Released: 1st May 2008
Genre: Science Fiction
Number of Pages: 550
The second chapter of the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy is another detailed and immersive effort from author Cixin Liu.
The battle-lines for a desperate doomsday battle have been drawn for humanity. With Earth having revealed itself to the sinister Trisolaran civilization, a project is commenced to prepare for the war by any means necessary. The Wallfacer project chooses four individuals to formulate their own strategies. While the exploits of the first three are laid out clearly and succinctly, the fourth is more of an enigma. Chinese astronomer Luo Ji is the unassuming main protagonist of this second chapter and while the reader’s lens is mainly on him, we also watch other characters play their own roles.
This is the central crux of The Dark Forest; it drastically expands the scale of its world to encompass all of humanity. At one moment we follow a Wallfacer hell-bent on pursuing his goals at any cost and the next we’re viewing a commander in Earth’s future space fleet. The novel is definitively split across two time periods as our species tackles the oncoming threat alongside saboteurs within our own ranks. When the elusive Wallbreakers show up to shatter the resolve of their counterparts, the author really starts to pour the intrigue in. Whether or not mankind will survive the oncoming crisis is constantly hanging in the balance and seemingly positive solutions turn sour with catastrophic results.
While the first book focused more on a virtual setting that planted breadcrumbs, The Dark Forest expands to the far reaches of our own solar system. We witness a future world take shape, one influenced by our response to an interstellar threat. This creates many landscapes that are just as absorbing as those seen in The Three-Body Problem. Some of the more philosophical elements can become a little overbearing however. When Luo Ji starts to theorise about man’s existence in the wider universe, things slow down at several. Still, it’s not enough to distract you from the grander events at play.
Recommended?
YES: Aside from its slower, more philosophical moments, The Dark Forest is a great continuation from The Three-Body Problem. The way humanity grapples with an oncoming apocalypse results in many tense sequences. It’s a species-wide project that expands its universe across multiple time periods and individuals. By successfully moving out of the virtual world and into full-on science fiction, it makes for a highly engaging second chapter
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