The Dark Forest

I finished The Three-Body Problem eager to see what Cixin Liu had next. I was not ready.

Imagine if you knew nothing about chess. Then, let’s say someone handed you a bishop and showed you how it moved diagonally across the board. Reading the Dark Forest is the chess equivalent of finding out that in addition to the bishop, there are five other kinds of pieces involved AND you have to play an opponent. What seemed manageable in The Three-Body Problem turned into something altogether different.

Liu takes the future he has created it, magnifies the stakes a hundredfold, and then invites readers into the extreme ends of terror and potential that humanity faces with the threat of extraterrestrial life. I was ready for a science fiction epic this time, but I was not ready for the moral and philosophical questions this story posed.

It’s an incredible ride.

Favorite Quote

If I destroy you, what business is it of yours?