Liu Cixin's work reminds me of Asimov, in that the concept science fiction is really really engaging but the characters are little more than conduits. In this one, there's a character who is supposed to be highly accredited in both physics and philosophy... but at one point in the book, he says he's going to engage in a philosophical exercise only to just explain quantum physics. Latter, this supposed philosopher says;

"[life is insignificant] from a physics perspective. The form of matter movement known as life has no more meaning than any other movement of matter. You can't find any new physical laws in life, so from my standpoint, the death of a person and the melting of an ice cube are essentially the same thing."

Maybe it's just how it was translated, but what we're told about the character and how he actually acts doesn't really line up.

Also, if I had a nickle for every time a woman in a Liu Cixin novel brought about apocalyptic destruction on humanity, I would have 15¢. It's a weird trend, not sure how to unpack that.