--- product_id: 129944114 title: "Ball Lightning" brand: "cixin liu" price: "₩34562" currency: KRW in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.kr/products/129944114-ball-lightning store_origin: KR region: South Korea --- # Ball Lightning **Brand:** cixin liu **Price:** ₩34562 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Ball Lightning by cixin liu - **How much does it cost?** ₩34562 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.kr](https://www.desertcart.kr/products/129944114-ball-lightning) ## Best For - cixin liu enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted cixin liu brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Ball Lightning ## Images ![Ball Lightning - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/9180nrwuS7L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Doesn't compare to Three-Body Problem, but still complex, compelling, and fascinating *by J***E on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 14, 2020* 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. ### ⭐⭐ Great ideas but shaky execution *by N***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2023* Overall the plot is an interesting and cohesive near-future speculation. Unfortunately the work struggles to develop events, leaving a superficiality to them, and the character dialogue is stilted, awkward and melodramatic. The psychiatry of a strong woman with a weak and simplistic motivation was unfortunate. The work lacks a vitality for the most part, except for the intense Macro-fusion chapter, the conclusion, and scattered gems of bright and brilliant ideas in the mess of chapters.The through point of the ball lightning research and application is the most compelling part of the book, but the author ignores a workaround to one of the limitations he sets up for the story's sake (a workaround the author himself mentions earlier).Published the year before the first book of the trilogy masterpiece Remembrance of Earth's Past, this gives glimpses of what the author would do, but it does not approach those heights ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard Sci fi that goes off the rails... until it doesn't. *by D***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 24, 2018* The book flap and reviews of "Ball Lightning" reveal little about the story or plot, so I thought I'd talk a little about that without giving too much of the game away. It should be noted that the author (who claims to have personally experienced ball lightning) discusses the book's genesis in the afterword, which was originally released in China prior to the Three Body Problem at the publisher's behest. TBP name-checks ball lightning once or twice along with physicist Ding Yi, but mainly as teaser references the way Michael Moorcock might. The story feels familiar though as renegade scientists, quantum physics, military concerns and heroines figure prominently and there's even a hint of aliens (Trisolarans?) watching us from afar.In a nutshell, the story revolves around an atmospheric scientist who lost his parents to ball lightning getting sucked into a military attempt to weaponize the phenomena. The cast of characters expands to include others with deep personal connections to tragedies involving ball lightning or advanced weaponry in general, with Cold War-era research that goes nowhere until renegade physicist Ding Yi solves the puzzle and progress - involving some truly crazy quantum extrapolations - begins apace. Experimental weapons obsessive Lin Yun serves as the heroine driven by personal demons to exploit Ball Lightning (which turns out to have unusually broad and magical applications) in its war against the United States and perhaps indirectly, avenge her mother's death."Ball Lightning" is a smoother read than the "Three Body Problem" was; the relationships are better developed, the storytelling less forced, and the political Great Leap Forward tropes that weighed down TBP are nowhere to be found. The future science though is not up to the same level that TBP was, making suspension of disbelief a bit harder the second time around but you won't regret it, because... well, it's got a bit of a Hollywood ending. In fact, the whole book has a bit of a Hero's Journey feel to it, possibly written with film in mind. A great beach read! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.kr/products/129944114-ball-lightning](https://www.desertcart.kr/products/129944114-ball-lightning) --- *Product available on Desertcart South Korea* *Store origin: KR* *Last updated: 2026-04-24*