- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Audio Release Date: 2015
- Original Print Publication: 2008
- English Language Publication: 2015
- Listening Length: 22 hours and 36 minutes
- Language: English
- Series: Book 2 of 4 The Three-Body Problem
- ASIN: B010R28SZ4
- Author: Cixin Liu
- Translator: Joel Martinsen
- Read By: P. J. Ochlan
Warning – Minor Spoilers for Book 1 (The Three Body Problem)
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (translated by Joel Martinson) is the 2nd book in the Three Body Problem series. The Tri-Solarans are on their way to conquer Earth, and even though there are four centuries before they will arrive, many have given up all hope of victory over the aliens. Because the Tri-Solaran ‘sophons’ can eavesdrop on any conversation and intercept any information (as well as sabotaging scientific experiments, etc.), the world has decided to give nearly unlimited resources to four key people, the “wallfacers,” to come up with strategies to defeat the aliens, but to not share the details of those plans with anyone, lest they become known by the Tri-Solaran ‘sophons’.
The base story revolves around the plans of these wallfacers and it is interesting to see the strategies they develop and why they may or may not work. Three of the wallfacers are world renowned for their technical or military or political expertise. One of the wallfacers, Luo Ji, does not seem to have the same credentials as the others.
Much of the book centers around Luo Ji. He spends much of his resources on seeming self-indulgence, and doesn’t seem particularly interested in the project. One of my complaints with the Dark Forest is the inordinate amount of time it spends on Luo Ji’s fantasies of his perfect woman, and then on the embodiment of this woman. I can understand how a romantic sub-plot builds a reason for him to not give up on Earth, but most of this story line added nothing to the story. It seemed more like a wish-fulfillment of the author for his own fantasies than having a real purpose in this book. I think this portion of the story could have been removed or greatly reduced with only positive effects on the quality of the whole.
There are also several large exposition dumps throughout the book. These may be needed when you are trying to cover four centuries in a single book, but some of them grow tiresome. That might be due to losses in translation, but I am not sure. I still recommend the book overall. It is not a GREAT book, but there is enough that is good enough to hold my interest. I do plan to move on at least to the third book in the series.
Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets MANY of his books out of the library/Libby so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
Monster: A Novel by Matt Truxaw
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