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renatus_permuto's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
- It makes plenty of callbacks to the previous entries, making it a more cohesive story.
- Becomes an epic narrative the further the books progresses. It’s rather… trippy toward the end.
- Expands greatly on the concept of dark forest. However sometimes it feels unnecessary (
cleasing gene and hiding gene ) or doesn’t always make much sense (if the Universe is a dark forest, how do groups such as the Zero-Homer or Returners; In the end did the Trisolarans establish good relations with Humanity or just Cheng Xin and Yifan?; ) - There are a lot of massive plot twists as per the previous entries. Most are very good, but some leave a lot to be desired (
the return of Yun Tianming only to then not reuniting with Cheng Xin because billions of years come to pass ) - Some plot lines could have been better explored for better world building (
the new Human worlds ) or emotional purposes (the destruction of the Solar System felt rather cold without paying much attention to Humanity itself ), but this is a concept-driven story, so it’s acceptable
Graphic: War, Genocide, and Violence
Minor: Sexism
maddie_can_read's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I think Liu partially redeemed the lack of developed female characters in the second novel by having the main character and a secondary character be women.
However, I think the author has some odd notions about femininity that are expressed throughout the novel. Obviously it was translated and Eastern and Western cultures have different broad views.
Loved the weird stuff.
Explored some very interesting concepts.
A book structure spoiler:
Spoiler Spoilers:
I enjoyed the friendship between Ai AA and Cheng but wished it were more developed.
Loved that Luo Ji came back and his character development. Feels weird because the novel is pretty long and meanders a lot but then at the end it feels a bit rushed. I was hoping to see more about 4d space, Yun's time with the Trisolarians/ how he got a body, what did he and Ai do for the rest of their lives etc
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Suicide, Violence, Classism, Deportation, Gore, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Grief, and Blood
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Genocide, Death, and Violence
Moderate: War, Misogyny, and Body horror
Minor: Cannibalism, Ableism, and Gun violence
malessia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Genocide
Moderate: Violence, War, and Gun violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Cancer
coralswank's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Genocide, War, Death, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny
mandkips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Genocide
Moderate: War, Misogyny, and Body horror
Minor: Gun violence, Ableism, and Sexism
shermansays's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: War, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Minor: Sexism and Cannibalism
savvylit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What ultimately made this a three-star read for me was the misogyny in this book that really felt overwhelming. Cixin Liu does not seem to like women. Unfortunately, like a lot of other "classic" sci-fi from the Western canon, women are often poorly portrayed in this series. The most obvious & shameful example of this is the fact that all of humanity's poorest and most naive decisions regarding alien contact are made by female characters. Even though this book features the very rad & highly-educated female protagonist of Cheng Xin, her "weak" femininity and "motherly" inclinations are constantly emphasized. These qualities eventually lead to a few huge mistakes on behalf of the entire human race. Gross.
Relatedly, Cixin Liu also seems absolutely obsessed with the gender binary. There is an era in this book's timeline in which all the men are constantly described as incredibly "effeminate." Many characters lament the loss of "true" masculinity during this time. This era comes to represent a time period in human history where humanity failed at making the correct decisions. What an elaborate way to show how much of a misogynist you are - by saying that the one era without masculine leaders was the most foolish and complacent era of humankind.
Graphic: War, Death, Violence, Misogyny, Grief, and Murder
violetandirises's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Gun violence, Body horror, Violence, and Terminal illness
sequelmage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The book also reads very much like a history with brief narrative breaks. There isn’t much of a cohesive narrative plot. It’s just a series of major events that directed the course of human civilization. The main protagonist is also super flat and unlikable.
But overall not a terrible conclusion.
Moderate: Violence