I read the latter in English. I wonder how much of the sometimes tediously long exposition and ham-handed language was due to translation.
The author does a good job of keeping the science plausible and grounded in reality. It certainly does get fantastical, but never to the point of distraction. I never found myself making eye rolls at the book and it's clear the author, Richard Philips, did his research.
The story itself is entertaining and it features very short chapters, which makes it easy to find a stopping point very quickly when you need it. There are a lot of intertwined subplots to follow, but never too many as to be overwhelmed. And that also means if one of them is boring (I didn't quite like the reporter's one), then you can sort of gloss over those sections. And the short chapters keep the "pain" of those sections to a minimum at a time.
And as a bonus, it's free to rent on Amazon Prime. I'd definitely give it a try.
I recently finished the first book of the "The Tree Body Problem" series (the second one will be translated to English soon) and I really enjoyed the beginning and middle part of it, which are packed with interesting scientific ideas and an intricate and captivating plot. Towards the end the book tends to become a lot more unrealistic and even a bit "cheesy" though. An example would be the hyper-dimensional computers that the Trisolarians send to Earth to hinder our scientific progress. Still, it is a very good read and packed with fascinating ideas that will make you think.
Another example of very good contemporary science fiction is Ramez Naam's "Nexus Arc" series of books, which I actually liked much better than the Three-Body Problem, and which are a bit more plausible and realistic as well.