Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The second book of this series, “The Dark Forest”, has its obvious shortcomings. The most glaring flaw I personally feel is Luo Ji (the leading character of the second book)’s romance with his “dream girl”. But how many engaging love stories have been told by scifi authors anyway? In addition, for American readers who have enjoyed the Chinese cultural/historical aspects of book one, reading The Dark Forest requires no understanding of the Chinese culture. Some of my friends also think that the Wallfacer project does not make much sense, but I disagree. This book deserves a five-star rating thoroughly. Unlike the Three-Body Problem that bears the burden of slowly laying the contextual foundation for the plot of the entire book series, the pace of The Dark Forest moves rather quickly from the beginning. There is no three-body computer game anymore. But a different game is played between four Wallfacers and their respective Wallbreakers. Each Wallfacer tried and failed in searching for a way to counter the looming invasion. Yet it does not seem to matter because, before the first alien fleet arrives, human technology has accelerated and risen to a level that rivals the alien race. Yes, inter-planetary peace is afoot. Part III of The Dark Forest is the climax and most dramatic stage of the entire trilogy series. Both Luo Ji and Zhang Beihai – two leading characters of the book – are awaken from century-long hibernation to witness the human race’s first physical contact with the aliens. I am not going to the details because it will spoil the fun of your reading. Suffice it to say there are several brilliant twists of the plot that forces the question: what is humanity after all? In my mind, the best scifi novels are not so much about the light-speed space dashing or spectacular galactic wars, but how we define humanity when facing an alien encounter or invasion. The Dark Forest just did that, in a chilling way. Almost like a social scifi, the socio-psychological elements give the book a provocative depth and resonance Zhang Beihai comes out almost as a Vulcan from StarTrek. Not only did he go undercover for many centuries, but also he came up with a shockingly unhuman solution to save the human race in the most dire moment. Morality is of no concern. Just another rational but dark choice in the face of desperation, which is quite consistent with the pervading sense of pessimism about humans through the first two books. This book presents an interesting theory about how different civilizations view each other in the vast universe, hence the reason for the book title “The Dark Forest”. It’s similar to the famous prisoner’s dilemma where betrayal or hostility seems to generate the biggest rewards. The overall concept reminds me of the Inhibitors in “Revelation Space” by Alastair Reynolds. Again, the theory does not produce any good prospect for cosmic harmony. If u think the Three-Body Problem is a bit depressing, the Dark Forest gets bleaker. And of course, Liu is not done yet because the final installment of the trilogy is called “The Dead End”. The Three-Body Problem was the finalist for both Hugo and Nebula awards this year. I will not surprised if the Dark Forest actually win it. That’s how GOOD it is.