The Three Body Problem trailer for the new Netflix adaptation is out. I must say I am very skeptical of this one. This being one of my favorite books I have my doubts that they will do it justice. I'm sure it will be visually interesting and everything, but that's not really the point. Especially not for book 1.
I recently watched both the Tencent live adaptation as well as the animated adaptation of The Dark Forest and sometimes I feel like these books were better left on paper. The live show wasn't bad or anything it just has a different feel to it on screen that's hard to understand.
Warning: please refrain from posting book spoilers in this thread. General discussion is fine.
That gives a lot more perspective hearing how you found the 3rd book to be in print vs audio formats. Normally audio books will push me past points I lose focus on in print. My prime example is The Dark Tower series, I tried to start the first book 2 times in print, and petered out ASAP, but the audio book can push me past those boring points. The issue with the 3rd book in The Three Body Problem is, it's all a slog. At some points it stops even feeling like a real narrative and moves into just droning on about details on things.
I've been having increasing issues with audio books with my mind wandering in a way it never did before, but holy shit Death's End was 95% mind wandering for me. Since you mention it, I think you're right, comparing book 1 vs book 2 feels like what ever filter kept the author on the straight and narrow to focus down his story is no longer present. This let him just fly with ideas that just don't really work to construct a compelling cohesive story.
If I knew the 4th and 5th books were amazing, I would probably finish Death's End, but at this point I don't know that I will.