Reviews

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

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boomerdell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

rocky_jenkins's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

thelastcube's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

previous book was the buildup, this was the payoff. Some very powerful moments in this book, and clever writing.
The characters, most, lack depth. But the scifi aspect is absolutely amazing.

aauok's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

amy_bda's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

outcolder's review against another edition

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3.0

The nearly suicidal nature of hope in a universe that is “the dark forest” is examined from several angles but despite the gravity of that theme the tone tended more towards goofy than to the heaviness of the Cultural Revolution scenes in the first book, even if it never got as goofy as the video game or “Big Shi” scenes. Also the female characters are all problematic, I don’t know what is worse: all female characters are enemies of humanity or all but one and she’s a childish puppet? The suspense or narrative tension or whatever is more about solving the puzzles set in this thought experiment then about any particular character and the author’s repeated appeals to solidarity as the solution to inequality make me want to see if we get galactic communism at the end of the trilogy or if the darkness of the forest prevails, so despite the shortcomings I will press on.