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A review by fth0tfitzgerald
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
4.25
The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin is an amazing book! I enjoyed reading it immensely.
Compared to the first book I found the pacing and story to be more stable, and there were fewer sections than in the first book that felt drawn out and irrelevant.
The best and most interesting part of the book were the sociological and philosophical elements. The use and exploration of terms likeTechno-triumphalism and Technological Determinism in the Space Fleet were amazing. With things like these Liu manages to not only set the current mood of the story and explore human ways, but he also sets up yet unknown plot-twists.
Plot-twists are another thing that Liu does seamlessly. In many ways reading these books feel more like a murder-mystery than it does SF. He manages to continually suprise you even when you think he has nothing more to give.
The ideas in this book manage to be even more developed and sohisticated compared again to the first book. Much of this is probably due to the worldbuiling done in the first book allowing this one to delve deeper. Liu has a real talent for imagination.
One of my favourite parts wasseeing Ding Yi again . All though Cixin's characters are all quite cold and seem aloof to the reader, even when their actions or emotions described are the exact opposite, I've still managed to become attached to some of them. So being "reunited" with him was great.
This cold and aloof style that Liu has, has become quite interesting to me. I don't think I've ever read an author where during a description of a character feeling a sense of deep love and fulfilment, there seemed no effort to share this sensation with me. Of course this is because most authors want me to feel. I'm not sure if Liu does.
His writing feels very much like Zhang Beihai wishes to be. A man where nothing can be gleamed of what lies behind the surface.
I by no means dislike it.
In fact my only big complaint with the book comes from what I felt were wasted opportunities for delving deeper into a concept, or altogether forgoing the explanation of one Liu himself has chosen to include in the story.
An example of this is the lack of a family structure in crisis year 200. When Liu wakes up he is told that families are no longer a thing, there is no further explanation as to why or how. It is briefly mentioned later in Zhang Beihai's story, but I still feel that it was strange to include such a thing without further explaining it.
Maybe it will crop up in the third book?
Compared to the first book I found the pacing and story to be more stable, and there were fewer sections than in the first book that felt drawn out and irrelevant.
The best and most interesting part of the book were the sociological and philosophical elements. The use and exploration of terms like
Plot-twists are another thing that Liu does seamlessly. In many ways reading these books feel more like a murder-mystery than it does SF. He manages to continually suprise you even when you think he has nothing more to give.
The ideas in this book manage to be even more developed and sohisticated compared again to the first book. Much of this is probably due to the worldbuiling done in the first book allowing this one to delve deeper. Liu has a real talent for imagination.
One of my favourite parts was
His writing feels very much like
I by no means dislike it.
In fact my only big complaint with the book comes from what I felt were wasted opportunities for delving deeper into a concept, or altogether forgoing the explanation of one Liu himself has chosen to include in the story.
Maybe it will crop up in the third book?