Reviews

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

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rdrift_reads's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The plot is sharp, original, and unintuitive - which goes a fair way towards making up for the characters in this book. Luo Ji's listlessness and apathy, plus his vaguely sexist "great love", made him a hard person to pin the hope of humanity on. Zhang Beihai was a character that's easy to admire but hard to love. This translation was also a drag in comparison to Ken Liu's in the first book, which was distinctly more poetic.

I don't want to undersell the plot, which again, was sharp and unexpected. But plots and ideas without anchoring characters is like a house without a family, you know? Weirdly empty.

Content Warnings

sophie_reads301's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The dark forest has a slow start which needed some perseverance to get through and some scenes/ events can feel protracted in their story telling.
Also, after reading a review, I found it difficult not to notice the negative portrayal of women - often weaker or problematic compared to males. Although, the male characters have their flaws too.
As someone who does not have a physics background - I find the science concepts and philosophical elements very intriguing.

petiteqamar's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

3.0

lux_klara's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Just like for the First book, I remain genuinely surprised by how much I end up loving the story ans captivated by it's continuation.

This book was definetely easier to read than the First one. The "Three Body problem" relied more heavily on scientific knowledge, this book focus more on humanity. Not that the first book didn't give surprising insight into people, their actions and nature...but I feel like "The Dark Forest" was more about humanity as a whole, rather than about humans, as their individuals. In a way, "The three body problem" showcased humans as their singular entity, whereas the "Dark Forest" was about humans as a whole.
It's difficult to explain.
That said, I feel like the quote in the cover of the book by George R.R. Martin that describes "The Dark forest" as:
-a unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, conspiracy theory and cosmology-
truly encapsulate the essence of this book.
Usually I don't really care about (nor read) the quotes you find on the books' covers to promote them, and I'm not even a fan of George R.R. Martin, but this time this quote truly stuck to me due to how perfectly it fits this book.

As a warning, this book has no chapters. It's divided in 3 parts, but that's it.
The third part Is divided into years, but It's longer than 200 Pages, and it's divided in 3. With the last year that act as a sort of epilogue to the book (and, as such, with very few Pages)...so yeah, I wouldn't really consider them chapters.
Unless, my own Copy was printed wrong...but I don't think that's the case because the way It was divided and printed fits surprisingly well the story.

The lack of chapters wasn't a problem for me, aside from the initial confusion because I kept Reading expecting the end of the chapter and the beginning of the new one. I was still able to read and enjoy the story without any problem. But I know that for some people It could be really annoying.

shitholden's review against another edition

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4.0

Esta segunda parte me ha emocionado y enganchado mucho más que la primera. Los proyectos vallados te tienen intrigado y durante todo el libro piensas que era eso tan importante que le habían dicho a Luo Ji en el primer capítulo para que fuera tan peligroso.

Otra vez escenas que difícilmente se borrarán de mi mente: los momentos con los desvalladores, la batalla Oscura, la gota...

"Si os destruyo, ¿a vosotros que podría importaros?"

Estoy muy intrigado en leer el desenlace de esta trilogía y como terminará esta guerra dilatada en el tiempo y las páginas.

anaurrutia's review against another edition

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2.0

Aunque tiene plateamientos e ideas interesantes, el desarrollo de los personajes y la estructura de la historia me fueron odiosos y desconcertantes. Ya no leeré el tercero de la trilogía, pasé de mi impresión con el primer tomo de "¡oh! ¡sí, qué genial!" a... nah, no, gracias. Demasiados estereotipos, lugares comunes y cursilerías... me asomaré a la serie a ver qué tal, y ya ahí me enteraré (si llego a la temporada que corresponda al tercer libro) en cómo acaba, pero en este momento no tengo gran interés, así que no sé cuándo pase (ni si realmente llegue a pasar).