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Ball Lightning Paperback – June 25, 2019

by Cixin Liu (Author), Joel Martinsen (Translator)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,890 ratings
Editors' pick Best Science Fiction & Fantasy
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From the New York Times bestselling author of the Three-Body Trilogy, Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning is the story of what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against the drive to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences.

When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of this mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station.

The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier. While Chen’s quest for answers gives purpose to his lonely life, it also pits him against soldiers and scientists with motives of their own: a beautiful army major with an obsession with dangerous weaponry, and a physicist who has no place for ethical considerations in his single-minded pursuit of knowledge.

"Wildly imaginative."―Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy

Tor books by Cixin Liu

The Three-Body Problem Series
#1 The Three-Body Problem
#2 The Dark Forest
#3 Death's End

Previous page
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    June 25, 2019
  4. Dimensions
    6.1 x 1 x 9.15 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    076539409X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0765394095
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wildly imaginative, really interesting." -President Barack Obama on the Three-Body Problem trilogy

“A breakthrough book . . . a unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology.” ―George R. R. Martin, on The Three Body Problem

“Extraordinary.” ―The New Yorker, on The Three Body Problem

“Remarkable, revelatory and not to be missed.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on The Three Body Problem

"A must-read in any language.” ―Booklist, on The Three Body Problem

"A meditation on technology, progress, morality, extinction, and knowledge that doubles as a cosmos-in-the-balance thriller.... a testament to just how far [Liu's] own towering imagination has taken him: Far beyond the borders of his country, and forever into the canon of science fiction. - NPR, on Death's End

"The best kind of science fiction, familiar but strange all at the same time." -- Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Three Body Problem

About the Author

CIXIN LIU is the most prolific and popular science fiction writer in the People’s Republic of China. Liu is a winner of the Hugo Award, an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award (the Chinese Hugo) and a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. Prior to becoming a writer, he worked as an engineer in a power plant. His novels include The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End.

Joel Martinsen is research director for a media intelligence company. His translations have appeared in Words Without Borders, Chutzpah!, and Pathlight. He lives in Beijing.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Books; Reprint edition (June 25, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 076539409X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0765394095
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1 x 9.15 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,890 ratings

About the author

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Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu

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Liu Cixin, born in June 1963, is a representative of the new generation of Chinese science fiction authors and recognized as a leading voice in Chinese science fiction. He was awarded the China Galaxy Science Fiction Award for eight consecutive years, from 1999 to 2006 and again in 2010. His representative work The Three-body Problem is the BEST STORY of 2015 Hugo Awards, the 3rd of 2015 Campbell Award finalists, and nominee of 2015 Nebulas Award.

His works have received wide acclaim on account of their powerful atmosphere and brilliant imagination. Liu Cixin's stories successfully combine the exceedingly ephemeral with hard reality, all the while focussing on revealing the essence and aesthetics of science. He has endeavoured to create a distinctly Chinese style of science fiction. Liu Cixin is a member of the China Writers' Association and the Shanxi Writers' Association.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
1,890 global ratings
Way way out there
5 Stars
Way way out there
I read his three body trilogy and thought it was the most imaginative set of books I've ever read - Ball Lightning is completely different, but he still manages to be completely captivating and groundbreaking... not sure how he does it.
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Top reviews from the United States

Thomas A. Reilly
5.0 out of 5 stars best si fi book currently available
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Sixty one years ago when I was in high school I could recognize 3 shining stars in science fiction, Azimov, Clark, Heinlein. Now 61 years later there is an even more brilliant star Cixin Liu a Chinese science fiction writer who has won multiple awards.

His latest book just published in English is Ball Lightening. This story is worth whatever award that it might win. I waited months for it to be published and it was so worth the wait!

I finished the book Ball Lightening by Cixin Liu which is easily the best SF book that I've read in years even better than the Three Body series.

The story plays on advanced physics. The theory Liu about which he writes is not only speculative but incredibly inventive and this carries the reader through the book as fast as one is able to read. And the story concludes with a bang far from a whimper of disappointment.

Yet the book is not only about science, his characters are very well developed. By the end of the book one has developed an interest in them and they appear as very real people; and when as I read along I developed and interest and concern in the characters none of whom are flat.

So Cixin has developed an inventive science based novel as well as excellent character development. And finally like Azimove he lays out a world social milieu which had become responsive to the development of the science that the author has created.

This is a remarkable book. Once started I found that every available moment I had to find myself a quiet place to read. The only moment of disappointment I had during my reading the book was the sentence "At the moment, I'm sure that the quantum rose will smile at me" -- Cixin Liu's last sentence of the book.
54 people found this helpful
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Josh Mauthe
4.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't compare to Three-Body Problem, but still complex, compelling, and fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2020
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It's hard not to compare Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning to his incredible Three-Body Problem series, and I'll be the first to admit that doing so doesn't do Ball Lightning many favors. The Three-Body Problem is something staggering, taking a slew of complex concepts and pulling them together into an exploration of life across the universe, the nature of existence, and so much more. Ball Lightning is a much smaller work, and as Liu concedes in his afterword, it's much more of a Chinese work of science-fiction - it's focused very much on Chinese breakthroughs and explorations of science, rather than something larger. And yet, that doesn't really detract from some of the mind-bending ideas at play here, or just how ambitiously odd Ball Lightning can be, once you can get it out of the shadow of Liu's masterpiece.

Ball Lightning, as the title suggests, orbits around a study of the bizarre phenomenon of ball lightning, which affects the life of our protagonist at an early age. And over the course of a life dedicated to its study, he finds himself involved in military applications of his science, questions about the nature of the universe, and much more. At its best moments, Ball Lightning really grapples with the questions raised by science - what responsibility do scientists have when their work is used to hurt and kill other human beings? Can the quest for knowledge be separated from its uses? Those are thorny questions, and Liu doesn't have easy answers to them - something which gives the book a moral depth that resonated with me.

Other aspects of Ball Lightning aren't quite as strong, though. The character who comes to most represent the weaponization of science ends up feeling like a one-note characterization, which is more disappointing since she's one of the book's only female characters. Meanwhile, while Liu's ideas about ball lightning are original and truly imaginative, they never feel like they're explored in as much depth as you'd wish - there are implications there that could drive a whole trilogy, once again. Even so, Ball Lightning is well worth a read; its ideas are compelling, its exploration of science comes from a place of love but also a place of complex ideas, and its imagination is boundless. Just try to set aside expectations that might be set by one of the great works of science fiction.
8 people found this helpful
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Thaddeus Tuffentsamer
5.0 out of 5 stars Another amazing read from Cixin Liu.
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024
Verified Purchase
Going into this book, I had not been prepared for it being a sort of prequel to the Three Body Problem trilogy. Ding Yi is in this book as well as a mention of alien life that has observed them working on Macro entanglement. These aliens and Yi, are, by the authors admission, the ones from the aforementioned trilogy.

I did not have an idea of how this story would develop. The main protagonist spends his life searching for ball lightning, to wind up working on advanced weapons with the military, to becoming completely disenchanted and became tornado chaser, only to have the last 50 pages describe what happened to the woman he worked with.

I appreciated the book being written in the first person perspective as I’m a Sherlock Holmes fan and author. It was nice seeing this done.

The book did not head in the direction that I thought it would which became a nice surprise.

Every time I read a book from Cixin Liu, I feel as though I’ve read a physics textbook broken down into an understandable wrote.

The characters are well developed and written. You come to care about them.

The pacing is quick and the book never lags.

Another win.
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CC
3.0 out of 5 stars Something interesting, but drags at times.
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2018
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Entertaining enough, liked the physics angles and explanations, but tends to drag at times. Not as fun as the Three Body Problem triology.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Mia Bia
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique
Reviewed in Canada on March 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
It was refreshing to read a SF story that was not about space and/or aliens. Entertaining, educative and at times very touching with subtle beauty. The ending left a very special unforgettable impression on me... like a fragrance you can't forget ;)

I love this author. The 3 body problem series is the best SF I've ever read. I felt sad when I finished it cause I knew it will be long until I find another story that great, if ever...
3 people found this helpful
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DB
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2023
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Incredible- a must read for those that love intelligent and gripping stories
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
Reviewed in Spain on March 26, 2021
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Cixin Liu no defrauda. Esta novela es más accesible que la de Los Tres Cuerpos.
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Christoph Seifert
5.0 out of 5 stars Interessanter Spin zum Thema Kugelblitze
Reviewed in Germany on November 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
Das Phänomen der Kugelblitze - soweit ich weiß kann man die im Labor immer noch nicht gezielt reproduzieren - ist an sich schon mysteriös, auch wenn man dabei ausgehen kann, dass diese wohl so etwas wie Plasmabälle sein dürften.
Der Autor spinnt zu diesem Thema eine originelle Handlung bei der die Kugelblitze eine neue Art Physik darstellen. Auch spannend erzählt ist das Jagdfieber nach den Kugelblitzen.
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Daedalus
5.0 out of 5 stars Impecable
Reviewed in Mexico on October 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
Otra obra impecable de Liu. Antecede cronológicamente a la famosa trilogía (3BP) y vale ampliamente leerla por méritos propios. Combina de manera intrigante la especulación científica de primer nivel con ciencia dura, imaginación fantástica y personajes entrañables. 5/5
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