The book begins by describing the tragic war that occurred in China during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s by a group known as the Red Union. The revolutionary group aimed to eliminate anti-revolutionary people and concepts referred to as “monsters and demons” in the book.

Ye Wenjie, a girl whose father Ye Zhetai was a professor at Tsinghua University, witnesses his death at the hands of the red guards of Red Union due to his reactionary behavior. Ye Wenjie's sister, Ye Wenxue, happens to be one of the red guards, and their mother is also a physics professor. Following in her family's footsteps, Ye Wenjie becomes well-versed in Astrophysics. Devastated by her father's death, she is forced to join the construction corps company, a revolutionary organization responsible for deforestation around the radar peak area, which houses a mysterious and feared antenna. Radar peak is a secretive military base for the red coast and has been the site of numerous unnatural activities. 

Ye Wenjie's perspective on the revolutionary world changes when she reads a book called "The Silent Spring," which is given to her by a person she considers a friend but is later betrayed by on false accusations. She is framed for reactionary behavior and given the choice between a 10-year jail sentence or working indefinitely at the radar peak base for the Red Coast. She chooses to stay at the Red Coast base and handle simple operations. 

Four decades later, Wang Miao, a nanotech scientist, is asked by Shi Qiang, also known as Da Shi, to join the battle command center. He is tasked with uncovering the reason behind the mysterious deaths of members of the Frontiers Of Science. During a meeting at the battle command center, Wang Miao is given a list of scientists who have committed suicide in recent months. One particular name catches his attention immediately: Yang Dong, who is Ye Wenjie's daughter. In her suicide note, she mentions that physics does not exist in the real world. Wang Miao is instructed to closely monitor the actions of the members of the Frontiers Of Science. The next day, Wang Miao visits Ding Yi, Yang Dong's fiancé. They play a strange game of pool and come to the conclusion that the laws of physics are not consistent across time and space. As Wang Miao is a skilled photographer, he has a realization while taking pictures of the city. He discovers references to two hypotheses involving the fundamental nature of the laws of physics: the "shooter" hypothesis and the "farmer" hypothesis. 

Shortly after, Wang Miao is haunted by a series of countdowns flashing before his eyes, which drives him to the brink of madness. He seeks out Ye Wenjie, who reveals her experiences at the Red Coast base. With her help, Wang Miao discovers that the universe flickers like a fluorescent tube. Wang Miao visits Shen Yufei, a member of the Frontiers Of Science, who advises him to stop his nanotech research for his own good. Wang Miao, consumed by Shen Yufei's words, asks his coworkers to temporarily halt the research. Miraculously, the countdown also stops. While visiting Shen Yufei's home, Wang Miao finds her wearing a V-suit and playing a game called "3body." Intrigued, he puts on a V-suit and starts playing the game on his office computer. He is astounded by the game's setting, which features two eras: a chaotic era and a stable era. The inhabitants of the game's civilizations have the ability to dehydrate themselves and roll up like paper, only to rehydrate themselves with a drop of water. 

The world of "3body" has three suns, often referred to as stars by the characters. The players' mission is to unravel the mystery of the unpredictable interactions among the three suns, known as the "three-body" conspiracy. After playing numerous games, Wang Miao finally uncovers the conspiracy of the stable era and the chaotic era with the help of an algorithm created by Wei Cheng, Shen Yufei's husband. However, no one has been able to solve the three-body problem conspiracy. Many "three-body" players are eventually summoned to a meeting. The room fills with people, and the attention is drawn to Mr. Pan Han, the prime suspect in the murder of Shen Yufei and a renowned environmentalist who is also a prominent member of the "3body." To Wang Miao's surprise, Ye Wenjie, whom he least expected, also appears in the room as the commander. Ye Wenjie, an adventist, expresses her hatred for the human world and calls for the elimination of human tyranny. She recounts her time at the Red Coast base, where she made contact with the trisolaran people (aliens) and requested their help in destroying the human race and establishing a new civilization. Eventually, Da Shi interrupts, and Ye Wenjie is sent to jail and interrogated by the police. During the interrogation, she reveals information about the deaths of her husband Yang Weining, a chief engineer at the Red Coast base, and Lei Zhicheng, a political commissar at the Red Coast base. Meanwhile, Wang Miao, Ding Yi, and Da Shi realize that the mystery of the three-body problem cannot be solved. They discover that the aliens are attempting to invade Earth and prevent scientific progress in order to protect themselves from the threat of humans and hinder human technological advancements. The trisolarans create a sophon, which is sent to Earth to impede further research. After the chaos, humanity emerges victorious in the ultimate war between the adventists and the redemptionists. However, humanity is ultimately doomed to extinction in the future. In the end, they are all just "little bugs."

The three-body problem, considered as one of the best science fiction novels that won a Hugo award, talks about high end technologies and research centers that deal with the communication between mankind and the trisolaris. The translator of the book Ken Liu translated each and every plot unblemished. Whereas being the writer, Cixin Liu also did a marvelous job by conveying different mysteries and exciting twists and turns that sent chills through the spines. The stature of the story remains unchanged throughout that gives the reader a proper understanding of the views and ideas of the book that the writer has included.

Throughout the novel, the story contains a lot of propositions about science and technology, laws of physics and highly revolutionized concepts in the field of science in a terrific way which I suppose would come to a greater understanding by the people who come from a mathematical or a physics background. The book talks about the unsolvable conspiracy of the three-body that creates an issue of civilization in the world for the trisolaris. The explanations and the laws of physics that are given in the book also can’t be ignored as it possesses a great deal of knowledge and information. The setting of the book is mostly settled on the technical and the fundamental aspects of physics.

The characters in the book best believe in the strong revolutionary changes throughout the world where it deals with different inhuman activities such as barbaric murder, torture and a very controversial matter taken into account, that is deforestation. Well aware about the activities and the personal eyewitness Mrs. Ye Wenjie’s character seems to be the most interesting one among all. Her struggle from young age to the time till her 60’s is shown with a lot of emotions. Her way of analyzing the human world and resenting mankind is kind of a shock for everyone. Her time at the red coast base is one of the fascinating parts of the novel where she interacts with the aliens. Her character was found pretty essential in the book.Wang Miao on the other hand, gets to encounter each and every twist and turns that fulfills the novel. Wang Miao’s subtle and wise mindset gives another path for the book to reach its best.

In my opinion, the book is an absolute balance between the historic aspects as well as the scientific and revolutionary aspects which are mentioned in the story. The thoughts, ideas and the concepts of the book, in my opinion, have amalgamated together in such a way that it provides such satisfaction to the reader. It has grown the feeling of respect for scientific knowledge and ideas and I look forward to reading these kinds of science fiction books in the future.

I would recommend this book to those people who look forward to technical studies and physics based knowledge and who love reading science fiction. This book is highly recommended to the adults who can enjoy and understand the book through its deepest aspects and also the people who do not get triggered by vulgar and vicious activities like murder and torture. 

“The trisolarans who deemed the humans bugs seemed to have forgotten one fact: The bugs have never been truly defeated.” are the words uttered by Da Shi which really brings me to attention. Overall, the three-body problem is the masterpiece loved by all the readers across the globe and a very impactful book that floods the human mind with a pile of knowledge.