REVIEW: The Dark Forest

 The Dark Forest
Author: Cixin Liu

The Dark Forest is the second novel in the Remembrance of Earth's Past series. A continuation of the story started in The Three-Body Problem, this book kept me riveted from start to finish. 

Humanity is facing the imminent arrival of an alien fleet, intent on taking over Earth. The vast distance the fleet has to travel gives Earth 400 years to prepare. So, in a move to guarantee success, the Trisolarians send technology forward that gives them instant access to all aspects of life on Earth, all communication, and all information. The only safe space? The human mind. The Wallfacer Project sets several men apart from all other humans. It is their duty to come up with their own individual plans to save the planet, keep the plan secret, and to lie or do whatever else is necessary to cover up their intentions/plans/strategy. Can one of these Wallfacers succeed and save humanity from annihilation at the hands of an advanced alien race?

This story has so many interesting concepts and twists! What would happen if Earth had 400 years warning about imminent destruction? What would happen to world politics? Education? Society? Would a concept like the Wallfacers work? I kept thinking about what plan I would try to form if I was a Wallfacer. So difficult!

I'm not going to say anything more about the plot of the book. I want to avoid spoilers. This story is so much more interesting with little or no prior knowledge of the plot or events. I loved the fact that the ending of this second book was still a surprise for me!

I have been avoiding commentary, book reviews, articles about the Netflix show.....anything that has to do with this book series. I want to read each book with no spoilers or the effects of other reader's opinions. So far, I have been successful. I have a personal rule that I need to read the books before I watch the show, so doing my best to finish without even so much as watching a trailer for the show. 

I read a print copy of this book while listening to the audio book version from Audible. The audio is just over 22.5 hours long and narrated by P.J. Ochlan. My only complaint about the audio book is that I did not like the narrator. I liked Luke Daniels' performance in the first book much better. Ochlan's performance seems wooden. His voice remains flat and nasal throughout. I found it irritating at first until I got pulled into the plot and could ignore it. I did see a comment that Luke Daniels pronounced the Chinese words incorrectly but have been unable to confirm that. Not reading past the one comment as I am trying so hard to avoid any story spoilers. My point is: I prefer Luke Daniels based on his voice and narration skills, rather than his ability to correctly pronounce Chinese names/words. P.J. Ochlan reads in a mostly monotone style....and it was hard for me to switch from one to the other. I do not speak Chinese, so the correct pronunciation was out of my knowledge base. I do know that either narrator was much better at Chinese than I would have been inside my head trying to read the book. There is a lot of Chinese involved as the story is written by a Chinese author and most of the characters are Chinese. I would have been stumbling over every word and name the entire time. Glad to have a narrator to just read it for me! :) 

It took me awhile to finish this book. I'm very busy at work and get only a few minutes here and there to read. When I started reading this series, I decided I would only read/listen to these books when I have time to sit and devote my entire attention to the story. I'm not going to listen while driving, doing household chores or anything like I do with others books. I only listen when I can sit at my desk and just take that time for the story. So, I spent two months listening to this second book. I'm glad I did. The plot is complex, and I was very mindful not to miss any of the nuances. Totally worth the extra time and attention! 

Great Sci-fi! Lots of bigger questions on human nature, society, world cultures and humanity to contemplate! Several events in the plot caught me totally by surprise, which brought me a greater understanding of the Wallfacer Project. Loved it! 

On to book 3! I am not buying a text copy of the book this time. And the wait list at my local library is very long. So I'm going audio only this time. I can't wait to find out what the conclusion of this story is!!