, so I had no idea where this was going. After finishing it, I was not pleased with the ending. I was not expecting the main character to die. I guess I should have seen it coming because she accidentally killed civilians in war?? Idk, like I didn’t think she needed to die to get redemption for that. Now her daughter has no mother- and the daughter was soooo cute.

Once I started thinking about it, I did not understand why if she knew who killed both her sister and her husband, she was still investigating. Like why did she need to know what Claire even found out when it’s over and none of that changed anything. It’s not like she was even going hard after the pharmaceutical angle. She was going down the high school stuff hole. Yes, Joe was bad, but you already KNEW THAT. All she did was put herself by being rabid.

I did like the expanded detective part. It was like the UK show from a while ago called River where he hallucinated his partner.

I feel like most of his adaptations stick closely to the book. Which is fine, but I think an adaptation is also a good time to tweak things at least a little.

It was a weird ending and yes, 100% agree that her obsession with bringing down his family was self-destructive UNLESS she was positive that she was going down for Joe’s murder. And if that were the case, the show should have made that part clearer. Otherwise she could have leaked the information Claire found on the Burketts anonymously. If only she knew of a whistleblower blogger who could do that for her!

I was surprised by the expansion of Roger to Sami but it was a clever way to pad out the story to eight episodes. It was a big coincidence that Sami just happened to be on a Burkett medication but I’m fine with it. I will have to check out River; thanks for the tip!

Privacy Policy

Find my privacy policy here.

Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Book Reviews

'the once and future witches' will have you spellbound.

Jessica P. Wick

The Once and Future Witches, by Alix E. Harrow

Once upon a time, Alix Harrow wrote about three sisters. Also, suffragists, witching, folklore, flawed alliances, an alternate America, and women's work. She gave this second novel many gifts: charm, grace, and gorgeousness; feral wonder, clear vision, an ardent heart. She gave it history, awareness of injustice and will to survive it. And so it went into the world to seek its fortune, inviting readers to settle in; to sigh with the pleasure of finding a not too this, not too that, just right story.

If spells ("witch-ways" in the novel) are truly hidden in stories, then I know what spell is in The Once and Future Witches . It's the spell to claim a heart and dwell there, ever after. I unabashedly, unreservedly adore The Once and Future Witches . I adore it with the kind of passion that prickles at my eyes and wavers my voice. I adore it in a way that requires purchase of a giving copy, for friends in need.

Friends, let me tell you about this book.

Witches were powerful, once. Now, witching is illegal. At a suffragist rally in New Salem, 1893, Beatrice Belladonna Eastwood unwittingly performs a partial spell which reveals a magical tower in the sky — and brings together estranged sisters. Beatrice is the eldest, a librarian, folklorist, and lesbian; then there's Agnes Amaranth, stoic, pregnant, a street-savvy factory girl; finally, James Juniper, youngest, wildest, a country-girl and murderess. Their shared history is a tangle of hurt and betrayal, but they loved each other, once. The New Salem Women's Association kicks Juniper out when she agitates for witching rights alongside the vote, so she starts The Sisters of Avalon; a new movement, bold, aggressive, open to all women. Agnes recruits others, while Beatrice works on a shared grimoire. Her goal — the ultimate goal of The Sisters of Avalon — is to find the rest of the tower-spell and reclaim magic believed lost. Meanwhile, plague and panic are on the rise. Fringe-party politician Gideon Hill blames witchcraft. People are listening, and there's something wrong with the shadows of New Salem ...

You'll Want To Open Every One Of 'The Ten Thousand Doors Of January'

Harrow likes a secret society in the best way, and Witches is riddled with secrets, honeycombed with groups working toward overlapping or opposing goals. The Sisters engage in imaginative skulduggery, scrounging plans from overlooked skills and ignored know-how. She also likes an uprising, and here, where witchery and sickness both run deep as water under a layer of oil, that's heady stuff. We all (I hope) agree women getting the vote was long overdue. Framing the reclamation of magic and power against that real-world struggle, which we know turned out a certain way, feels particularly apt to themes of once and future , poignant to the powerlessness many feel this year.

I adored watching characters as their expectations were subverted, as their understanding of their world expanded. Harrow revels in many-layered mysteries, in a story of many acts, in wordplay. Characters respond so organically to surprise that it is a wonder to read. They feel like people I know; they feel like my friends. Even minor characters are replete with full sets of motivations, fears, longings. They never fall in line for convenience's sake. In my review of her previous book, The Ten Thousand Doors of January , my only criticism was plot sometimes fell together too neatly or people in love too quickly. Here these (minor) flaws are nowhere to be found; my only wish is more Cleopatra Quinn, more New Cairo. Harrow doesn't shy away from showing us racism in the women's movement, but I'd love to read a book which delves deeper into the Black or Indigenous experience of women in this world.

So much of The Once and Future Witches is about what could happen when women talk to each other, sharing knowledge, building community. Harrow knows community is power; that it can be found and built. Forging connections takes work and it's often as challenging to accept support as it is to give it. The Once and Future Witches has much to say about isolation and the shapes a society takes when it is scornful of parts of itself. It also explores what is owed family, the past and future.

Folklorists, you'll want to take this book with you to your grave-barrow, chanting Charlotte Perault, Andrea Lang, Sisters Grimm. Others, you'll be fascinated by this alternate America; by the vibrant characters, the twisty plot; by the atmospheric beauty of the writing, which is very much Harrow's own thing, but also echoes Naomi Novik, Alice Hoffman, Joanne Harris, Leigh Bardugo. Friends, don't you wish you'd already read this book? I'll start you off:

"Once upon a time, there were three sisters."

Jessica P. Wick is a writer, freelance editor, and California native currently living in Rhode Island.

ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

ONCE UPON A RIVER

by Diane Setterfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 2019

Celebrates the timeless secrets of life, death, and imagination—and the enduring power of words. Fans, rejoice! Definitely...

In Setterfield’s ( Bellman and Black , 2014, etc.) new novel, a town by the River Thames is deeply shaken and inspired by the arrival—and apparent resurrection—of a mysterious young girl.

At the Swan, an inn along the river, storytellers gather to spin their magic on cold winter nights. But not even the most creative teller can compete with the horror of reality when a stranger, horribly beaten, arrives at the door, clutching a dead child. As Rita, the local nurse and midwife, gently takes stock of the man’s injuries, she also realizes that the child is not dead, though no one seems to know who she is. Soon enough, two possibilities arise: She might be the kidnapped daughter of a local businessman, or she might be the daughter of a local farmer’s scoundrel son. She may even be, the denizens of the Swan acknowledge in whispers, and stranger still, the long-lost daughter of the phantom ferryman who patrols the Thames, saving those who fall in before their time and taking those whose time has come to the other side of that vast, mercurial expanse. Setterfield masterfully assembles an ensemble of wounded, vulnerable characters who, nevertheless, live by the slimmest margins of hope—hope that springs from family, from the search for meaning, from people's decency to strangers, from the belief that truth heals and sets one free. Despite the harsh vagaries of the river, it also brings the promise of life and the peace of death and, Setterfield reminds us, the never-ending, transformative power of stories. And stories, in turn, expose our humanity—the best and worst of humankind, and somewhere in between, the quiet, unremarkable connections, the small gestures, the perfect heartbreaks that give our lives meaning.

Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-7432-9807-0

Page Count: 480

Publisher: Emily Bestler/Atria

Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

Share your opinion of this book

More by Diane Setterfield

BOOK REVIEW

by Diane Setterfield

HOUSE OF LEAVES

by Mark Z. Danielewski ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2000

The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and...

An amazingly intricate and ambitious first novel - ten years in the making - that puts an engrossing new spin on the traditional haunted-house tale.

Texts within texts, preceded by intriguing introductory material and followed by 150 pages of appendices and related "documents" and photographs, tell the story of a mysterious old house in a Virginia suburb inhabited by esteemed photographer-filmmaker Will Navidson, his companion Karen Green (an ex-fashion model), and their young children Daisy and Chad. The record of their experiences therein is preserved in Will's film The Davidson Record - which is the subject of an unpublished manuscript left behind by a (possibly insane) old man, Frank Zampano - which falls into the possession of Johnny Truant, a drifter who has survived an abusive childhood and the perverse possessiveness of his mad mother (who is institutionalized). As Johnny reads Zampano's manuscript, he adds his own (autobiographical) annotations to the scholarly ones that already adorn and clutter the text (a trick perhaps influenced by David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ) - and begins experiencing panic attacks and episodes of disorientation that echo with ominous precision the content of Davidson's film (their house's interior proves, "impossibly," to be larger than its exterior; previously unnoticed doors and corridors extend inward inexplicably, and swallow up or traumatize all who dare to "explore" their recesses). Danielewski skillfully manipulates the reader's expectations and fears, employing ingeniously skewed typography, and throwing out hints that the house's apparent malevolence may be related to the history of the Jamestown colony, or to Davidson's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a dying Vietnamese child stalked by a waiting vulture. Or, as "some critics [have suggested,] the house's mutations reflect the psychology of anyone who enters it."

Pub Date: March 6, 2000

ISBN: 0-375-70376-4

Page Count: 704

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2000

LITERARY FICTION

More by Mark Z. Danielewski

by Mark Z. Danielewski

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2019

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

NORMAL PEOPLE

by Sally Rooney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2019

Absolutely enthralling. Read it.

A young Irish couple gets together, splits up, gets together, splits up—sorry, can't tell you how it ends!

Irish writer Rooney has made a trans-Atlantic splash since publishing her first novel, Conversations With Friends , in 2017. Her second has already won the Costa Novel Award, among other honors, since it was published in Ireland and Britain last year. In outline it's a simple story, but Rooney tells it with bravura intelligence, wit, and delicacy. Connell Waldron and Marianne Sheridan are classmates in the small Irish town of Carricklea, where his mother works for her family as a cleaner. It's 2011, after the financial crisis, which hovers around the edges of the book like a ghost. Connell is popular in school, good at soccer, and nice; Marianne is strange and friendless. They're the smartest kids in their class, and they forge an intimacy when Connell picks his mother up from Marianne's house. Soon they're having sex, but Connell doesn't want anyone to know and Marianne doesn't mind; either she really doesn't care, or it's all she thinks she deserves. Or both. Though one time when she's forced into a social situation with some of their classmates, she briefly fantasizes about what would happen if she revealed their connection: "How much terrifying and bewildering status would accrue to her in this one moment, how destabilising it would be, how destructive." When they both move to Dublin for Trinity College, their positions are swapped: Marianne now seems electric and in-demand while Connell feels adrift in this unfamiliar environment. Rooney's genius lies in her ability to track her characters' subtle shifts in power, both within themselves and in relation to each other, and the ways they do and don't know each other; they both feel most like themselves when they're together, but they still have disastrous failures of communication. "Sorry about last night," Marianne says to Connell in February 2012. Then Rooney elaborates: "She tries to pronounce this in a way that communicates several things: apology, painful embarrassment, some additional pained embarrassment that serves to ironise and dilute the painful kind, a sense that she knows she will be forgiven or is already, a desire not to 'make a big deal.' " Then: "Forget about it, he says." Rooney precisely articulates everything that's going on below the surface; there's humor and insight here as well as the pleasure of getting to know two prickly, complicated people as they try to figure out who they are and who they want to become.

Pub Date: April 16, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-984-82217-8

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Hogarth

Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019

More by Sally Rooney

by Sally Rooney

More About This Book

Our Editor-in-Chief Surveys the Best of 2019 and Picks Some Favorites

PERSPECTIVES

Here Are Barack Obama’s Favorite Books From His 2019 Reading

SEEN & HEARD

BOOK TO SCREEN

Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

Once Upon a Broken Heart Book Review: a captivating fairy tale for readers

Once Upon a Broken Heart, written by Stephanie Garber, is a captivating novel in the bestselling Caraval series. This enchanting story explores fairy tale tropes, taking readers through a magical realm of true love, self-discovery, and manipulation. Garber's book quickly became a New York Times bestseller and received acclaim as a Goodreads Choice finalist and an Indie Next pick. In this review, we will delve into the critical factors of the novel, including its theme, characters, point of view, plot, dialogue, and writing style.

Read the full novel on GoodNovel app for free!

Author Introduction

Stephanie Garber, renowned for her New York and Sunday Times bestselling Caraval Trilogy, demonstrates her exceptional storytelling skills once again in Once Upon a Broken Heart. She resides in northern California, teaching creative writing, adding depth to her understanding of the craft.

Once Upon a Broken Heart explores themes of love, sacrifice, and the consequences of dealing with magical beings. It delves into the power of choice and the intricacies of human nature when faced with extraordinary circumstances.

The characters in Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber are central to the story's charm and intrigue. Here are some of the main characters:

· Evangeline Fox: Evangeline is the novel's protagonist, a young girl determined to save the boy she loves from a curse. She is brave, resourceful, and willing to sacrifice for those she cares about. Evangeline's journey takes her through a world of magic and manipulation as she navigates the challenges.

· Jacks: Jacks, known as the Prince of Hearts, is a mysterious and enigmatic character. He is charming and manipulative, often toying with Evangeline's emotions. Jack becomes intertwined with Evangeline's quest, offering assistance and demanding her obedience.

· Luc Navarro: Luc is the boy Evangeline loves, who is under a curse. Evangeline believes that once the curse is broken, Luc will return to her. Luc's presence and his relationship with Evangeline add an element of romance and longing to the story.

· Marisol: Marisol is Evangeline's stepsister, and their relationship is complicated. Marisol plays a role in the story's events, and her actions contribute to the twists and turns of the plot. There is a sense of tension and rivalry between Evangeline and Marisol throughout the novel.

The interactions and dynamics between these characters drive the narrative forward, creating conflict, emotional depth, and moments of connection. Garber's skillful portrayal of the characters allows readers to become invested in their fates and the outcome of their journeys.

Point of View

The novel is narrated from Evangeline's perspective, allowing readers to experience her hopes, fears, and growth firsthand. This perspective creates a strong connection between the reader and the protagonist, enhancing the story's emotional impact.

Once Upon a Broken Heart intertwines with the events of the Caraval series, following Evangeline's journey as she seeks the Prince of Hearts to stop Luc's wedding. The plot is filled with twists and turns as Evangeline sacrifices, battles the escaped Fates, and uncovers her role in a prophecy. The story is gripping, keeping readers engaged from beginning to end.

Dialogue and Hot Chapters

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber is a captivating novel that takes readers back to the enchanting world of the Caraval series. It combines elements of fairy tales with themes of true love, self-discovery, and manipulation. Here are some of the hot chapters:

· When Evangeline seeks out the Prince of Hearts: One of the novel's hot scenes occurs when she seeks out the Prince of Hearts to intervene in the wedding between Luc Navarro, the boy she loves, and her stepsister Marisol. Convinced that Luc is under a curse and will regain his love for her once it's broken, Evangeline strikes a deal with Jacks. In exchange for his help, she must kiss three people who are not Luc at a time, determined by Jack. This arrangement sets the stage for a series of unexpected and thrilling encounters.

· Evangeline turning into a stone : Another captivating scene unfolds when she reverts to flesh several weeks after turning herself into stone to save the wedding party. During her transformation, Chaos ensues as the Fates escape from their prison, wreaking havoc on the land. Evangeline becomes a hero, inspiring others to fight against the Chaos. Meanwhile, Luc has left, and Marisol faces social isolation due to suspicions of her being cursed. Evangeline's hope for Luc's return diminishes as she receives a letter from the new royals inviting her to represent them at the Nocte Neverending Ball in the Magnificent North.

· Evangeline meeting Jack: The tension escalates when Evangeline crosses paths with Jack in the North, who commands her to kiss the crown prince. As a result, the prince falls deeply in love with her, but Evangeline senses an unhealthy obsession within him. Confronting Jack, she demands that he undo the effects of her kiss on the prince. Jack offers her the opportunity to use her third and final kiss to rectify the situation. However, he reveals his manipulation, driven by his belief that Evangeline is the girl mentioned in a prophecy that foretells her opening the Valory Arch, a source of great power.

· Final Kiss on Prince: One of the most intense scenes occurs when Evangeline uses her last kiss on the prince, leading to his untimely death. Jack comes to her rescue, and they seek the guidance of Chaos, a vampire, who provides crucial information about a woman seeking poison ingredients. The revelation leads them into a confrontation with changelings, including Luc, who reveals Marisol's involvement in casting a love spell on him. To protect Evangeline, Jacks sacrifices himself by taking Luc's bite, and Evangeline spends a harrowing night warding off Jacks's vampire instincts.

Writing Style

Stephanie Garber's writing style is vivid and imaginative, transporting readers to a world of magic and enchantment. Her prose flows seamlessly, vividly depicting the story's settings and characters. The author's ability to create a sense of wonder and intrigue contributes to the novel's overall appeal.

Wrapping Up

Once Upon a Broken Heart is a spellbinding addition to the Caraval series, showcasing Stephanie Garber's prowess in crafting captivating tales of love, adventure, and deception. The novel's engaging characters, intricate plot, and exquisite writing style leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. If you are a fan of fantasy novels filled with romance and mystery, Once Upon a Broken Heart is a must-read.

Q: What are the main themes explored in Once Upon a Broken Heart?

A: Once Upon a Broken Heart delves into themes of love, sacrifice, choice, and the consequences of dealing with magical beings.

Q: Who is the author of Once Upon a Broken Heart?

A: Stephanie Garber, acclaimed author of the New York and Sunday Times bestselling Caraval Trilogy, is the author of Once Upon a Broken Heart.

Q: Does Once Upon a Broken Heart tie in with the Caraval series?

A: Yes, Once Upon a Broken Heart is set in.

14.7K Views

539.3K Views

15.9K Views

127.8K Views

120.0K Views

17.0K Views

Air Mata Maduku Bab-Bab Populer: Pengabdian Yang Berbalas Pengkhianatan!

Indonesia · romance, - by: goodnovel.

Air Mata Maduku, menceritakan Zahra yang harus rela suaminya menikah dengan wanita lain karena Dewa menghamili sekretarisnya sendiri.

I Refuse to Divorce! Hot Chapters: Zoe's Painful Ride to Success in the Wake of a Broken Relationship

En · romance, - by: goodnovel.

I Refuse to Divorce! explores the grim reality of toxic relationships and Zoe's dilemma between accepting defeat and facing seemingly impossible challenges.

La Revancha de Anna capítulos calientes: El triste desengaño de Anna y su lenta recuperación

La Revancha de Anna es una desgarradora historia de amor y traición, picos y valles, pasión y decepción; una montaña rusa emocional llena de agudos contrastes.

Amor por Contrato Capítulos Calientes: Esconder la Verdadera Identidad Cuando Existen Problemas en la Relación Sentimental

Lee la novela Amor por Contrato y conoce la historia de Stella Camacho, una joven policía que debe esconder su identidad cuando se da cuenta que el hombre millonario que la enamora es posesivo y lo único que desea es embarazarla para quitarle a su hijo.

Mi Ex Mujer se Convierte en Rica Capítulos Calientes: Recuperar a la ex pareja después del divorcio, el amor perdona

Lee la novela Mi Ex Mujer se Convierte en Rica, y conoce la historia de amor de Lorena Suárez y Juan López, que se perdonan y logran amarse de verdad después del dovorcio

Four or Dead Hot Chapters: Emma's Journey from Torment to Redemption

Experience Emma's harrowing tale of abuse, redemption, and unexpected bonds in Four or Dead by G O A, a story of trauma, healing, and the power of unlikely friendships.

RECENT ARTICLES

Pak Jihan Jangan Galau Lagi, Nona Wina Sudah Menikah Bab Panas: Terlambat Menyadari Kehadiranmu, Aku Ingin Merebutmu Kembali Wina!

Indonesia · romansa.

พลิกชะตารัก มรดกเซียน บทยอดนิยม (ฉินหมิง)

ภาษาไทย · สัจนิยม.

ทะลุมิติไปเป็นช่างเสริมสวยยุค 80 บทยอดนิยม

ภาษาไทย · โรแมนติก.

นางบำเรอแสนรัก บทยอดนิยม (อัณชญา ชินภพ)

Demon Slayer Fan Fiction Wiki & TOP 5 List: Explore the World of Fan Created Stories, Storylines and Characters, Best Themes, Works and Authors, Popular Websites.

En · fanfiction pedia novel pedia.

Cookie banner

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy . Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use , which became effective December 20, 2019.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Follow The Ringer online:

Follow The Ringer on Twitter
Follow The Ringer on Instagram
Follow The Ringer on Youtube

Filed under:

Pop Culture

‘The Three-Body Problem’ Is Brilliant. ‘3 Body Problem’ Is Better.

Netflix’s new sci-fi series from the makers of ‘Game of Thrones’ doesn’t just honor Liu Cixin’s remarkable books—it improves on them

Share this story

Share this on Facebook
Share this on Twitter
Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: ‘The Three-Body Problem’ Is Brilliant. ‘3 Body Problem’ Is Better.

My favorite quote about science fiction comes from longtime editor Frederik Pohl, who paraphrased Isaac Asimov when he wrote, “Somebody once said that a good science-fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.”

In other words, it’s not the piece of technology or scientific advance itself that matters in spinning a sci-fi yarn, but rather the advance’s ramifications for humanity. Anyone can predict that humanity might one day, say, make first contact with aliens. But under what circumstances? And what might that contact say about our place in the universe? And what would those events mean for successive generations?

In the Three-Body Problem trilogy, Chinese author Liu Cixin constructs the most magnificently intricate, wildly ambitious traffic jam ever imagined. After the series’ first book was translated into English in 2014, Liu became the first Asian winner of the annual Hugo Award for best science-fiction or fantasy novel. His work received praise from the likes of Barack Obama and George R.R. Martin. It was so influential that it even coined a name for an actual scientific theory. (Don’t Google “the dark forest,” the title of the series’ second book, or else you will encounter massive spoilers.)

And now former Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with True Blood ’s Alexander Woo, have brought that impeccable cosmic traffic jam to Netflix, in what The New York Times called the “apotheosis of the nerd-tech takeover of our storytelling culture.” All eight episodes of the adaptation’s first season will be released on Thursday, with the streamer hoping to rival the book series’ smash success.

3 Body Problem (as the show’s title is stylized) is a proper fit for Benioff and Weiss, even though one of their adaptive sagas takes place in a medieval fantasy world and the other is in modern and futuristic sci-fi settings. 3 Body Problem is sexless, but in tone, it’s sci-fi’s answer to Thrones ’ grimdark sensibilities: In his essay anthology A View From the Stars , which reaches shelves next month, Liu writes that this series was his attempt to “try and imagine the worst universe possible” and that the second book’s title is fitting because “my universe is unbelievably dark.”

His story exploring this “worst universe possible” is the hardest of hard science fiction, with long passages about orbital mechanics, quantum physics, solar radiation, and the speed of light. Both the books and show open with a dual-timeline story. In one timeline, set in China during the Cultural Revolution, a traumatized young woman finds a home at a mysterious military base; in the other, modern-day law enforcement officers investigate a string of scientist suicides while other characters are invited to play a state-of-the-art virtual reality game.

Such a hard sci-fi story would seem “unadaptable”—but Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series was viewed the same way, once upon a time, before evolving into a creative and cultural darling, a show that simultaneously set records for both Emmy Awards and HBO viewership. Crucially, while Thrones faltered at the finish line as it outran its still-incomplete source material, 3 Body Problem won’t face the same challenge, as the ending to Liu’s book series is already written. That difference gives Benioff and Weiss the opportunity to do what they do best: adapt an unadaptable genre story for the masses.

They have a “knack … for making what seems like completely inaccessible material totally accessible,” actor John Bradley, who played Samwell Tarly in Thrones and features as a snack-food tycoon in 3 Body , said in a press packet provided by Netflix. “I just couldn’t see how they were going to do it, but then as I started to read the scripts, I realized what a magic touch they’ve got in terms of taking this very dense source material and making it into an entertaining mainstream show.”

Bradley’s right. I’ve seen screeners for the entire season, and I was astonished by its quality; 3 Body Problem holds mostly true to the spirit of the source text, preserving its strengths while also shoring up its weaknesses. The book series is remarkable. The Netflix show might be an even better version of the story.

When I first discovered Liu’s trilogy and tore through all three books, their plots and themes dominated my waking thoughts and dreams for months afterward. I have since read everything Liu has ever written that’s been translated into English. When I joined an online baseball simulation league—my sci-fi fandom is not my only über-nerdy interest—I named my team the Trisolaris Droplets. (If you know, you know.) My wife’s gift to me for our first wedding anniversary (traditionally associated with a “paper” theme) was a gorgeous art book inspired by the series.

I offer all these anecdotes to establish my bona fides as a massive fan of the trilogy, so you’ll know I’m speaking in good faith when I admit that it’s also weighed down by several major flaws. The books’ timelines can grow confusing, especially when Liu doubles back to previous events and shares confusing flashbacks. His treatment of romantic subplots—and of some gender dynamics more broadly—is uncomfortable. His characters, most of all, tend to exist as two-dimensional vehicles for ideas rather than as 3D flesh-and-blood creations.

Fictional stories can draw readers in because of beautiful prose or compelling characters or a riveting plot; rare success stories, like Martin’s ASoIaF, combine all three. But Liu thrives through plot alone. He devotes far more attention to building his ideas and worlds than to building his characters. (This is especially true of a main character in the first book, whom a coworker—who didn’t enjoy her reading experience—called “the most boring man in the world.”)

This imbalance is partly a matter of cultural exchange. In a New Yorker profile of Liu, Chinese American writer Jiayang Fan wrote of China’s development over the course of Liu’s life, “The scale and the speed of China’s economic transformation were conducive to a fictive mode that concerns itself with the fate of whole societies, planets, and galaxies, and in which individuals are presented as cogs in larger systems.”

Yet the lack of individually compelling characters is also a choice (or a limitation) of Liu’s. He’s a power plant engineer by trade, not a trained writer. As he told Fan for that profile, “I did not begin writing for love of literature. I did so for love of science.”

That inversion wouldn’t work on television, which is, at its heart, a medium driven by character and dialogue. “I started as a playwright, so that’s the only way I know how to write: character first,” Woo said via Netflix. “For a television series, that’s the thing that gives you an emotional attachment to the story and makes you think about it after the credits roll.”

Part of the creators’ adaptive solution was structural. In Liu’s trilogy, the sequels’ protagonists don’t appear in the first book, and the various main characters don’t know each other before the events of the series.

So Benioff, Weiss, and Woo decided to pull those later protagonists (under different names) to the start of the first season of TV. They also connected those characters in a manner that might be less realistic—is it actually likely that the most important characters in a world-spanning story would have been friends before the crisis began?—but makes for a more cohesive viewing experience. Audiences love an ensemble.

“What you gain by making these changes is a greater level of emotional engagement, which is at the heart of any TV show,” Woo said.

In the case of 3 Body , that ensemble consists of five characters whose friendship dates back to their days as physics students at Oxford. The members of the quintet have since branched out into different scientific subfields: Jin (Jess Hong) is a theoretical physicist, Saul (Jovan Adepo) works in a lab, Auggie (Eiza González) applies her education to a job constructing nanomaterials, Jack (Bradley) owns a popular snack-food company, and Will (Alex Sharp) is a schoolteacher.

Those characters offer not only more emotional engagement than their book counterparts, but also a greater variety in tone. Jack, for instance, adds welcome humor and sarcasm to an otherwise overly serious show. (Benedict Wong’s Da Shi, an intelligence officer, supplies his fair share of levity, too.)

The Ringer ’s Streaming Guide

A collage of characters from popular TV shows, from Barry to Succession

There’s a lot of TV out there. We want to help: Every week, we’ll tell you the best and most urgent shows to stream so you can stay on top of the ever-expanding heap of Peak TV.

Altering character presentation is a common tactic for hard sci-fi shows that move from the page to the screen. The Foundation adaptation on Apple TV+ took a similar approach to its ostensibly unfilmable source material, another dense sci-fi story that emphasizes world-building over character-building. As Asimov’s story skips across time, most characters appear for no more than a few chapters. (Incidentally, Liu directly references Foundation in the second book in his series.)

The Foundation adaptation introduces cloning and cryogenic procedures to extend its characters’ life spans—and keep its high-profile actors on-screen. “I think the secret sauce for adapting Foundation was really rooting it in emotion,” showrunner David S. Goyer said in 2021. “Really rooting it in character.”

Elsewhere in the realm of hard sci-fi adaptations, Dune: Part Two condensed its time frame and cut out the book’s precocious toddler , which would have been trickier to depict on-screen. The Expanse TV show also fiddled with character timelines, including introducing a fan favorite who doesn’t appear until the second book in the pilot episode. His Dark Materials is more fantasy than sci-fi, but HBO’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s trilogy employed the same solution in transporting a character who debuts in the second book to the show’s second episode.

The Expanse adaptation also added more dialogue and banter in place of a detective character’s mostly internal narration. Daniel Abraham, one of the coauthors and executive producers of the series, told me this change was necessary because “watching the guy sit at home and drink whiskey and think—not great television.”

The same rationale shapes the 3 Body adaptation. Where in the book one character plays the virtual reality game alone and must think through its problems by himself, the show engages multiple characters in the VR world so that they can collaborate and share their thoughts with both one another and the audience.

One other major change in the 3 Body cast, versus its book equivalent, stems from the globalization of a story that originally transpired almost entirely in China. (The sequels spend more time globe-trotting and even traveling beyond our pale blue dot .) While the first season’s two largest roles went to actors of Chinese descent, other Chinese characters from the book are, in the show, played by white, Black, Pakistani, and Mexican actors. And while flashbacks are still centered in China, much of the present-day action shifts to London instead.

According to the creators, Liu gave them his blessing to swap characters’ races and genders, and the cast and creators have stressed repeatedly that these changes were intended to tell a better global story, not to whitewash an inherently Chinese tale.

“We wanted to represent, as much as possible, all of humanity,” Benioff said, per Netflix. “We wanted people from all over the world. We tried to make this a very diverse, international cast to represent the idea that this isn’t just one country’s struggle against the threat of aliens; it’s a global struggle to survive.”

Some viewers may rebel against these changes, but cast members quoted in Netflix’s press materials applauded the resulting opportunities for greater representation. Switching a scientist character from a Chinese man to a Latina woman, said González, “allowed me to be a bit more subversive in this take on a scientist. I feel like we have a very specific idea when it comes to doctors or scientists that’s very sterile and clean-cut. Being a woman from Latin America, I really wanted to create a role that reflected a Latin American woman in a different, more beautiful light.”

Not all of 3 Body ’s adaptive changes can compensate for the source material’s relative weaknesses. To return to the Thrones comparison, none of 3 Body ’s characters are as rich or complex as Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, or many of Martin’s other creations. Nor does 3 Body ’s dialogue crackle like Thrones ’ at its best.

But elements of production design—such as props, costumes, effects, and score—unique to the screen elevate other aspects beyond the capabilities of plain words on a page.

“The thing that’s amazing about filmed entertainment,” The Expanse ’s Abraham said, “is it has a musical score, and there’s this whole layer of emotional evocation that you just get for free. It’s amazing. It’s a powerful tool. If you could do that in a book, it would be astounding.”

In addition to reconvening Thrones actors like Bradley, Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), and Jonathan Pryce (the High Sparrow), 3 Body calls on many of the below-the-line standouts who shaped Thrones ’ look, sound, and feel, including composer Ramin Djawadi, who’s back with a delightful soundtrack for the new show. Thrones and 3 Body visual effects producer Steve Kullback said via Netflix that “the level of complexity of the visual effects is similar, in many ways, to some of the things we did on Game of Thrones .”

This series looks expensive, and it feels all the more immersive for its attention to portraying an entire world. 3 Body expands even beyond Thrones ’ great sprawl, leaping, in the VR world, from ancient China to Tudor England to 13th-century Mongolia to 16th-century Italy and, in the real world, from England to Panama to Switzerland to Florida.

The effects work carries over to the show’s infrequent action scenes. A midseason sequence on an oil tanker, which transforms a one-page event into a jaw-dropping visual spectacle, is one of the best set pieces Benioff and Weiss have ever produced. It’s not quite Hardhome or the Red Wedding , but it’s not far behind. ( 3 Body ’s actual version of the Red Wedding would come in Season 2, if the show is renewed.)

This action is played up in part because, as my colleague Justin Charity wrote , both the books and show are “sci-fi thrillers, but the books put the emphasis on sci-fi where the show puts the emphasis on thriller .” This streamlining mostly works. The most confusing part of the first book—and, in my opinion, the entire series—unfolds over 25 dense pages, as Liu details the construction of a new piece of advanced technology that makes use of extra dimensions. On the screen, however, 3 Body condenses this sequence via a quick summary before moving on—again, focusing more on the traffic jam than the automobile itself.

Still, cutting down on the science nerdery in the interest of broader viewer comprehension means that, for some fans, the books’ appeal will be lost in translation. I couldn’t help but wish that other missing parts had been included in the adaptation: a scene that uses a billiard table as a metaphor for a particle accelerator; Liu’s deeper exploration of the VR game, which allows the reader to try to untangle its collection of mysteries along with the characters instead of just watching them solve it; more details about the ingenious “human computer” in VR, which looks cool but isn’t really explained on-screen.

For viewers who want more sci-fi in their sci-fi thriller, or frankly more sci in their sci-fi, a competing Chinese-language adaptation aired in 2023 and is now streaming on Peacock. This version of the story, produced by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent, is almost unflinchingly faithful to the book, as it stretches over 30 episodes and thus has much more room to delve into all of the novel’s scientific minutiae. Tencent’s series is not entirely faithful, however: It elides the integral aspects of Chinese history that influence characters and catalyze the plot.

When drafting his book, Liu front-loaded scenes showing the brutality of the Cultural Revolution, but as a New York Times piece explained , his “Chinese publisher worried that the opening scenes were too politically charged and would never make it past government censors, so they were placed later in the narrative, he says, to make them less conspicuous. Liu reluctantly agreed to the change, but felt the novel was diminished.” Now, Liu recommends that bilingual readers choose the English translation of his book—which returned those chapters to the front of the novel—instead of the Chinese version.

The same dynamic apparently played out in the dueling adaptations. The Tencent adaptation downplays these scenes, while the Netflix show—just like the English translation of the book—opens with them, as a physics professor faces opprobrium from a mob because of his beliefs about science and religion.

Liu himself is an atheist, but he still believes it’s his role to inspire a spiritual response in his readers. In one of his essays in A View From the Stars , he writes, “The religious feeling of science fiction is a deep sense of awe at the great mysteries of the universe.”

The show captures that same sense of wonder and reflects it back to the audience from the start. At the end of the first episode, when the stars in the night sky behave in an unusual way, the hair on my arms stood up, just as it had when I discovered the great mysteries in the book.

“We want to do justice to the books and create a show that makes people feel the way the books made us feel,” Benioff said. “And the best way to do that is not to just schematically take things from the book and put them on-screen in the order and manner in which they appear in the books.”

Those more holistic changes alter character and story structure but not Liu’s propulsive plot or, most of all, the way his books made so many readers feel. With the aid of TV-friendly tweaks and Netflix’s massive reach, the 3 Body adaptation has the opportunity to fill even more audience members with that deep sense of awe.

“A lot of people who said, ‘I don’t like fantasy’ became big fans of Game of Thrones ,” Benioff added. “And our hope is that we’ll get a lot of people who normally are not into science fiction to love 3 Body Problem .”

Next Up In TV

The pre-merge extravaganza with boston rob.

‘Potomac,’ ‘Martha’s Vineyard,’ ’Summer House,’ ‘The Valley,’ and ‘Vanderpump Rules’
The Diddy Saga, Trump’s Bible, and Black Representation in Media
‘Shogun’ Episode 6 and the British TV Landscape With Flo Lloyd-Hughes
‘The Bachelor’ Aftermath Post-Finale Reactions With Mandy Foreman
‘X-Men ’97’ Ep. 3, ‘Shogun,’ and ‘Invincible’ Reactions

Sign up for the The Ringer Newsletter

Thanks for signing up.

Check your inbox for a welcome email.

Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.

Tyson, Riley, and Boston Rob talk about the islanders left on Season 46 and talk predictions for the merge

‘OSP’ Sweet 16 Recap With J. Kyle Mann

Tate recaps the Sweet 16 games and previews the Elite Eight

Harvey Levin And Tara Reid At Launch Party For TMZ Video Slots In Las Vegas

Inside TMZ’s Cozy Relationship With Hollywood

Matt is joined by Van Lathan to discuss the complicated and nuanced relationship between TMZ and Hollywood

‘X-Men ’97’ Episodes 1-3 Deep Dive

Mal and Jo dive deep into the first three episodes of ‘X-Men ’97’

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Instant Reactions

The Midnight Boys give out their takes on the wacky and, at times, insane monster flick

Golden State Warriors v Minnesota Timberwolves

Ranking Playoff Teams’ Second Options and Concerns for College Development

Plus, Draymond Green’s latest ejection, Steph’s subsequent frustration, and March Madness talk

Skip to main content
Skip to header right navigation
Skip to site footer

EvangelismCoach.org

Book Review: I Once was Lost

I recently read I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus by Don Everts, Doug Schaupp (Authors)

They take a look at the journey to faith and have seen that there are five distinct phases of the journey. The journey may not be linear, but these phases are discernible.

Distrust to trust – trusting a Christian
Complacent to Curious – the shift of spiritual thirst.
Closed to change to open to change – hardest threshold to cross (personal life)
From Meandering to seeking.
The actual conversion to the Kingdom of God (surrender).

Related discussion guide: http://ivpress.com/title/disc/3608-thresholds-article.pdf

Knowing this journey of faith moves one from technique to wonder and prayer and discovery of how we can help people move forward.

The remaining chapters in the book look at each of these stages in detail and suggests skills and habits we Christians should undertake to help a person move through these phases.

I’ve seen other books that focus on the conversation at the end of a journey, when a person is ready to hear the gospel, and the skills you need for that particular conversation.

This book helps us see what evangelistic role we can play along the way.

This book would make a great personal or small group study for those who want to grow in their faith sharing skills.

The concept of the spiritual journey is one that I use in my personal evangelism workshops. This book will become one of the recommended resources in my course.

Reader Interactions

Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Rural Michigan Gothic

Share full article

By Jane Smiley

July 22, 2011

Bonnie Jo Campbell’s first novel, “Q Road,” published in 2002, told the story of Rachel Crane, an isolated and determined young woman who lives in meth country outside Kalamazoo, Mich., with her even more eccentric mother, Margo. After Margo shoots a local womanizer who has designs on the under-age Rachel, she disappears, and Rachel, more out of practicality than love, marries the farmer who owns the property where she and her mother have always lived. “Q Road” was widely praised for its authentic rendering of rural Michigan: part dump, part wilderness and part farmland. “Once Upon a River,” Campbell’s second novel, leaves off where “Q Road” began — it is the story of Margo Crane, herself a difficult and willful young woman, who is 15 when the novel opens in the late 1970s.

Margo’s nickname in her family is “Sprite,” and she has the cautious, defensive nature of a woodland animal — she rarely speaks, she always observes and her affections are remote ones. Even her father, with whom she lives in a little riverside house, can hardly get her to say anything, and so he treats her with a mixture of attention and bemusement. She is estranged, reluctantly, from the cousins across the river with whom she played as a child, and from her aunt, the source of all such homely comforts as cinnamon bread and Thanksgiving dinner. She is not quite sure why her mother has vanished, but does understand that she hated the hardscrabble conditions of life on the river and did not care for the relatives. As the novel opens, Margo’s activities have become solitary — she is no longer going to school, she is an adept oarswoman, she enjoys watching her cousins’ dogs and she is learning to shoot.

Once Margo gets a rifle, her great passion becomes hunting. With single-minded dedication, she becomes so adept that she can kill a muskrat by shooting it in the eye (thereby leaving the hide undamaged), and she knows how to choose just the sort of ammunition that won’t exit its skull on the other side. She practices every day, until she comes to understand how her body and the world form themselves around the perfect shot, and she soon has a sixth sense about where she is in relation to her guns at all times. She strongly identifies with Annie Oakley, and cannot understand how anyone could feel comfortable in a large building or a town, or even in a parking lot. The meticulous manner in which Campbell deploys the details of Margo’s developing expertise as a sharpshooter is utterly convincing, one of the many pleasures of “Once Upon a River.” Here she is, for instance, shooting an acorn off a horse apple:

“She took a deep breath, relaxed her shoulders and slowed her heartbeat. She studied the railroad-tie fence post from its base to its top, as it rose to about her own height. She studied the green fruit with the burr acorn on top. Beyond it was the smooth expanse of river. She wrapped the sling around her left hand and elbow and pushed against it. When she nestled the stock in her shoulder and pressed her cheek against it, her stance and grip were solid. . . . She looked through her sights. Her instructor had talked about the ‘wobble’ in a person’s hold, had said a person could never be absolutely solid, but for Margo there usually came an instant like now when she felt solidly rooted to the planet. Without a conscious decision to do so, she smoothly pushed the trigger straight back and held it there as the rifle sent the bullet down the barrel on its way to the acorn. She knew it was a good shot. She held steady even after she heard a sound like the final hard tap of a woodpecker’s beak against an oak branch.”

Unfortunately for Margo, she is extremely beautiful, which means that she all too often attracts the gaze of men and boys — she herself is the white deer or the blond wolf, too striking to be left alone to follow her solitary path. There is room here for feminist grandstanding, but Campbell tends to be more of a naturalist than that; she lets the facts speak for themselves so the book’s sexual aggression feels, almost, less like a crime than a mere twist of fate.

That doesn’t mean Margo isn’t vulnerable. She has been raped, just after her 15th birthday, by an uncle who lures her into a shed by promising to show her how to skin a deer. The attack, witnessed by her cousin, sets in motion the disintegration of the world she once knew. As “Once Upon a River” opens a year later, Margo accelerates this disintegration by shooting off the end of her uncle’s penis (no more difficult, really, than shooting an acorn off a piece of fruit). Her act leads to the death of her father, leaving Margo alone to evade both her relatives and the government authorities who might take her into custody.

As in “American Salvage,” her celebrated story collection from 2009, Campbell has a ruthless and precise eye for the details of the physical world. The river is no paradise, with factories like the one founded by Margo’s beloved grandfather and run by her uncle polluting both the water and the air. Margo, though, young, innocent and in danger, accepts that this fallen world is hers. She defends her right to make her own decisions, and even when they are bad decisions Campbell is clear they are the only ones she could make. Because she has nothing, Margo must rely upon the kindness of strangers (all of them male). The best of these is Michael, a generous liberal with a good dog and a sense of humor. Margo lives with him for a winter, comes to love him and almost marries him. But Michael is not cut out for survival in the war of all against all that is southern Michigan. As she learns eventually, neither is Margo cut out for conjugal love.

Campbell so intently scrutinizes Margo’s inner life that she does not seem to be asserting any larger point about American culture or human nature — but she is. Margo’s concerns are immediate: food, dogs, guns, moving her boat from one place to another, finding a place to take shelter. Abstracting meaning from her experience is difficult and almost painful, possibly because the first meaning she would have to abstract is that no one she knows is willing or able to care for her. In this, she could be Huck Finn, except that her world is much more dangerous and confined than his. Nor does she get to follow Annie Oakley’s path, realizing her talents to the amazement of multitudes. She must, in fact, engender “Q Road” — that is, make the best life she can for Rachel, the daughter she is about to give birth to at the end of “Once Upon a River.” Because Margo is so strong and idiosyncratic, because she possesses such great natural innocence, the reader would like her to transcend her circumstances, but the constant refrain of her life, as young as she is, is not transcendence but consequences. She is doomed to pay the price for her ignorance, pay the price for her enthusiasm, pay the price for her affections and pay the price for the sins of those who came before. The damaged world she lives in remains an ecosystem in which animals and humans, field and stream, purity and pollution, love and hate are tightly interconnected. It would be too bad if, because of Campbell’s realistic style and ferocious attention to her setting, “Once Upon a River” were discounted as merely a fine example of American regionalism. It is, rather, an excellent American parable about the consequences of our favorite ideal, freedom.

ONCE UPON A RIVER

By Bonnie Jo Campbell

348 pp. W. W. Norton & Company. $25.95.

Jane Smiley is the author of “Private Life,” “A Good Horse,” “The Man Who Invented the Computer” and many other books.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

James McBride’s novel sold a million copies, and he isn’t sure how he feels about that, as he considers the critical and commercial success of “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.”

How did gender become a scary word? Judith Butler, the theorist who got us talking about the subject , has answers.

You never know what’s going to go wrong in these graphic novels, where Circus tigers, giant spiders, shifting borders and motherhood all threaten to end life as we know it .

When the author Tommy Orange received an impassioned email from a teacher in the Bronx, he dropped everything to visit the students who inspired it.

Do you want to be a better reader? Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

The Straits Times

International
Print Edition
news with benefits
SPH Rewards
STClassifieds
Berita Harian
Hardwarezone
Shin Min Daily News
SRX Property
Tamil Murasu
The Business Times
The New Paper
Lianhe Zaobao
Advertise with us

Book review: Kara Swisher’s big tech tell-all feels dated and out of touch

Burn Book: A Tech Love Story

By Kara Swisher Non-fiction/Piatkus/Paperback/297 pages/$33.84/Amazon SG ( amzn.to/3IKzVAQ ) 2 stars

Unfortunately, there is not much in pioneer Internet journalist Kara Swisher’s supposed tell-all that is revelatory.

Big tech is dominated by white, wealthy men divorced from reality, eager to “move fast and break things”. Check.

Governments have been too slow to regulate because they have for so long underestimated new media – surely, at this point a pedestrian conclusion.

Artificial intelligence is the next frontier and it “will eventually plough over us like a highway construction machine rolling over an anthill”. This is a warning so belated it has become mainstream, with OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman removed and then reinstated again in 2023 for this reason.

For someone with Swisher’s access – on, or used to be on, texting terms with honchos like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg – Burn Book is a victim of its own promise.

Swisher, once an influential voice in the industry, presents persuasive, but by-now obvious arguments. Still believing that, at 61, she is as much a maverick as she was when she was younger, she betrays an ignorance of the shift in zeitgeist that has occurred around the last five years.

No longer one of rose-tinted enthusiasm, even the most casual observer’s default habitus is now sober cynicism. The trailblazing Swisher is late to her own party. One wishes she could have published this 10 years ago, before the Cambridge Analytica scandal and before the United States tech hearings.

TikTok barely gets a mention, and she offers barely any specifics for change except to call on tech leaders to do better, an especially underwhelming conclusion for a final chapter titled “Come With Me If You Want To Live”.

To be fair, Swisher once occupied a truly fringe position of loving the Internet.

In 1994, when most of her colleagues at The Washington Post were vying to cover the more careerist political track, her prescience led her to choose to cover modems and servers full-time, after downloading a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon collection and instinctively understanding that “everything that can be digitised will be digitised”.

Less interested in the nuts and bolts of computers than the upstart princes of Silicon Valley, she uprooted her life to San Francisco, penning a weekly column called Boom Town for The Wall Street Journal. She also co-founded the influential All Things Digital conference, which achieved the historic feat of getting Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to sit together for a joint interview.

Her extensive contacts meant her scoops came fast and frequently, published on a daily blog called AllThingsD.com. Former chief operating officer of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg says people would joke “I hope Kara never sees this” when they wrote memos, and more than one executive learnt that they were getting hired or fired from her reports.

But the focus of Burn Book is stubbornly not on her journalistic prowess. Rather, for marketability, she has focused more on her interactions – often superficial – with the larger-than-life founders of Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Uber and other by-now toxically familiar platform names.

She is on a first-name basis with them, but ultimately not that close – or if she is, there is a lot more she is not letting on. No stories she relates are nearly salacious enough to warrant wading through the dry and mostly straightforward relating of big tech’s nascent history.

Among supposedly big reveals: Zuckerberg, in his live interview with Swisher, was publicly “melting”, and at her suggestion, removed his hoodie on stage to calm down. Musk once texted her “You’re an a**hole” for Musk reasons. An Uber investor had a live reindeer greet guests in his front yard – a chance for Swisher to note that it was female and gesture at the industry’s rampant sexism.

The tales are too tame to shock, especially when one knows there must be so much more indecent, childish behaviour, given daily voice by Musk on X (formerly Twitter). There is, though, an excellent comparison of the differing dispositions of the suave Jobs and the more socially inept Gates.

“If both died on the same day, one observer told me, Gates’ obituary would begin by noting that he was ‘the world’s richest man’ while Jobs’ would begin with the words ‘tech’s greatest visionary’,” she writes. The machinations to get the frenemies on stage at her conference, and a snide jibe Jobs made at Gates right before that – these threatened to derail the process pass for the most interesting behind-the-scenes element of the book.

Perhaps ironically, it is the early days of Swisher as a journalist (before she turned “reportrepreneur”), bristling against unsympathetic and obnoxious editors, that feel the most alive.

A combative and decidedly undiplomatic character, she had no qualms about telling former publisher of The Washington Post Don Graham that old media would be wiped out and regretting that she had not told her boss John McLaughlin that she wished he were dead before he soon keeled over.

Swisher takes the chance to settle a few other cheap scores, but there is a lot of cantankerous talk with no insight. Her actual reporting work may have had the first mover advantage, but Burn Book is a casualty of the 24/7 digital news cycle that she is so proud of, rendered obsolete before it hits the presses.

If you like this, read: The Times: How The Newspaper Of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, And The Transformation Of Journalism by Adam Nagourney (Crown, 2023, $51.78, Amazon SG, go to amzn.to/4aokUjT ). The story of The New York Times, told from 300 interviews and years of archival research by a veteran political reporter.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Book review
Non-fiction books

Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards

Spin the wheel now

How 3 Body Problem Differs From the Book

Yes, there are some big changes. But would you believe this show adapted all three books at once?

preview for 3 Body Problem | Trailer (Netflix)

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.

You might’ve heard that there’s an epic new sci-fi series from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and that show is 3 Body Problem . Cocreated with Alexander Woo, the new, eight-episode Netflix series adapts Liu Cixin’s mega-popular, award-winning novels and turns aspects from all three books in his trilogy ( The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End ) into a prestige drama that unfolds like a puzzle in the stars. Well loved by science buffs and President Obama alike, The Three-Body Problem has become a bellwether for sci-fi books that are both accessible and deeply concerned with actual physics.

Featuring an alien invasion that will take four hundred years to arrive and a future history that spans centuries, 3 Body Problem has a larger scope than that of literally any sci-fi TV show , ever. That said, season 1—which premieres today—sticks mostly to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Is this a faithful adaptation of the novels? Yes and no. Mostly, the show knocks out the first book, digs into the beginnings of the second, and even finds a way to reference the third. Confused? Don’t be. Here’s your super-easy guide to how 3 Body Problem on Netflix alters the dense and contemplative books.

One Book Character Is Split Into Three

In the original novel—during the present-day sections—the primary point-of-view character is Wang Miao, a nanotech expert who is embroiled in the machinations of the gradual alien invasion. Wang is the first person we see encounter the trippy “3 Body” virtual-reality game, which teases the Trisolarian star system’s true structure. But not every reader thinks the character is super memorable. Since the book’s 2008 publication in China, some Chinese fans have considered him to be such a thin character —and existing in the book only to experience the plot—that various memes have cropped up. (See: jokes like “Who’s Wang?” and “Where’s Wang?”) Novelist Liu even downgraded Wang for the second book, The Dark Forest , essentially replacing him with the more dynamic and controversial science guy Luo Ji. So it seems as if the Netflix adaptation overcorrects the Wang problem by splitting him into three bodies: Auggie Salazar (Eiza González), Jack Rooney ( John Bradley ), and Jin Cheng (Jess Hong).

Auggie takes over the duties as the nanotech researcher, making her the closer one-for-one analog for Wang Miao. Even though her backstory is entirely different, it’s Auggie’s nanotech fibers (like Wang’s in the book) that take out the huge ship Judgment Day . However, unlike Wang, Auggie doesn’t find herself drawn into the “3 Body” virtual experience. Instead, on the show, Jack and Jin both get VR helmets and participate in the game, which eventually draws them close to the conspiracy involving humans who are assisting the aliens in the long-term invasion of Earth. While snack mogul Jack doesn’t really have a direct analog in the book, he does glean a few things about the 3 Body game that Wang learned in the book, making his and Jin’s comprehension of the game a shared experience. In the original text, it was Wang working through it on his own. Because Jack is killed by Tatiana (Marlo Kelly, and not a book character at all), Jin finds herself at the secret meeting of humans who sympathize with the San-Ti.

Jin’s and Will’s Stories Jump Ahead to the Third Book

By the end of the series, Jin switches from a partial Wang Miao analog to a closer match of Cheng Xin, a character from the third book, Death’s End . In that novel, Xin (Jin on the show) asks Yun Tianming to put his brain into a probe to help with the Staircase Project. On the series, Yun Tianming has become Will Downing (Alex Sharp), who, along with the other core group of contemporary characters, knows everyone from college. As in Death’s End , Will buys Jin a star through the “Stars Our Destination Project.” So because the final episode concludes with Will’s brain probe not staying on its correct trajectory, season 1 ends partly where the third novel begins.

Book 2’s and Book 3’s Timelines Match Up, Mostly

Until episode 5, 3 Body Problem sticks to the events of the first novel, The Three-Body Problem . However, after episode 5 ("Judgement Day") and starting with episode 6 "The Stars Our Destination"), the series begins to adapt events from The Dark Forest and Death’s End . While the two novels are largely known for the fact that these events jump much further ahead into the future, both of them begin with situations that are more or less contemporaneous with those in the first book.

In fact, before the Netflix series even unfolds, 3 Body Problem borrows from elements of the beginning of Death’s End . Although we don’t know it at first, Vera has learned that her mother, Ye Wenjie, is the first human to contact the San-Ti, which caused the aliens to send a fleet of ships to Earth. So when Vera commits suicide at the start of the show, she’s a stand-in for Yang Dong, Ye Wenjie’s daughter in the books. To be clear, Yang Dong commits suicide at the start of the first book, too—it’s just that the third book revisits these events from her point of view, whereas the first one doesn’t. In depicting Vera’s suicide in episode 1, 3 Body adapts The Three-Body Problem and Death’s End simultaneously.

Tor Books The Three-Body Problem

Evans, Judgment Day, and Vera

Speaking of Vera (Yang Dong in the book), on the series we learn that she’s the daughter of Ye Wenjie and Mike Evans. In the book, the two do team up in both the past and the present, but they do not have a child together; Yang Dong is the daughter of Ye Wenjie and Yang Weining. Ye Wenjie kills both Yang Weining and Lei Zhicheng, her coworkers at Red Coast Base. She does this partly to cover for the fact that she sent the signal to the aliens.

But on the series, Mike Evans—in the past and the present—is the secret father of Vera, and his life on Judgment Day is depicted in much more detail than in the first novel. 3 Body Problem reveals that the entire cult of San-Ti worshippers includes families and children. This makes the destruction of the ship much grislier on the show than on the page. In this version, innocent children are literally killed by the “good guys,” which is an invention of Woo, Benioff, and Weiss. In another entry in the horrible-things-happening-to-children department, the show turns the in-game virtual character “Follower” into a child, who is supposed to represent Vera when she was a kid. In the first novel, Follower wasn’t a child—and in the book was never supposed to be a digital version of Yang Dong.

The San-Ti and the Sophons

In the book trilogy (collectively known in English as Remembrance of Earth’s Past ), the invading aliens are always referred to as the Trisolarians. This is because their star system has three suns, hence “tri-solar.” However, the Netflix show changes this to the San-Ti, which we’re told is Chinese for “three-bodied person”; in real life, “San-Ti” references a 2022–23 anime adaptation of The Dark Forest .

In both versions, we learn that the San-Ti (aka Trisolarians) send complex computers via protons called Sophons. These higher-dimension thingamabobs allow the aliens to control and manipulate what people literally see every single day of their lives. Also, in both the impact of the Sophons is essentially the same: Humanity is constantly spied on, and scientific results are unreliable thanks to Sophon data manipulation. The biggest difference is that on the show the San-Ti have a kind of Sophon representative in the form of a woman who wears a sword on her back. Played by Sea Shimooka, this Sophon FaceTimes (for lack of a better term!) with the characters in a way that doesn’t happen in the books.

Ye Wenjie’s fate

Without a doubt, the most book-accurate aspects of 3 Body Problem involve Ye Wenjie. In 1960s-set sections, where young Ye Wenjie is played by Zine Tseng, we get nearly verbatim book-specific moments. Even in the present, where Ye Wenjie is played by sci-fi legend Rosalind Chao, the ethos of this all-important book character comes across like gangbusters.

Yet the show takes a big swing by changing the end of Ye Wenjie’s story. In the first novel, in the very last chapter (“The Ruins”), she returns to Red Coast Base and muses on the “sunset for humanity.” On the series, at the end of episode 7, she is met at the ruins of Red Coast Base by the San-Ti human agent Tatiana. Although their conversation is tender, it’s understood that Tatiana is there to kill Ye Wenjie—or, at the very least, ensure that she jumps off the mountain. In "The Ruins," we can certainly infer that Ye Wenjie is going to jump to her death, but we don't actually see it happen on the page.

Saul the Wallfacer

In the season 1 finale, “Wallfacer,” Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo) becomes a human Wallfacer—a strategist who is granted multinational powers to fight the San-Ti entirely in their mind. Because the San-Ti don’t understand lying and aren’t telepathic, the biggest advantage humans have is to plan secretly. On the show, Saul is one of three Wallfacers, but in The Dark Forest , there are five.

Although it’s not clear at the start, by the end of season 1, Saul morphs into a fairly close analog for the book character Luo Ji. First introduced in The Dark Forest , Luo Ji becomes perhaps the most dynamic character of the entire series. In two books, he goes from cynical, promiscuous academic to determined savior of humankind and Trisolaris. The series does a decent job of re-creating Luo Ji’s/Saul’s recruitment into the Wallfacer project, even reenacting a moment from The Dark Forest in which an innocent woman who had a one-night stand with Saul is killed in a car accident that isn’t actually an accident.

For the most part, the character of Saul is really only similar to Luo Ji in plot purpose and circumstance. Because Auggie doesn’t exist in the trilogy, Saul and Auggie’s on-again-off-again romance was invented for the series. In the books, Luo Ji dates a novelist and becomes obsessed with the idea of creating an utterly perfect fictional lover, which is something he bizarrely makes true with his unilateral Wallfacer powers.

In the end, Saul, Jin, Auggie, and Will are put on paths that are similar to those of their book counterparts. Because the show has turned them into totally new characters, however, their lives seem very much in motion and their ultimate destinies are unpredictable—even by the most complex space-alien computer.

@media(max-width: 73.75rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.4375rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.5625rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}} TV

The 10 Best Shows on FX

Brace Yourself For Jerrod Carmichael's New Show

Get Ready For Robert Downey Jr. in The Sympathizer

The Best Netflix Series of 2024 (So Far)

Crimson Sky Only Means One Thing in 'Shōgun'

Shōgun: Your Guide to Understanding the Characters

The 40 Best Shows on Netflix Right Now

Oda Nobunaga’s Unbelievable Story Inspired ‘Shōgun

‘Shōgun’ Episode 6 Declares War on Everything

The Future of 'Euphoria' Is Increasingly Uncertain

‘Shōgun’ Is One of the Best TV Series of the Year

IMAGES

Book Review
50 Best Book Review Templates (Kids, Middle School etc.) ᐅ TemplateLab
Book Review Template for Kids (Tips & Activities)
Once by Morris Gleitzman
Kids' Book Review: Review: Once
How to Write a Great Book Review

VIDEO

Reading Vlog: Once Upon a Book Club Unboxing
📚A book you must read once ... #books #mindset #bookstagram #booklover #ytshorts
Unboxing the Exclusive Once Upon a Book Club Box. 🥳 📚
ONCE UPON A BOOK CLUB
book review ✨📖#booktube #booktok #bookreview #bookrecommendations #booktuber
FACING MY FEARS AT THE BOOKSTORE… STAY TUNED✨ #books

COMMENTS

ONCE
This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it's a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+) 97.
Once by Morris Gleitzman
Morris Gleitzman. 4.23. 25,199 ratings2,505 reviews. Once by Morris Gleitzman is the story of a young Jewish boy who is determined to escape the orphanage he lives in to save his Jewish parents from the Nazis in the occupied Poland of the Second World War. Everybody deserves to have something good in their life.
Once (novel)
Once is a 2005 children's novel by Australian author Morris Gleitzman.It is about a Jewish boy named Felix who lived in Poland and is on a quest to find his book-keeper parents after he sees Nazis burning the books from a Catholic orphanage in which had stayed at for 3 years and 8 months. He finds a girl named Zelda, unconscious in a burning house with her dead parents; he takes her with him ...
Kids' Book Review: Review: Once
This is an important book. A crushing book. And a beacon of light. The voice, the characters, the tone, the loss, the hope. You owe it to your children to hand them this book. Yes, it is sometimes graphic but it is beautifully handled and exquisitely done. I recommend Once for children aged 9 and up. If your child is particularly sensitive ...
Once
Once. Written by Morris Gleitzman. Review by Annemarie Simmons. This novel is about a young Jewish boy growing up in the 1930s in a Catholic orphanage in the German mountains. This boy has two secrets: one is that his parents are both alive, and two is that he's Jewish (which the other children don't know). His parents told him when they ...
Once Summary and Study Guide
Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "Once" by Morris Gleitzman. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Once Series by Morris Gleitzman
Once, Then, Now, After, Soon, Maybe, Always (Once, #7), and Once & Then. ... Book 1. Once. by Morris Gleitzman. 4.23 · 25216 Ratings · 2507 Reviews · published 2005 · 51 editions. ... 4.44 · 1073 Ratings · 88 Reviews · published 2009 · 17 editions. That's the good thing with stories. There's always…
Morris Gleitzman, 'Once' and Censorship. A Book Review
Germany's book burnings were a powerful statement and symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship (Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2021). 'Once', is an excellent book unafraid of describing the harrowing events of World War II and Hitler's heinous reign. Written by popular children's author Morris Gleitzman, Once is a popular book that is ...
Amazon.com: Once (Once Series, 1): 9780312653040: Gleitzman, Morris: Books
Once (Once Series, 1) Paperback - March 19, 2013. by Morris Gleitzman (Author) 2,511. Book 1 of 3: Once Series. #1 Best Seller in Teen & Young Adult Jewish Fiction. See all formats and editions. Felix, a Jewish boy in Poland in 1942, is hiding from the Nazis in a Catholic orphanage. The only problem is that he doesn't know anything about the ...
Once by Morris Gleitzman
Once was written by Morris Gleitzman in 2005. It is a work of fiction but was inspired by historic events, such as. the Holocaust. close. the Holocaust The Holocaust was the murder of ...
Review of Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
In keeping with previous Harlan Coben adaptations like Safe (2018), The Stranger (2020), Stay Close (2021), Fool Me Once will relocate the story from the US to the UK. Coben's books have also been made into French and Polish adaptations. Differences Between Fool Me Once (book) and Netflix Series. Jen's overall take on the Netflix series:
Book Review: "The Once Upon a Time World, "by Jonathan Miles
A Sunny Place for Shady People. Jonathan Miles's "Once Upon a Time World" is a delightful, dizzying romp through the world's most glamorous muse: the French Riviera. Once inaccessible to ...
Book Review: 'We Were Once a Family,' by Roxanna Asgarian
WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America, by Roxanna Asgarian. Even before all the facts trickled out, the little that was known was already terrible. On March ...
Book Review: 'Once Upon a Prime,' by Sarah Hart
Not so, says Sarah Hart, in her wide-ranging and thoroughly winning "Once Upon a Prime.". Hart couldn't be better placed to revisit the relationship between mathematical and literary study ...
Review: 'The Once And Future Witches,' By Alix Harrow : NPR
Redhook. Once upon a time, Alix Harrow wrote about three sisters. Also, suffragists, witching, folklore, flawed alliances, an alternate America, and women's work. She gave this second novel many ...
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Her second novel, Bellman & Black (2013 is a genre-defying tale of rooks and Victorian retail. January 2019 sees the publication of her new title, Once Upon a River, which has been called 'bewitching' and 'enchanting'. Born in Englefield, Berkshire in 1964, Diane spent most of her childhood in the nearby village of Theale.
FOOL ME ONCE
Once again, Coben marries his two greatest strengths—masterfully paced plotting that leads to a climactic string of fireworks and the ability to root all the revelations in deeply felt emotions—in a tale guaranteed to fool even the craftiest readers a lot more than once. 1. Pub Date: March 22, 2016. ISBN: 978--525-95509-2.
ONCE UPON A RIVER
amazon bookshop. In Setterfield's (Bellman and Black, 2014, etc.) new novel, a town by the River Thames is deeply shaken and inspired by the arrival—and apparent resurrection—of a mysterious young girl. At the Swan, an inn along the river, storytellers gather to spin their magic on cold winter nights. But not even the most creative teller ...
Book Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart novel by Stephanie Garber
Once Upon a Broken Heart is a spellbinding addition to the Caraval series, showcasing Stephanie Garber's prowess in crafting captivating tales of love, adventure, and deception. The novel's engaging characters, intricate plot, and exquisite writing style leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. If you are a fan of fantasy novels ...
Human and Animal Predators Together in the Scottish Highlands
This is a heartfelt and earnest novel — in every chapter, there's evidence of a writer straining for the cathedral cadence, that elegiac note of aching significance — but sincerity doesn't ...
'The Three-Body Problem' Is Brilliant. '3 Body Problem' Is Better
Bradley's right. I've seen screeners for the entire season, and I was astonished by its quality; 3 Body Problem holds mostly true to the spirit of the source text, preserving its strengths ...
Book Review: I Once was Lost
Book Review: I Once was Lost. The process of coming to faith is a journey, though most of our evangelism training on scripts and presentation all focus on the end point of the journey. I recently read I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus by Don Everts, Doug Schaupp (Authors)
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
Be sure to visit Bantering Books to read all my latest reviews. Migrations is a tough act to follow. Especially in my eyes, what with it being the book I most treasure. But I am happy to report that Charlotte McConaghy's latest novel, Once There Were Wolves, does not disappoint. Delete that. Yes, it does. No, it doesn't. Yes, it does. No ...
The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence
Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence. ... Was interesting to learn how journalists fastidiously review, reorder and scrape descriptions, to increase their power.
Once Upon a River
ONCE UPON A RIVER. By Bonnie Jo Campbell. 348 pp. W. W. Norton & Company. $25.95. Jane Smiley is the author of "Private Life," "A Good Horse," "The Man Who Invented the Computer" and ...
Book review: Kara Swisher's big tech tell-all feels dated and out of
Book review: Fervour is a slow-burn Jewish family drama Among supposedly big reveals: Zuckerberg, in his live interview with Swisher, was publicly "melting", and at her suggestion, removed his ...
Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef
Kiyash Monsef. A novel about an Iranian American girl who discovers that her father was secretly a veterinarian to mythical creatures—and that she must take up his mantle, despite the many dangers. Once was, once wasn't. So began the stories Marjan's father told her as a little girl—fables like the story of the girl who sprung a unicorn ...
'3 Body Problem': Book vs. TV Show Differences
Ye Wenjie's fate. Without a doubt, the most book-accurate aspects of 3 Body Problem involve Ye Wenjie. In 1960s-set sections, where young Ye Wenjie is played by Zine Tseng, we get nearly ...
Julia Holter: 'Something in the Room She Moves' Album Review
Something in the Room She Moves Makes Julia Holter Tactile Once More The LA musician's latest processes difficult life changes while juggling them with gratitude for new beginnings, but does so in ...

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Share Book Reviews

Latest articles

Browse articles by tag

Summary and Study Guide

Related Titles

Featured Collections

The Tech Librarian

Morris Gleitzman, ‘Once’ and Censorship. A Book Review

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Review of Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

Plot Summary for Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben (book)

Fool Me Once Characters

Protected Spoilers for Fool Me Once: The Book’s Ending Explained

Who Killed Whom in Fool Me Once? Buckle Up!

My Questions About Fool Me Once (book)

Fool Me Once on Netflix: What We Know

Differences Between Fool Me Once (book) and Netflix Series

About Jen Ryland

Privacy Policy

Book Reviews

You'll Want To Open Every One Of 'The Ten Thousand Doors Of January'

ONCE UPON A RIVER

HOUSE OF LEAVES

NORMAL PEOPLE

Please select an existing bookshelf

Please sign up to continue.

Almost there!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Once Upon a Broken Heart Book Review: a captivating fairy tale for readers

Author Introduction

Point of View

Dialogue and Hot Chapters

Writing Style

Wrapping Up

RELATED ARTICLES

Air Mata Maduku Bab-Bab Populer: Pengabdian Yang Berbalas Pengkhianatan!

I Refuse to Divorce! Hot Chapters: Zoe's Painful Ride to Success in the Wake of a Broken Relationship

La Revancha de Anna capítulos calientes: El triste desengaño de Anna y su lenta recuperación

Amor por Contrato Capítulos Calientes: Esconder la Verdadera Identidad Cuando Existen Problemas en la Relación Sentimental

Mi Ex Mujer se Convierte en Rica Capítulos Calientes: Recuperar a la ex pareja después del divorcio, el amor perdona

Four or Dead Hot Chapters: Emma's Journey from Torment to Redemption

RECENT ARTICLES

Pak Jihan Jangan Galau Lagi, Nona Wina Sudah Menikah Bab Panas: Terlambat Menyadari Kehadiranmu, Aku Ingin Merebutmu Kembali Wina!

พลิกชะตารัก มรดกเซียน บทยอดนิยม (ฉินหมิง)

ทะลุมิติไปเป็นช่างเสริมสวยยุค 80 บทยอดนิยม

นางบำเรอแสนรัก บทยอดนิยม (อัณชญา ชินภพ)

Demon Slayer Fan Fiction Wiki & TOP 5 List: Explore the World of Fan Created Stories, Storylines and Characters, Best Themes, Works and Authors, Popular Websites.

Cookie banner

Follow The Ringer online:

Site search

‘The Three-Body Problem’ Is Brilliant. ‘3 Body Problem’ Is Better.

Share this story

Share All sharing options for: ‘The Three-Body Problem’ Is Brilliant. ‘3 Body Problem’ Is Better.

The Ringer ’s Streaming Guide

Next Up In TV

Sign up for the The Ringer Newsletter

‘OSP’ Sweet 16 Recap With J. Kyle Mann

Inside TMZ’s Cozy Relationship With Hollywood

‘X-Men ’97’ Episodes 1-3 Deep Dive

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Instant Reactions

Ranking Playoff Teams’ Second Options and Concerns for College Development

Book Review: I Once was Lost

You might like to read . . .

Reader Interactions

Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Rural Michigan Gothic

ONCE UPON A RIVER

Explore More in Books

The Straits Times

Book review: Kara Swisher’s big tech tell-all feels dated and out of touch

Burn Book: A Tech Love Story

How 3 Body Problem Differs From the Book

One Book Character Is Split Into Three

Jin’s and Will’s Stories Jump Ahead to the Third Book

Book 2’s and Book 3’s Timelines Match Up, Mostly

Tor Books The Three-Body Problem

Evans, Judgment Day, and Vera

The San-Ti and the Sophons

Ye Wenjie’s fate

Saul the Wallfacer