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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
I greatly enjoyed The Three-Body Problem, but it took me a little while to start on this sequel. Fortunately it doesn't rely to heavily on the minutiae of the first book, so I was able to pick up the thread of the story without any reference to the first volume. It's an interesting read, especially for someone who hasn't read a lot of "heavy" sci-fi, and the author is clearly orders of magnitude smarter than I will ever be. For readers unfamiliar with his style, a lot of this book will seem overly formal, pretentious even, but for me it fit exactly with the tone the book was going for, and even when the super-smart characters were talking about all their super-smart stuff, I didn't feel lost or left behind.
That being said, this is a huuuuuuge book. It's not Liu's style to use one word when he can use five instead, and it's not his style to use one scene to convey a concept when instead he can spread that concept out over a series of vignettes involving 70 different characters. It would've been easier to follow had this book cut 30% of its content. The sheer volume of scene after scene made a lot of the concepts discussed anti-climactic to me, especially the ultimate reveal of the "dark forest" philosophy (even though it is still an incredibly interesting concept that held my attention and left me still wondering after the end of the book). But the goal of this book is not to be an "easy" read, or to be a tightly-constructed novel, or even to be a linear narrative about a single concept or plot thread. Liu will always be a remarkable author for me, and even if his stories are not the most beautifully constructed works of art in the world, they have made me change the way I look at the night sky, and for that I will always come back to this series with fondness.
That being said, this is a huuuuuuge book. It's not Liu's style to use one word when he can use five instead, and it's not his style to use one scene to convey a concept when instead he can spread that concept out over a series of vignettes involving 70 different characters. It would've been easier to follow had this book cut 30% of its content. The sheer volume of scene after scene made a lot of the concepts discussed anti-climactic to me, especially the ultimate reveal of the "dark forest" philosophy (even though it is still an incredibly interesting concept that held my attention and left me still wondering after the end of the book). But the goal of this book is not to be an "easy" read, or to be a tightly-constructed novel, or even to be a linear narrative about a single concept or plot thread. Liu will always be a remarkable author for me, and even if his stories are not the most beautifully constructed works of art in the world, they have made me change the way I look at the night sky, and for that I will always come back to this series with fondness.
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought this was much better than the previous book. It was still a little tough to get through, but it was more consistently interesting. I liked all the exchanges between the Wallbreakers and the Wallfacers. I liked all the different methods the characters were using to figure things out. I liked the moment on the mountains and how they were trying to find this woman. There were a lot of good moments of characters discussing morals or philosophy, and it was all very captivating for me.
I don't believe it's fair to criticize the book on how things were structured or certain sentence and word choices, since this is translated. I feel like it's probably better in the original Chinese. This is still very well-written, but I noticed a few odd technical things.
My only regret is not taking notes, because I've already forgotten all the characters' names. If I were to describe them, I'd have to say "the guy who had a kamikaze plan and was thinking of it as metaphoric fireflies" or "the guy who was afraid of water" and so forth. The characters were memorable because the author gave them interesting things to do, or had interesting things happen to them. Their names just didn't stick with me. There were a LOT of names and characters to keep track of, so it's good that the events were memorable even if the names weren't for me.
I'm glad that the author referenced Arthur C. Clarke, because this series really feels like the sort of thing he would write. He was very good at hard science fiction, while also exploring mankind and how they would react to space and aliens. He took a philosophical approach a lot, and that feels like what this series is doing.
I'm looking forward to the next part of the series much more! The way it was showing how much closer the aliens were getting was a nice bit of foreshadowing, and the time jump didn't even feel that jarring since the characters had to adjust right along with me. It's going great!
I don't believe it's fair to criticize the book on how things were structured or certain sentence and word choices, since this is translated. I feel like it's probably better in the original Chinese. This is still very well-written, but I noticed a few odd technical things.
My only regret is not taking notes, because I've already forgotten all the characters' names. If I were to describe them, I'd have to say "the guy who had a kamikaze plan and was thinking of it as metaphoric fireflies" or "the guy who was afraid of water" and so forth. The characters were memorable because the author gave them interesting things to do, or had interesting things happen to them. Their names just didn't stick with me. There were a LOT of names and characters to keep track of, so it's good that the events were memorable even if the names weren't for me.
I'm glad that the author referenced Arthur C. Clarke, because this series really feels like the sort of thing he would write. He was very good at hard science fiction, while also exploring mankind and how they would react to space and aliens. He took a philosophical approach a lot, and that feels like what this series is doing.
I'm looking forward to the next part of the series much more! The way it was showing how much closer the aliens were getting was a nice bit of foreshadowing, and the time jump didn't even feel that jarring since the characters had to adjust right along with me. It's going great!
slow-paced
Just like the first in the trilogy, it's a slow slog for the first half and gets a lot more enjoyable towards the end. This one is also pretty pessimistic.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
500+ pages seems long, yet I'm still in awe of how much has been packed into this book. The Dark Forest expands on The Three Body Problem's dilemma: Is humanity worth saving, despite our sins? This entry is a touching meditation on hope and despair, faith and defeatism. It's also a wildly thrilling sci-fi adventure, conjuring up fantastical images and concepts to fill out an expansive game of 3D (or 11D?) chess among master strategists. It's also an insightful work of political theory in its own right, pushing the bounds of what fiction is capable of.
I would grant criticisms of this book's unfortunate portrayal of women.
I would grant criticisms of this book's unfortunate portrayal of women.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced