dull

Sorry but the story and narrator came across as dull with just enough interest to keep you going. some interesting bits and loads of unanswered questions

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Very believable and interesting story

Very believable and interesting story. Interesting characters. Good narrator. Preparation for the superb 3 body problem books, or a nice dessert. Reccommended.

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2 people found this helpful

"There was lightning that night."

After a freak accident in which both of his parents died when he was a child, Chen dedicates himself to the nature and futures of ball lightning. An hard science book both fascinating and way over my head. Because of this, and with very flat characterisation, it became boring and a struggle to continue at times, further increased by the slow delivery of narrator Bruno Roubiacek.
This is my first book by Dixon Liu. Undeterred, I will move on to Three Body Problem soon

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A weird and wonderful sci-fi

I really enjoyed this story for its ability to write about incredibly complex scientific theories and possibilities in a way that could be understood easily.

The storyline itself was engaging and captivating, and with a little bit more character development it could easily have been a 5 star read for me.

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Interesting story as far as I got

The concepts presented are intriguing but the performance of the Russian section was so bad I found myself completely tuning out. I think I'll have to pick up a printed copy to finish the story.

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1 person found this helpful

good science but not great fiction

great narrator, the concepts were fascinating and well explained but the story wasn't very compelling

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was really cool concepts, writing style was not the best

this really had some cool thoughts and ideas. the issue with this book is the writing style, some parts are dragged out and doesn't keep me engaged. the 2nd half of the middle was the best part and most engaging.

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An interesting story

This is my first time reading a Cixin Liu book, and I picked this up hearing it was a prequel to his popular Three Body series. I was pleasantly surprised, Ball Lightning is a slow but engaging story that explores interesting science fiction concepts. Everything feels very real and grounded in reality, as if some of the things mentioned in this book could be real.
Bruno Roubicek's narration takes a little getting used to, but I do think he did an excellent job. I highly recommend

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This is science speculation: which universe ?

The author takes us on a journey from a tragic and dramatic personal event through an understandable and credible mission to understand the phenomenon of ball lightning into a logical progression involving quantum physics and philosophy. The main protagonist's relationships and interactions with other major figures, especially the female colleague/love interest/superior/mentor as well as the science becomes intense and holds the reader's interest.

The narration is superb and captures the differences between men and women as well as the status and background of the characters. The pronunciation of the Chinese names was consistent and the voice acting helped keep track of who was talking and how the story progressed.

I have deducted a star for the story as at one point there is a reliance upon sophisticated technology to make a novel event happen. This event destroys all technology within a wide radius of the event. A plot necessity is that repeatedly triggering this event in the same place becomes a threat. This overlooks that the event cannot be triggered again in the same place as the necessary technology was destroyed by the first triggering.

Despite this flaw, this book made me think about parallel universes, intersecting time-lines and whether events are really chance or random. I am looking forward to the Three Body Problem trilogy of which this is the prequel.

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Excellent

Just superb, I really like Bruno's delivery. The story was fantastic, Highly recommended 👌

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