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A review by powerpuffgoat
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
This book was a disappointment, especially compared to the first installment. I appreciate that I have to account for things lost in translation, but even so, the narration was incredibly dry and Wikipedia-like.
And the dialogue, oh my god, the dialogue. It was pretty much one exposition dump after another. Oh look, there is a scientist explaining some concept in layman's terms. Oh look, there is a military personnel explaining some military strategy in layman's terms. Oh look, there is a nurse briefing a person who just woke up how the world has changed. And probably the most cartoonish instance - wall breakers announcing who they were and doing the whole villain speech.
Aside from bad dialogue, there were leaps in logic that just felt ridiculous. What was the purpose of wall breakers revealing who they are? Why wouldn't they simply sabotage the wallfacers plans - I mean, the thing blocking solar frequencies did exactly that, no grand announcement. Why would you do a nuclear test on Mercury and not consider how that would affect the solar system as a whole? Why would a wallfacer kill himself after his plan was uncovered?
The first book had some interesting concepts, and the exploration of how humans react to a completely alien civilization, and how that reflects the dynamic on Earth.
This book felt twice as long (even though there were maybe 20-25% more pages) with heaps and heaps of boring. I like the dark forest theory, but by the time we reach that part, it was delivered in such an exhausting way (yes, exposition dialogue again) I barely cared anymore.
Then there is the whole perfect woman subplot. Aside from being icky, I don't feel like to propelled the plot in any way, all it did for me is make it difficult to sympathise with Luo Ji. Actually, because of the narration style, I pretty much didn't care about any individual character.
And the dialogue, oh my god, the dialogue. It was pretty much one exposition dump after another. Oh look, there is a scientist explaining some concept in layman's terms. Oh look, there is a military personnel explaining some military strategy in layman's terms. Oh look, there is a nurse briefing a person who just woke up how the world has changed. And probably the most cartoonish instance - wall breakers announcing who they were and doing the whole villain speech.
Aside from bad dialogue, there were leaps in logic that just felt ridiculous. What was the purpose of wall breakers revealing who they are? Why wouldn't they simply sabotage the wallfacers plans - I mean, the thing blocking solar frequencies did exactly that, no grand announcement. Why would you do a nuclear test on Mercury and not consider how that would affect the solar system as a whole? Why would a wallfacer kill himself after his plan was uncovered?
The first book had some interesting concepts, and the exploration of how humans react to a completely alien civilization, and how that reflects the dynamic on Earth.
This book felt twice as long (even though there were maybe 20-25% more pages) with heaps and heaps of boring. I like the dark forest theory, but by the time we reach that part, it was delivered in such an exhausting way (yes, exposition dialogue again) I barely cared anymore.
Then there is the whole perfect woman subplot. Aside from being icky, I don't feel like to propelled the plot in any way, all it did for me is make it difficult to sympathise with Luo Ji. Actually, because of the narration style, I pretty much didn't care about any individual character.