I don't usually read much hard sci-fi. Quite honestly I'm more of a Dr. Who kinda girl. I was intimidated at the thought of reading TTBP, but found myself lost in the narrative almost from the start. 
 The premise of TTBP sounds simple enough. Contact has been made with an alien culture, but the details of said contact are left mostly hidden until the final pages. There were some surprises involved, and set up for the next installments. Some reviewers found the historical background included in the opening chapters was a bit too in-depth, but I appreciated the story being set outside of the west, and the honest critique of Chinese culture from a Chinese author. I don't have a science background, so many of the descriptions of quantum physics were beyond me. It seemed believable enough; however, if future books have this level of detail I might be skimming those passages. Another common complaint in other reviews is that the VR game isn't much of a game at all. Well yes, if your idea of a game is a first-person shooter, this game would fall short. I am not a gamer, but it seemed to me to be an otherworldly version of the Oregon Trail, but instead of dying of dysentery, you burned to death, or imploded. Fun stuff right? Plus it provides the background to truly understand the scope of the three body problem. 
 I think the biggest complaint is the flatness of some of the characters. When Ye Wenji is introduced in the first chapters, she witnesses her father's death ala Arya Stark. I wondered if she would be as crazy awesome as Arya, but she comes across as half dead, and later just sad. Overall there seems to be a lack of love and human empathy in the story. Maybe this is just a feature of hard sci-fi, or maybe something got lost in translation. I suppose if I really want to read something touchy-feely, I'll need to switch genres. 
 Looking forward to the next two volumes in the series. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a more adult version of Ender's Game.