Reviews

2.5 rounded down. The highs of this book are so high. I will be thinking of the concepts in this book for years to come.

That being said I would cut 40% of this book. The story just stops for 100’s of pages without any tie in to the plot or narrative. I love slow burn but the characters are entirely flat and uninteresting. When Three Body problem deviated it was still interesting because I felt like I was getting a lot of understanding about Chinese culture and history. The departures in this book make no sense and are boring.

The structure of this book is also challenging. There are just sections instead of chapters and they go on for hundreds of pages sometimes. While the book bounces between multiple POVs the characters all feel like they have the same voice.

I don’t think this book is for everyone and I would not recommend forcing yourself through if it you’re hating it. Look up videos on the concept of “the dark forest” and you’ll get most of the value. I am going to read book 3 still but I am giving myself permission to DNF it if it’s as unfun as this is.

ibrice101's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

soben's review against another edition

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4.0

Super slow to build up, but when it gets going, it completely captivated me. The concept of the Dark Forest and "social cosmology" as a solution to understanding the Fermi Paradox is exciting and useful even outside of reading the book.

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