paperback, 522 pages

English language

Published Aug. 15, 2016 by Tor Trade, Liu Cixin.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-8669-4
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4 stars (10 reviews)

In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion-in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.

2 editions

Somehow unsatisfying

3 stars

I enjoy the ideas the author is playing around with, but I don’t enjoy the way he does it very much. It feels drawn out but somehow still feels like a few things have been left open. I lack the words to describe this any better.

But I like the story well enough to continue reading the series, but maybe not immediately after finishing this ;)

Review of 'The Dark Forest' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I thought The Three-Body Problem was an outstanding combination of inventive yet still somewhat plausible science fiction, beautiful prose, interesting characters, and at least for me, exotic Asian cultural references. To my delight, I found The Dark Forest to surpass that book in every respect. I don't want to go into too much detail about the plot, even though Liu's writing offers much more than an intriguing plot, because I do recommend these books to anyone who loves good science fiction and I hope others discover them. But I don't think it's giving anything away to say that Liu constructs a vision of the future that is almost entirely original (as is his alien civilization), and the ordeals he puts his relatable characters through are often unexpected, sometimes not so, but always riveting. Like the first book, The Dark Forest gives the reader much to ponder after the cover is …

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