I read this book way back in July, and was left a little mentally depleted by it, hence the late review.
The Dark Forest is the second book in the Three Body trilogy by Cixin Liu. I have reviewed the first book here.
Book Synopsis
My Review
The Dark Forest is pretty mind-bending, and it's hard to find the words to do justice to all that's happening in the book. So for this review, I"ll just focus on a few main points.
Wallfacers vs Wallbreakers
To fight the threat of the Trisolaran invasion, the Planetary Defence Council decides on setting up four wallfacers - giving them all encompassing powers and resources to prepare a defence against the Trisolarians.
To battle the Wallfacers, the Trisolarians set up corresponding Wallbreakers. The battle of wits between them make up the first part of the book - and was extremely interesting, if a little cerebral. This kind of reminded me very much of Asimov's Robot or Foundation series - very logical and analytical.
The Massive Timeframes
Once the Wallfacer vs Wallbreaker project somewhat resolves itself, the massive science-fiction pieces start. In this world, it still takes some time for the Trisolarians to make their way from their planet to Earth.
What this means is that this book spans 100s of years with characters dying off, hibernating, and more. This is a vast in scope book! At the end of part 1, Luo Ji (our wallfacer) decides to hibernate and wake up a 100 years later to set up the rest of his plans. And it was fascinating to see how the world changed within that time. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the book. It's not just technological changes, but also the change in people, way of thinking, and lifestyle.
Don't you think it would be just a fascinating thing to be able to hibernate a few hundred years and then wake up to see the world?The heavy action in the end
I read the last portion of the book with a heavy sense of dread and impending doom. One of the heroes Zhang Beihai (one of the commanders of the space defence forces) foresees that all the preparations made by Earth will not work against the Trisolarians, and he does a radical escape plan.
At the same time, Luo Ji on Earth has an ace up his sleeve, and he suddenly turns things around for Earth at the last minute.
Like I said, super-exciting stuff.
Problems with the book
So this book was wonderful, epic science-fiction of the type I've not read recently. Fascinating, thrilling stuff - combining hardcore action with philosophical ideas. But still there were some problems with it.
Crappy writing/translation
This is not beautiful writing, in places it's clunky and wordy in the extreme. I think it could be a translation issue, as I didn't find The Three Body Problem, which has a different translator as hard to read.
Crappy characters
This is harder to forgive. I went in prepared to like Luo Ji (the wallfacer) in whose brain we are immersed in during the first half of the book. But it was so hard! I disliked him thoroughly. There is a portion about him mooning over a dream girl. And because he's a wallfacer, he actually requests the Planetary Defence Council to find his dream girl for him.
The dream girl is a typical man's idea of a dream girl - sweet, pleasing, always obedient. Ugh! I just wanted to gag! This isn't the only thing - the women in the book (and there are may be 2 or 3 only) are all disappointing.
Dense
This is not an easy reading book. I had to take frequent time-outs to process what was going on. Was the book worth it though? Yes, I would say so. However, definitely this series is for hardcore sci-fi fans rather than someone just dabbling in the genre. For the latter type of reader, I'd suggest books like The Martian or Artemis instead.
A quote from the book
"The real universe is just that black." Luo Ji waved a hand, feeling the darkness as if stroking velvet. "The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life - another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod - there's only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people."
The Dark Forest
Overall, a great if daunting work. I now look forward to reading Death's end. I know it's going to be hard, but I also feel confident that it will be worth it.
Have you read this series? What do you think about it? Any other sci-fi recommendations you can give me?
Nish
Voracious reader, vegetarian foodie, mostly armchair traveler, and frequent online shopper. I love to talk about all these passions (and other things happening in my life) in this blog.
