The Dark Forest

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Liu has, with some very short logic whose parsing I will leave to the realm of suspension of disbelief, put a cap on all of the possible adventures of hard science fiction. In the end, it is about how we deal with ourselves. So with that said, the realm of science fiction ultimately resolves to how human we remain augmented by our own inventions and reinventions. The only remaining good thing about it is that its scope remains the fate of humanity.

Now having read so much science fiction and fantasy over the past decade, I may be running out of space for its philosophical import. That is because the irony of the remaining good thing is that no one should be responsible for such a great vision. Liu understands this which is why his invention of the Wallfacers is one of the most brilliant turns in the genre. Better than Asimov's Foundation geniuses. There. I said it.

Taking us at long length through the most mind-bendingly clever strategies to save the Earth from extinction at the hands of the Trisolarans, their insidious henchmen and panoptic technology, Liu comes up with a lengthy way of telling so much of human past, future, desire, bureaucracy, treachery and bravery.

Liu's Dark Forest is finally a tragedy of galactic proportions. Few works have located the entire technological prospects for humanity in such tight bounds. In all the hard science fiction I can imagine, there cannot be much more to say. I fear what the next book will bring. But I must know, starting tomorrow.

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