The Broken Binding Sci-Fi Sub #2: October & December ’24 & February ’25

In addition to the fantasy subscription, I also have the Sci-Fi subscription from The Broken Binding. This service is in the same spirit as the fantasy subscription, but instead of being monthly, the boxes are scheduled every two months. The first series of three boxes was for the standalone books by Andy Weir, but the second selection for the Sci-Fi subscription was for an actual science fiction series.

The boxes of October ’24, December ’24 and February ’25 were dedicated to the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Cixin Liu, of which The Three-Body Problem is the best-known book.

1967: Ye Wenjie witnesses Red Guards beat her father to death during China’s Cultural Revolution. This singular event will shape not only the rest of her life but also the future of mankind.

Four decades later, Beijing police ask nanotech engineer Wang Miao to infiltrate a secretive cabal of scientists after a spate of inexplicable suicides. Wang’s investigation will lead him to a mysterious online game and immerse him in a virtual world ruled by the intractable and unpredictable interaction of its three suns.

This is the Three-Body Problem and it is the key to everything: the key to the scientists’ deaths, the key to a conspiracy that spans light-years and the key to the extinction-level threat humanity now faces.

The Three-Body Problem has been on my TBR for a few years now. It sounds incredibly fascinating, but also incredibly intimidating. I was very curious about what The Broken Binding editions of this trilogy would look like and the first few teasers did not disappoint. Skipping this series never even crossed my mind.

As always, each book arrived neatly packaged. Unlike previous books, no specific sticker was made per book, but the same sticker was used for all three books. So with the pictures above it looks like I got the same book three times. Spoiler: this was not the case 😉

If The Broken Binding continues to work with illustrator Jeff Brown (@jeffbrown_graphics) for their special editions, there’s little chance I’ll ever find it in my heart to skip a series in my subscriptions with them. He can make such beautiful covers! Just look at these, so beautiful!! The compositions, colours and lighting are so gorgeous.

Under the cover, the hardcovers are fairly plain and uniform. All three books share the same black cover with gold foil design. They are only distinguished by their thickness and the text on the spine.

Brilliant choice to continue the rich colours of the covers on the book blocks. The top and bottom are sprayed in a uniform colour, but at the front one of the three bodies important to the series is illustrated. The colours really pop and are perfectly chosen.

Unlike my Fantasy subscription, the Sci-Fi books are not numbered and a signature is not guaranteed. These books were not signed by Cixin Liu, but do come with his stamped seal on the title page.

Inside, each book comes with two unique illustrations on the endpapers, one by Peng Lu (@penglu_art) in the front and one by Ricky Ho (@rickyho_concepts) in the back.