Reviews

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

nikileighsmile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.75

twwittig's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

scapu's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

deus's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

sbyama's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

carlyshoo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

3.5

I didn’t understand anything until the end and that made it all worth it. 

bennettmorris's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.5

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

sophie_reads301's review against another edition

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

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

3.0