[CarelessExpert]

I could not agree more with this. I find sci fi authors can fall into the trap of being so in love with their concept they forget about the characters, and IMO The Three Body problem has that issue in spades; I just didn't care about the characters. They struck me as two dimensional cardboard cutouts.

Now, I grant you, some of the challenge might be in a) lacking Chinese historical and cultural background, and b) the nature of the translation itself. But I simply could not get into this series.