Releasing on 21st March, 3 Body Problem is the latest big budget sci-fi series from Netflix that will adapt the famous and beloved novel by Liu Cixin. And before we go any further we have to specify that “The Three-Body Problem” is the title of the book and “3 Body Problem” is the title of the Netflix show. We’re not sure why this change was made, but just keep that in mind.

In preparation for the show’s release we picked a copy of the book up to give it a read before seeing if the latest swing from Netflix can manage to capture what many people say is an outstanding piece of writing.

Well after reading the book ourselves we can confirm that those nameless people were right. The Three-Body Problem is an amazing piece of literature that is very unique in its Chinese heritage.

We won’t be spoiling anything. You can read this article and still go into the book or show blind. We will, however, allude to the overall plot, but it’s nothing that isn’t provided as a synopsis for marketing material.

As a translated piece of literature we really appreciate the translator’s notes you can find at the bottom of many pages. Not only does this act as a way for English readers to properly understand some facets of Chinese society, but it also gives readers a bit of a history lesson. This real world history gives a nice backbone to the fictional elements of the story, making the overall experience of the story more believable, even as the plot becomes more fantastical the deeper you get into the pages.

The translator’s notes also dive into mathematical principles, explanations of physics and even some philosophy and religion. The Three-Body Problem is very good at mixing these elements: real history against a fictional future, complex real world science against sci-fi tech, human spirituality against a world that is routinely said to have been abandoned by God.

All of this may make The Three-Body problem sound like a slog to get through, but the book’s real trick is that the opposite is true. Despite all these big ideas – both fictional and non-fictional – it’s still a breezy read that you will struggle to put down.

While we can tell that many complex ideas are dumbed down for the sake of saving ink, it never feels like the author or the translator are talking down to us, the readers. We’re given what we need to know in a simple enough way to understand the story but without being stuck in a quagmire of unnecessary detail.

Readers can, of course, look into each of these complex items in their own time. Hell at one point the translator’s note even points directly to the specific pages of a science journal, just like a citation in a paper.

This element of the book, which is one of its main strengths, makes us very nervous for the show. In text form it is natural to break often to go into detail about complicated topics with the translator’s notes helping with that. In shows and movies this does the opposite and truly breaks any momentum and storytelling inertia that it may build up.

We’re sure many people are aware of the obnoxious trope in shows and movies where a scientist explains a black hold by folding a piece of paper over and poking a hole through it with a pencil. Now image that happening in every single scene. It will take a herculean effort on the part of the writers to maintain this level of satisfying complexity without stopping every few minutes to look into the camera and turn the show into an educational YouTube video.

From what we’ve seen so far we’re not too certain that this has been done. Take the exclusive clip below of Game of Thrones actor John Bradley who will also star in 3 Body problem. The dialogue is just not there and the showrunners just pepper in some F bombs seemingly for no reason.

The Three-Body Problem book does have one or two of these in there but they are saved for big moments, not experiencing VR for the first time. And while the point of this article isn’t to fish up differences between the book and the show, this VR is already a rather big departure. In the book the VR immersion is accomplished with a headset and a “V-suit” that simulates heat, cold, movement and more. In the show it is simply a futuristic headset and nothing more.

So to circle around to our headline: do you need to read The Three-Body Problem before watching 3 Body Problem?

We’re going to say no, but it may give you a better appreciation for the nuance that the show will ultimately leave out. Even if you don’t care about the history of China or science, it’s a lot of fun to learn why, for example, scientists couldn’t use the term “sunspot” given its Chinese translation and how it relates to certain figures in the history of the country.

If what we have described sounds like your cup of tea, pick up the book. It’s easily available in print and ebook form in the West. If you’d prefer to wait for the show that’s a good way to approach it too. If the show is good the book will be a nice way to get that extra detail and see how the two art forms diverged. If the show is bad (more on that in a minute), then that doesn’t change the high quality of the book.

To end we have to mention that The Three-Body problem is the name of the first book in the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy. The Three-Body Problem is followed up by The Dark Forest and then Death’s End after that.

And with that in mind let us drop a bomb on those who are unaware:

“From multiple Emmy Award-winning creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (Game of Thrones), and Emmy-nominated Alexander Woo (The Terror: Infamy, True Blood) comes 3 Body Problem, a thrilling story that redefines sci-fi drama with its layered mysteries and genre-bending high stakes. Based on the acclaimed, international bestselling book trilogy, The Three-Body Problem,” the description of the Netflix trailer reads.

Yes Benioff and Weiss, the dense duo who ruined Game of Thrones are once again at the helm of adapting a beloved series of books. If anyone doesn’t believe in the failing upward, especially for hacks in Hollywood, please pay attention to the careers of these two.

That aside we’re actually more hopeful for 3 Body Problem. This is because Game of Thrones truly ran off the rains and into a ditch when the show ran out of material written by the author George R. R. Martin. For the Remembrance of Earth’s Past, all the writing is done already, so Benioff and Weiss have actual good material to work off of and don’t need to create their own.

While that is a tiny bit of hope to cling to, temper your expectations. Even in that description there is technically a mistake as, like we’ve said a few times here, it is called the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy” but that description makes it sound like it’s the “Three-Body Problem trilogy”.

Nitpicking? Sure but Game of Thrones truly scarred us in a way we’ll never forget. And even though the text is complete this time around, it’s packed with specific detail that Benioff and Weiss may kind of forget.