Totally. I thought I have Zhang Beihai all figured out as a positive hero genius and sort of a happy ending. I couldn’t figure out all the sudden brass suicides, till it totally hit me.
The wallfacer project is one of the most fascinating concepts in a novel. I enjoyed it as a plot device so much and I held my breath every time I read “I am your wallbreaker”.
The most interesting part to me is that In Some way every single wallfacer came to the conclusion that humanity would lose and the only way to win is mutually assured destruction or escaping the solar system
I remember being filled with an overwhelming sense of unease as soon as Ding Yi lamented on how it's a shame that he, a 200 year old man, can still teach university physics due to the Sophon Block. That bit of foreshadowing was brilliantly done.
I had the same reaction to reading this book. Got to the end... and it stayed with me in very unexpected ways for 2 months after I read it. I also went back and immediately reread several sections, including the one you mention in your spoiler section. Absolutely horrific and stellar writing.
Dark Forest solution to Fermi paradox is unlikely, Rare Earth Hypothesis and chemical supremacy of organic life over silicone is much more likely solution, our Moon and Earth's core is also quite unusual factor. But we can't excluded it Dark Forest may very well be true so Voyager was certainly a great mistake
Wow, great to see Dark Forest translated into English. I read the original Chinese version five or six years ago, and I agree with you, the ending of this book is really wonderful. I remember when I read this book back then, I couldn't help shouting to the sky "We humans have won！" ^_^
That’s awesome! I would love to be able to read this trilogy in the original Chinese! I bet that would add an entirely new layer of immersion. Thanks for watching!
@@TallGuyReads I read this 2nd book in Vietnamese, my native lang. The translator did a great job retaining Chinese idioms & common sayings. To give a subtle cultural nuance: In the English translations of both book #1 and #2, it's annotated that "Shi Qiang" is nicknamed "Da Shi" (the Big "Shi"). It's obvious for Vietnamese readers, I suppose, to be aware that "Shi Quang" has his respect earned by having people, even his superiors calling him the Big "Shi".
@@TallGuyReads Tbh, I was bit disappointed with Joel Martinsen's English translation. Due to my assumption that the Vietnamese translator is as much faithful as possible to the original text, it's very observable that sentimentalism & nostalgia permeates Cixin Liu's writing. To give an example: After getting back from hibernation, Zhang Beihai meets the Asian Fleet commander in charge for the first time: "Zhang Beihai's words touched something in the commander's heart. He turned and looked out through the window at the river of stars, like the upper reaches of a long river." In the Vietnamese text, it's not the "the upper reaches of a long river", but is "phía thượng nguồn dòng chảy thời gian" (literally translated as "the upper reaches of the flow and ebb of time"). Not only the English sentence sounds clumsy, it strips out the sensation of being humbled and defeated by time.
@@TallGuyReads For the series' final installment, I chose to read mostly in Ken Liu's English translation. I finds Ken Liu to be a genius writer who have innate talents for words and have deep understanding of the Chinese culture & literature. Cixin Liu has the tendency to cram his pages with unnecessary similes. Ken Liu's treatment of those parts is very refined and precise. Ken's writing is succint while still being able to retain the emotional undertones of the original text. And for that, Ken LIu is now definitely in my top 5 all-time literary idols 😁I'm reading his short stories, and will soon get to his original series "The Dandelion Dynasty". Even though your reviews on the series claimed to be "spoiler-free", I will not watch them until I'm done with reading 😁
@@minhtu_thomas_hoang I actually looked it up after reading your comment and the original Chinese says 时间长河, or the long river of time. So I think the Vietnamese translation here might be a little more poetic than the original, but also more accurate in expression than the English version.
Your favorite scene of the book is mine as well. Absolutely chilling and easily one of the most shocking things I’ve ever read. I can’t wait to see that part in particular adapted for TV. Great review Alex!
As someone who has been speaking and studying Mandarin Chinese since kindergarten, (i graduated high school last month with my seal of biliteracy) I can really say that being able to speak both English and Chinese has made me appreciate this book more than I think the average English speaker would. It’s quite amazing how expressive both of these languages can be whereas other languages simply don’t have the ability to communicate such complex and mind blowing topics like the dark forest theory. Such an incredible work of literature. Bravo CiXin Liu! And props to the translators!
First off, that is so awesome! Congratulations on the graduation! Secondly, I bet! I think that would be such a unique experience! Thanks so much for watching!
do you think anything is lost in the English translation? As an English-only reader I felt some of the conversations were a little bit stilted but it kind of added to the atmosphere of some of the characters being disconnected from each other in their motivations and actions. I'm really interested to hear your thoughts.
@@zeph7691i dk about dark forest but for three body ken liu is chinese american and a great sci fi writer himself and also he worked with chixin on it, so you could not ask for a better translator. read ken liu’s the paper menangerie its one of the best short sci fi stories ever.
@@TallGuyReads Agreed. I will say though that the story for me doesn't really begin in earnest until Dark Forest. I suspect that when Netflix releases their series, they're going to need to mix in some actual conflict to keep viewers who've not read the books interested. Very little of 3BP sticks with me. Dark Forest I think about almost daily and have done for a couple of years now.
the jaw dropping scene was ****************SPOILER************************* the Trisolaran probe going tonto and wiping out Earth's entire space fleet, I bet. It was intenssssse.
Finished The dark forest the other day. When you said that you had been obsessed with these books, I was nodding in agreement. Immediately started the third book but it's a sad reading experience. This is the last book and I'll finish it soon. I've read a lot of excellent books by brilliant authors, but can remember only one other time when I felt the same sadness while approaching the end of a book - the first time I read The lord of the rings. The lingering question is "What may I read after this?"
I absolutely agree with you on all of this! I haven't been able to find anything quite like this trilogy yet, but I have heard "Permutation City" by Greg Egan to be a great book to pick up if you enjoyed this trilogy!
I had the same reaction when I finished Dark Forest. Death End’s is equally mindblowing. There will be a TV Adaptation and it was rumored to be the most expensive series by Netflix
Thanks for watching! I actually finished Death's End this morning (flew through it haha) and I totally agree. The scope of this series is unbelievable honestly. I'm nervously optimistic about the Netflix adaption and am very intrigued to see what they do with it.
@@TallGuyReads You can try watching the Tencent adaptation, that one is extremely faithful to the original text, and it's season1 finale just pre-released in china(the end of book1) and it is well praised by 3body fans.
Excellent review Alex! I loved a lot of the same aspects that you did. I found The Dark Forest to be pretty tight for a 500-page book. Death's End meandered a little more in my opinion but it still had a lot of momentum.
Thank you Jonathan! Yeah I did as well. I was noticing some people were having trouble with the pacing and there were some one-off "meandering" situations here and there, but I didn't really find that. They were probably talking about some of the one-off character interactions that came out of nowhere and then moved on, but those never bothered me. I do agree that Death's End has a couple of parts that meander here and there, but the scope is massive and it still has a ton of momentum like you mentioned. I am absolutely loving this trilogy. Thanks for watching!
Great review! I just finished and will be starting Death's End on Sunday. This book was a trip. There was definitely some sexism in there, but no one is perfect. With each revelation or event, I also kept trying to guess how the heck humanity would survive. At one point, I even figured "OK, no one beats the Trisolarans", but boy was I wrong. That ending, in the rain, stood out to me because it was sooo cinematic. I never saw it coming. Thanks!
Thank you so much!! Yesssss this book is something else! I can't wait for you to read Death's End because if you think this is a trip (which it is), just wait until Death's End! Let me know your thoughts when you finish it as I would love to hear them! Thanks for watching!
I love that you made this spoiler free for the first book too! I haven't read anything by the author and this makes it easier for me to watch reviews even when I haven't read the book!
Excellent! I'm glad you enjoyed that. I feel like this is one of those series that I really think more people should give a shot, so I thought making it spoiler-free for both books and just giving my general thoughts would be beneficial for those trying to decide whether or not they should pick it up. Thanks for watching!
I find it fascinating that some readers call the characters "cold" when Liu Cixin always writes them expressing emotions not just outwardly but describing their innermost feelings, but I think this might be a 1) cultural difference (I am Asian living in Asia) and 2) this common notion that emotions must be expressed through dialogue AND 3) the fact that existential crises by the characters are so difficult to describe A wonderful review!!! What I love about Liu Cixin's sci fi is that all of humanity is involved in "solving" these crises, rather than just one nation "saving" the day (cough America cough).
I hope you watched the new Three Body series by Tencent. They've done an amazing job at adapting the first book, even with limited budget (compared to Netflix). So satisfying, oh man! Loved it! Can't wait for the Dark Forest adaptation. Already greenlit! Yayyyyyy!
How did you feel about the 2nd book having a different translator? I didn't think it would make any impact on me, but I found I didn't enjoy the writing style in the 2nd book as much as the first. That bejng aaid i love both if these books. I took a bit of a break before im about to dive into the third book and even bought the approved fan fic book because I can't help myself. Hoping the Netflix ahow can live up to the ideas in these books because I'm assuming some chnages will be made.
I read this book about a year ago and think about it still quite often. Such interesting ideas. Enjoyed the review though I mainly used it to recap it before starting Death's End! Thanks for the vid :)
Thank you for making this! I feel the same as you, I am really unable to think about anything else after reading this and went online to people complaining about it which made me so sad! Thank you for letting me share in your excitement and love for this book and series!
Wow! I just discovered your channel! You’re incredibly eloquent! I enjoyed this video! Thank you so much for sharing! I think one reason TDF’s hard science didn’t hit harder than TTBP is because of the time in question. The book expects you to accept the advancements made by humanity without much explanation partly because existing science forms the basis. “Just roll with it, Book 1 established things.” For me this was OK because when you get to the droplet, the effect of the Sophons is felt. I filled in the blanks myself and I was satisfied with the conclusions I was arriving at. Thanks again. Enjoy the Netflix adaptation. The Tencent one is incredibly faithful to the source material. Take care!
I'm not going to lie this is the first hard science fiction book I've ever read The Three-Body problem was a slog but the story was so interesting I couldn't stop and everybody said once I get to book two it's so much better so I started The Dark Forest last night just watching what people think about it great review by the way,
Your thumbnail says it all! This sounds like such a mind-shattering, fascinating series with a great build up from book to book. I’ll have to get to it sometime and return so I can watch the spoiler section!
Thanks Johanna! It really is! It is a real stunner and incredibly compelling! Let me know when you get to it in the future because I am super curious to hear your thoughts on this trilogy! Thanks so much for watching!
i dont understand why the wallbreakers needed to be kept secret or why they only assigned 1:1. the reason for wallfacers is because of the Sophons. humanity did not have their own Sophons, so why the secrecy?
I just finished book 2. I can agree with everything you’ve said, but I didn’t understand the ending. Why did the Trisolarans just fly away because Lou Ji asked them to? That didn’t make sense.
Basically, it was because Luo Ji relayed a message to them about the Dark Forest theory that basically said, "if you destroy us, we will reveal your location to the rest of the universe using a signal placed on these bombs that will attract other planets to come here and destroy you like you did to us". It basically forces a stalemate to avoid double catastrophe. Hope that helps!
Two books that ever made me experienced the "Intracranial orgasm", one is Higashino Keigo's The Devotion of Suspect X and the other is this one. Another unexpected fact is this second part of trilogy is much greater than its first one the Three-Body Problem. And after reading the whole trilogy, you feel more like the Dark Forest and Death's End form the entire main story, leaving the Three-Body Problem just like a prequel.
Absolutely! I feel the same way...3BP absolutely feels like a prequel and Books 2/3 form the meat of the story! I'm so happy you loved it...this is a trilogy I have regularly thought about since finishing it last year...incredible story!
@@TallGuyReads There's far too many cool things about this series to list here, but one fascinating thing was hearing what you noticed the most, what impacted you, compared to say my own inclinations reading the books. These discussions also were interesting and I think worth sharing: ruclips.net/video/33eeSIvecQg/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/dhsgO40_few/видео.html. lastly, a SPOILER-- what's also fascinating is how massive consequences occur and Cixin Liu leaves the reader to digest them as he quickly moves on. Like, basically the human race loses in the Dark Forest just as we feared all along. There's twists and turns, but basically Earth was the little rabbit that got clobbered, with a few scattered survivors to keep the story of the universe going...
The Dark Forest hypothesis is absolutely terrifying… because it transcends the book and applies to us directly. Right here, right now. It answers the Fermi Paradox in a way no one ever thought to utter. The universe isn’t silent because we are alone. The universe isn’t silent because we aren’t advanced enough to listen. The universe is silent, because the loud ones have all been exterminated by forces we cannot fathom… and an ancient race that would make Lovecraft shit himself.
I quit reading book 2 halfway through. Pretty much unreadable just like The Wheel of Time book 1. Who writes a chapter with 167 pages? Perhaps it was Ken Liu’s translation, but I just couldn’t push forward at the halfway point.
Watched the spoiler free section because I am still debating picking up the three body problem. I think I may have to just take the plunge. Very interesting thoughts.
Nice!! If you do, let me know your thoughts! I'd be very curious to hear what you think. Keep in mind that 3BP is almost a prologue to other two books and while I enjoyed it quite a bit, The Dark Forest and Death's End were significant steps up for me! I hope you enjoy them if you read them!
@@TallGuyReads that is good to know! I hadn’t yet heard anyone say that the first book reads like a prologue so thank you 🙏🏼 for saying that. I’ve heard enough positive things about the overall series that I think I will push through to the second no matter what. Bought a copy today actually, will let u know my thoughts. Thanks again for making the reviews 🌟
It has been a couple of years since the last time I tried this series. I didn’t find it gripping. I only made it halfway through Dark Forest because it was such a slog. I couldn’t make myself get interested in any of the characters because their motivations didn’t come across as real to me. I would have found a nonfiction book discussing the concepts more interesting.
Awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I am super close to finishing Book 3 and it's just been a wild ride. Definitely one of the best science fiction stories I've ever read. Thanks for watching!
Dark forest is my favourite of the three. I read it in Chinese years ago. Lately wanna read it in English. Big challenge to me. Still going for it. Looking forward to the tv series coming in January 2024
i really did not like the first book it was so flat and the ideas and writing style read like a young adult type novel. i was debating about reading the second book and you imporing us that it is a different style has me interested. i might, hmm 😅 anyway, good work & thanks
I loved the three body problem and was so excited to read the dark forest. I feel like I must be missing out on something because I found this book to be truly unexceptional. Part 3 is excellent (best reveals, world building, battles, and theories) and I also am thinking about the Dark Forest theory obsessively. That said, everything before the third part was a huge miss for me. The Wallfacer Project was a cool concept but was executed in such an uninteresting way. I didn’t enjoy reading any section involving the three wallfacers, none of their plans made any sense, and the wallbreaker reveals landed flat for me too (aside from hines’, which is in part three). The extended love scene was among the most cringy I have ever read, and the book’s major focus on defeatism (leading up to beihai’s twist) also packed no emotional punch for me. I guess I’m glad I read this for the last 100 pages which were fascinating, but the lead up was a grind for me.
No book is a one size fits all for every type of reader! I'm glad the 3rd part of the book was a hit for you and I think that's a great sign of how you'll feel about the third book in the trilogy!
The dark forest theory is an answer to the Fermi paradox. They’re not comparable as one is a broad question and the other is a specific answer to that question.
The Dark Forest was like a mystery/thriller novel set in a sci-fi backdrop. The execution was absolutely masterful. The reveal in the last two "chapters" of the book was absolutely breathtaking and phenomenally executed. I definitely enjoyed Luo Ji's character along with Da Shi. I could not wait until they were on the page again. I finished the Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest in three nights, I was absolutely hooked. I am starting Death's End already and I just finished The Dark Forest.
Its the sophons thats killing the story for me. I can get passed the bad imaginary romance, and the guy wanted a leigon of suiside pilots but everything about the sophons just takes me out of the story. How can it move faster than light if itsnjot just a proton anymore, how can it read books when its just a supercomputer without any way to scan or aee anything on the pages. How can that information be realistally understood by the alliens who have no condept of speaking or communicating the way we do. Yhe wall facer priject is this crazy compicatied thing that has to be done bexause only our minds our safe when it could be done through books and writing plans down.... Like weve been doing for thousands of years at this point so it wouldnt even be difficult or crazy to do lol
I love the dark forest concept but I absolutely HATED the doomsday battle. It makes absolutely NO SENSE to literally commit all your ressources to meet something absolutely unknown to you. How can you have that much arrogance knowing what you know of the Trisolarans! Honestly I found this badly written and I rolled my eyes through the entire part. You can see it coming miles away. My Boy Luo Ji salvage the book. That wallfacer / breaker concept was gold
@@TallGuyReads it literally changed me. I have done so much research on quantum mechanics, astrophysics and the like discussed in this series, as it truly inspired a longing to better understand them. At first, I was dumbstruck by the existential terror, which really sticks with you for a bit, lol. But then, this deep curiosity blossomed and I'm so grateful. It sounds like you had a similar experience!
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The battle of darkness was jaw-dropping.
Absolutely!
Totally. I thought I have Zhang Beihai all figured out as a positive hero genius and sort of a happy ending. I couldn’t figure out all the sudden brass suicides, till it totally hit me.
The wallfacer project is one of the most fascinating concepts in a novel. I enjoyed it as a plot device so much and I held my breath every time I read “I am your wallbreaker”.
The most interesting part to me is that In Some way every single wallfacer came to the conclusion that humanity would lose and the only way to win is mutually assured destruction or escaping the solar system
I just finished book 2 last night, it kept me up during the night, the ending was brilliant
So happy to hear that! That is honestly an ending I haven't stopped thinking about since reading it haha
I remember being filled with an overwhelming sense of unease as soon as Ding Yi lamented on how it's a shame that he, a 200 year old man, can still teach university physics due to the Sophon Block. That bit of foreshadowing was brilliantly done.
I think about this book pretty much everyday.
Yeah same! It really is one of those books that does that isn't it? Thanks for watching!!
I just finished it yesterday and don’t think it’ll be out of my thoughts for a long time.
I had the same reaction to reading this book. Got to the end... and it stayed with me in very unexpected ways for 2 months after I read it. I also went back and immediately reread several sections, including the one you mention in your spoiler section. Absolutely horrific and stellar writing.
Couldn't agree more! I have not stopped thinking about this book since finishing it!
Dark Forest solution to Fermi paradox is unlikely, Rare Earth Hypothesis and chemical supremacy of organic life over silicone is much more likely solution, our Moon and Earth's core is also quite unusual factor.
But we can't excluded it Dark Forest may very well be true so Voyager was certainly a great mistake
My favorite of the trilogy!!! I loved the dynamic between Luo Ji and Da Shi. They were so much fun together.
Same here! I love those two!
Yes my boy!
Wow, great to see Dark Forest translated into English. I read the original Chinese version five or six years ago, and I agree with you, the ending of this book is really wonderful. I remember when I read this book back then, I couldn't help shouting to the sky "We humans have won！" ^_^
That’s awesome! I would love to be able to read this trilogy in the original Chinese! I bet that would add an entirely new layer of immersion. Thanks for watching!
@@TallGuyReads I read this 2nd book in Vietnamese, my native lang. The translator did a great job retaining Chinese idioms & common sayings.
To give a subtle cultural nuance: In the English translations of both book #1 and #2, it's annotated that "Shi Qiang" is nicknamed "Da Shi" (the Big "Shi"). It's obvious for Vietnamese readers, I suppose, to be aware that "Shi Quang" has his respect earned by having people, even his superiors calling him the Big "Shi".
@@TallGuyReads Tbh, I was bit disappointed with Joel Martinsen's English translation. Due to my assumption that the Vietnamese translator is as much faithful as possible to the original text, it's very observable that sentimentalism & nostalgia permeates Cixin Liu's writing.
To give an example: After getting back from hibernation, Zhang Beihai meets the Asian Fleet commander in charge for the first time: "Zhang Beihai's words touched something in the commander's heart. He turned and looked out through the window at the river of stars, like the upper reaches of a long river." In the Vietnamese text, it's not the "the upper reaches of a long river", but is "phía thượng nguồn dòng chảy thời gian" (literally translated as "the upper reaches of the flow and ebb of time").
Not only the English sentence sounds clumsy, it strips out the sensation of being humbled and defeated by time.
@@TallGuyReads For the series' final installment, I chose to read mostly in Ken Liu's English translation. I finds Ken Liu to be a genius writer who have innate talents for words and have deep understanding of the Chinese culture & literature. Cixin Liu has the tendency to cram his pages with unnecessary similes. Ken Liu's treatment of those parts is very refined and precise. Ken's writing is succint while still being able to retain the emotional undertones of the original text.
And for that, Ken LIu is now definitely in my top 5 all-time literary idols 😁I'm reading his short stories, and will soon get to his original series "The Dandelion Dynasty". Even though your reviews on the series claimed to be "spoiler-free", I will not watch them until I'm done with reading 😁
@@minhtu_thomas_hoang I actually looked it up after reading your comment and the original Chinese says 时间长河, or the long river of time. So I think the Vietnamese translation here might be a little more poetic than the original, but also more accurate in expression than the English version.
Lui Ji's Plan at the end was mind bending. this book just went crazyy its a SciFi wet dream lol
Your favorite scene of the book is mine as well. Absolutely chilling and easily one of the most shocking things I’ve ever read. I can’t wait to see that part in particular adapted for TV. Great review Alex!
Oh me too! That is going to be wild to see adapted! Thank you so much for checking out the video!
As someone who has been speaking and studying Mandarin Chinese since kindergarten, (i graduated high school last month with my seal of biliteracy) I can really say that being able to speak both English and Chinese has made me appreciate this book more than I think the average English speaker would. It’s quite amazing how expressive both of these languages can be whereas other languages simply don’t have the ability to communicate such complex and mind blowing topics like the dark forest theory. Such an incredible work of literature. Bravo CiXin Liu! And props to the translators!
First off, that is so awesome! Congratulations on the graduation! Secondly, I bet! I think that would be such a unique experience! Thanks so much for watching!
do you think anything is lost in the English translation? As an English-only reader I felt some of the conversations were a little bit stilted but it kind of added to the atmosphere of some of the characters being disconnected from each other in their motivations and actions.
I'm really interested to hear your thoughts.
@@zeph7691i dk about dark forest but for three body ken liu is chinese american and a great sci fi writer himself and also he worked with chixin on it, so you could not ask for a better translator. read ken liu’s the paper menangerie its one of the best short sci fi stories ever.
I beg to differ. There are way more expressive languages than these two on earth. I’d say English is one of the least expressive languages
the writing might not be the best. but these books change your view of world and life. it is very powerful.
I couldn't agree more! I'm already itching to do a reread!
The writing is also a translation. I imagine when our art is translated it doesn't sound the same either
This book sticks with you like glue. It really is something.
Absolutely agree! I think about this book and the trilogy regularly
@@TallGuyReads Agreed. I will say though that the story for me doesn't really begin in earnest until Dark Forest. I suspect that when Netflix releases their series, they're going to need to mix in some actual conflict to keep viewers who've not read the books interested.
Very little of 3BP sticks with me. Dark Forest I think about almost daily and have done for a couple of years now.
the jaw dropping scene was ****************SPOILER************************* the Trisolaran probe going tonto and wiping out Earth's entire space fleet, I bet. It was intenssssse.
In the span of 20 minutes…
Finished The dark forest the other day. When you said that you had been obsessed with these books, I was nodding in agreement. Immediately started the third book but it's a sad reading experience. This is the last book and I'll finish it soon. I've read a lot of excellent books by brilliant authors, but can remember only one other time when I felt the same sadness while approaching the end of a book - the first time I read The lord of the rings. The lingering question is "What may I read after this?"
I absolutely agree with you on all of this! I haven't been able to find anything quite like this trilogy yet, but I have heard "Permutation City" by Greg Egan to be a great book to pick up if you enjoyed this trilogy!
@@TallGuyReads Thank you for the recommendation and the great channel.
I had the same reaction when I finished Dark Forest. Death End’s is equally mindblowing. There will be a TV Adaptation and it was rumored to be the most expensive series by Netflix
Thanks for watching! I actually finished Death's End this morning (flew through it haha) and I totally agree. The scope of this series is unbelievable honestly. I'm nervously optimistic about the Netflix adaption and am very intrigued to see what they do with it.
@@TallGuyReads You can try watching the Tencent adaptation, that one is extremely faithful to the original text, and it's season1 finale just pre-released in china(the end of book1) and it is well praised by 3body fans.
Excellent review Alex! I loved a lot of the same aspects that you did. I found The Dark Forest to be pretty tight for a 500-page book. Death's End meandered a little more in my opinion but it still had a lot of momentum.
Thank you Jonathan! Yeah I did as well. I was noticing some people were having trouble with the pacing and there were some one-off "meandering" situations here and there, but I didn't really find that. They were probably talking about some of the one-off character interactions that came out of nowhere and then moved on, but those never bothered me. I do agree that Death's End has a couple of parts that meander here and there, but the scope is massive and it still has a ton of momentum like you mentioned. I am absolutely loving this trilogy. Thanks for watching!
Great review! I just finished and will be starting Death's End on Sunday. This book was a trip. There was definitely some sexism in there, but no one is perfect. With each revelation or event, I also kept trying to guess how the heck humanity would survive. At one point, I even figured "OK, no one beats the Trisolarans", but boy was I wrong. That ending, in the rain, stood out to me because it was sooo cinematic. I never saw it coming. Thanks!
Thank you so much!! Yesssss this book is something else! I can't wait for you to read Death's End because if you think this is a trip (which it is), just wait until Death's End! Let me know your thoughts when you finish it as I would love to hear them! Thanks for watching!
I love that you made this spoiler free for the first book too! I haven't read anything by the author and this makes it easier for me to watch reviews even when I haven't read the book!
Excellent! I'm glad you enjoyed that. I feel like this is one of those series that I really think more people should give a shot, so I thought making it spoiler-free for both books and just giving my general thoughts would be beneficial for those trying to decide whether or not they should pick it up. Thanks for watching!
I find it fascinating that some readers call the characters "cold" when Liu Cixin always writes them expressing emotions not just outwardly but describing their innermost feelings, but I think this might be a 1) cultural difference (I am Asian living in Asia) and 2) this common notion that emotions must be expressed through dialogue AND 3) the fact that existential crises by the characters are so difficult to describe
A wonderful review!!! What I love about Liu Cixin's sci fi is that all of humanity is involved in "solving" these crises, rather than just one nation "saving" the day (cough America cough).
Thank you so much!! I'm glad you enjoyed the review!
I hope you watched the new Three Body series by Tencent. They've done an amazing job at adapting the first book, even with limited budget (compared to Netflix). So satisfying, oh man! Loved it! Can't wait for the Dark Forest adaptation. Already greenlit! Yayyyyyy!
I haven't watched it yet, but I have access to the episodes and I definitely will be checking it out! Can't wait at all!
I was on the fence of considering myself a eugenicist before reading the series, now after the second read-through I'm basically an EFILIST.
Yeah this is one that definitely weighs on ya!
How did you feel about the 2nd book having a different translator? I didn't think it would make any impact on me, but I found I didn't enjoy the writing style in the 2nd book as much as the first. That bejng aaid i love both if these books. I took a bit of a break before im about to dive into the third book and even bought the approved fan fic book because I can't help myself.
Hoping the Netflix ahow can live up to the ideas in these books because I'm assuming some chnages will be made.
I read this book about a year ago and think about it still quite often. Such interesting ideas.
Enjoyed the review though I mainly used it to recap it before starting Death's End! Thanks for the vid :)
That's so awesome to hear! I hope you enjoy Death's End!
Well, I'm going to wait for you to finish book 3 and hear you say "I thought Dark Forest blew my mind but now my mind is truly blown!"
Hahaha finished it last night and that was exactly my reaction 😬 such a fantastic trilogy!
@@TallGuyReads reading book 2: this is absolutely crazy. book 3: it gets even more crazy
Thank you for making this! I feel the same as you, I am really unable to think about anything else after reading this and went online to people complaining about it which made me so sad! Thank you for letting me share in your excitement and love for this book and series!
Awesome review dude! Can’t wait to finish this so I can watch the spoiler section 🔥
Thanks so much man! I can’t wait for you to finish this book! There are things that happen we neeeed to talk about haha
Wow! I just discovered your channel! You’re incredibly eloquent! I enjoyed this video! Thank you so much for sharing!
I think one reason TDF’s hard science didn’t hit harder than TTBP is because of the time in question.
The book expects you to accept the advancements made by humanity without much explanation partly because existing science forms the basis. “Just roll with it, Book 1 established things.”
For me this was OK because when you get to the droplet, the effect of the Sophons is felt. I filled in the blanks myself and I was satisfied with the conclusions I was arriving at.
Thanks again. Enjoy the Netflix adaptation. The Tencent one is incredibly faithful to the source material.
Take care!
I felt the same way after finishing the Dark Forest. Invigorated & ready to jump into book 3 to see what was next for human & Trisolaran-kind alike.
I'm not going to lie this is the first hard science fiction book I've ever read The Three-Body problem was a slog but the story was so interesting I couldn't stop and everybody said once I get to book two it's so much better so I started The Dark Forest last night just watching what people think about it great review by the way,
Your thumbnail says it all! This sounds like such a mind-shattering, fascinating series with a great build up from book to book. I’ll have to get to it sometime and return so I can watch the spoiler section!
Thanks Johanna! It really is! It is a real stunner and incredibly compelling! Let me know when you get to it in the future because I am super curious to hear your thoughts on this trilogy! Thanks so much for watching!
One of best Novels I have ever read
Beihai ls a great character too
i dont understand why the wallbreakers needed to be kept secret or why they only assigned 1:1. the reason for wallfacers is because of the Sophons. humanity did not have their own Sophons, so why the secrecy?
Three Body Problem is one sci-fi read on my TBR, nice to see how excited you are about the series.
I’m loving it! Let me know when you get to it, id be super curious to hear your thoughts! Thanks for watching Liam!
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Death’s End.
I can’t wait to share them with you! Keep an eye out for some content on Death’s End coming soon! Thanks for watching!
you have posted many books i will try to lisen to the books that you post here thanks
I just finished book 2. I can agree with everything you’ve said, but I didn’t understand the ending. Why did the Trisolarans just fly away because Lou Ji asked them to? That didn’t make sense.
Basically, it was because Luo Ji relayed a message to them about the Dark Forest theory that basically said, "if you destroy us, we will reveal your location to the rest of the universe using a signal placed on these bombs that will attract other planets to come here and destroy you like you did to us". It basically forces a stalemate to avoid double catastrophe. Hope that helps!
@@TallGuyReads it does. I must have missed that. Thanks.
Two books that ever made me experienced the "Intracranial orgasm", one is Higashino Keigo's The Devotion of Suspect X and the other is this one. Another unexpected fact is this second part of trilogy is much greater than its first one the Three-Body Problem. And after reading the whole trilogy, you feel more like the Dark Forest and Death's End form the entire main story, leaving the Three-Body Problem just like a prequel.
Absolutely! I feel the same way...3BP absolutely feels like a prequel and Books 2/3 form the meat of the story! I'm so happy you loved it...this is a trilogy I have regularly thought about since finishing it last year...incredible story!
Hi 👋 I’m glad you found a fantastic book series!! I will definitely check it out!! Happy reading to you!! 😊📝🦋🎼👋
Thanks Safina! If you do pick it up, I hope you enjoy it! I really think it's a landmark trilogy. Thank you for watching!
Insanely good review Alex!
Thanks man! I appreciate it! This trilogy is so damn good haha
great review and discussion. i too am fascinated by this and want to hear and read everything i can about it
Thank you so much! I totally agree - I haven't stopped thinking about this book since finishing it!
@@TallGuyReads There's far too many cool things about this series to list here, but one fascinating thing was hearing what you noticed the most, what impacted you, compared to say my own inclinations reading the books. These discussions also were interesting and I think worth sharing: ruclips.net/video/33eeSIvecQg/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/dhsgO40_few/видео.html. lastly, a SPOILER-- what's also fascinating is how massive consequences occur and Cixin Liu leaves the reader to digest them as he quickly moves on. Like, basically the human race loses in the Dark Forest just as we feared all along. There's twists and turns, but basically Earth was the little rabbit that got clobbered, with a few scattered survivors to keep the story of the universe going...
The Dark Forest hypothesis is absolutely terrifying… because it transcends the book and applies to us directly. Right here, right now.
It answers the Fermi Paradox in a way no one ever thought to utter. The universe isn’t silent because we are alone.
The universe isn’t silent because we aren’t advanced enough to listen.
The universe is silent, because the loud ones have all been exterminated by forces we cannot fathom… and an ancient race that would make Lovecraft shit himself.
I quit reading book 2 halfway through. Pretty much unreadable just like The Wheel of Time book 1. Who writes a chapter with 167 pages? Perhaps it was Ken Liu’s translation, but I just couldn’t push forward at the halfway point.
Watched the spoiler free section because I am still debating picking up the three body problem. I think I may have to just take the plunge. Very interesting thoughts.
Nice!! If you do, let me know your thoughts! I'd be very curious to hear what you think. Keep in mind that 3BP is almost a prologue to other two books and while I enjoyed it quite a bit, The Dark Forest and Death's End were significant steps up for me! I hope you enjoy them if you read them!
@@TallGuyReads that is good to know! I hadn’t yet heard anyone say that the first book reads like a prologue so thank you 🙏🏼 for saying that. I’ve heard enough positive things about the overall series that I think I will push through to the second no matter what. Bought a copy today actually, will let u know my thoughts. Thanks again for making the reviews 🌟
It has been a couple of years since the last time I tried this series. I didn’t find it gripping. I only made it halfway through Dark Forest because it was such a slog. I couldn’t make myself get interested in any of the characters because their motivations didn’t come across as real to me. I would have found a nonfiction book discussing the concepts more interesting.
Same. It dragged on and the payoff was not good enough. It feels like i read a totally different book to everyone
I just finished this book!!
Read the trilogy earlier in the year and it blew my mind. I hope you also enjoy the third one.
Awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I am super close to finishing Book 3 and it's just been a wild ride. Definitely one of the best science fiction stories I've ever read. Thanks for watching!
Dark forest is my favourite of the three. I read it in Chinese years ago. Lately wanna read it in English. Big challenge to me. Still going for it. Looking forward to the tv series coming in January 2024
That's my favorite of the 3 as well!
i really did not like the first book it was so flat and the ideas and writing style read like a young adult type novel. i was debating about reading the second book and you imporing us that it is a different style has me interested. i might, hmm 😅
anyway, good work & thanks
I loved the three body problem and was so excited to read the dark forest. I feel like I must be missing out on something because I found this book to be truly unexceptional. Part 3 is excellent (best reveals, world building, battles, and theories) and I also am thinking about the Dark Forest theory obsessively.
That said, everything before the third part was a huge miss for me. The Wallfacer Project was a cool concept but was executed in such an uninteresting way. I didn’t enjoy reading any section involving the three wallfacers, none of their plans made any sense, and the wallbreaker reveals landed flat for me too (aside from hines’, which is in part three). The extended love scene was among the most cringy I have ever read, and the book’s major focus on defeatism (leading up to beihai’s twist) also packed no emotional punch for me.
I guess I’m glad I read this for the last 100 pages which were fascinating, but the lead up was a grind for me.
No book is a one size fits all for every type of reader! I'm glad the 3rd part of the book was a hit for you and I think that's a great sign of how you'll feel about the third book in the trilogy!
Great video, I'm with you on the want to absorb anything else about the survey material. Currently opening book 3!!
Yessss!! So excited! Hope you love Death's End...it's a wild ride!
Good solid review.
Thank you!!
Book 2=best of the trilogy.
I bought that book some months ago because i like topics about outer space and aliens
Awesome! This book definitely has that! I hope you enjoy!
2:57 that's a way good accurate description.
3:48 i felt that too, it's an unexpected shift.
7:20 totally agree
Thank you so much for checking out the vid!
This sounds bonkers. I like. Must try.
Dude. Do it. It really is bonkers.
What is more scary the fermi paradox or the dark forest theory ?
They’re definitely up there that’s for sure!
The dark forest theory is an answer to the Fermi paradox. They’re not comparable as one is a broad question and the other is a specific answer to that question.
The Dark Forest was like a mystery/thriller novel set in a sci-fi backdrop.
The execution was absolutely masterful. The reveal in the last two "chapters" of the book was absolutely breathtaking and phenomenally executed.
I definitely enjoyed Luo Ji's character along with Da Shi. I could not wait until they were on the page again.
I finished the Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest in three nights, I was absolutely hooked. I am starting Death's End already and I just finished The Dark Forest.
Yessss couldn't agree more! Dark Forest is my favorite of the 3 actually!
Great video
Thank you so much!!
i dont agree with it i loved the 3 body problem i need to hear in audio dark forest
Its the sophons thats killing the story for me. I can get passed the bad imaginary romance, and the guy wanted a leigon of suiside pilots but everything about the sophons just takes me out of the story. How can it move faster than light if itsnjot just a proton anymore, how can it read books when its just a supercomputer without any way to scan or aee anything on the pages. How can that information be realistally understood by the alliens who have no condept of speaking or communicating the way we do. Yhe wall facer priject is this crazy compicatied thing that has to be done bexause only our minds our safe when it could be done through books and writing plans down.... Like weve been doing for thousands of years at this point so it wouldnt even be difficult or crazy to do lol
I love the dark forest concept but I absolutely HATED the doomsday battle. It makes absolutely NO SENSE to literally commit all your ressources to meet something absolutely unknown to you. How can you have that much arrogance knowing what you know of the Trisolarans! Honestly I found this badly written and I rolled my eyes through the entire part. You can see it coming miles away.
My Boy Luo Ji salvage the book. That wallfacer / breaker concept was gold
This book is fantastic!
It is!! So happy you enjoyed it!
@@TallGuyReads it literally changed me. I have done so much research on quantum mechanics, astrophysics and the like discussed in this series, as it truly inspired a longing to better understand them. At first, I was dumbstruck by the existential terror, which really sticks with you for a bit, lol. But then, this deep curiosity blossomed and I'm so grateful. It sounds like you had a similar experience!