The Dark Forest

July 13, 2015
Readers who haven’t read (or haven’t recently reread) 2014’s The Three-Body Problem will feel disoriented at the outset of this sprawling hard SF novel. In the prologue, an ant and a spider overhear Dr. Ye Wenjie, an astrophysicist, suggest to astronomer-turned-sociologist Luo Ji that there are “axioms of cosmic civilization,” a neat variation on Asimov’s psychohistory. This scene epitomizes the book’s biggest flaw: clever ideas lost in often didactic prose. Before the notion of a cosmic sociology can be further developed, Liu shifts gears to present a dialogue between an alien intelligence, the Trisolaris, and the leader of the Earth-Trisolaris Organization, about the distinction between thought and speech. The Trisolarians pose a significant threat to humankind, which triggers very different responses on Earth, ranging from the Escapists, who believe that flight is the only option, to the formation of a Planetary Defense Council. The upbeat ending sets up the concluding volume, but not everyone will have the patience needed to get that far.

After discovering that an alien race is coming to eradicate humankind, the world prepares for a battle that is more than four centuries in the future. A narrator change in an audiobook series is always tricky, but the decision to cast P.J. Ochlan instead of Luke Daniels, narrator of the first book, proves to work. Ochlan provides a strong and determined delivery of the narrative while maintaining consistency across a host of dynamic and curious characters. Additionally, he captures the increasing tension in a controlled performance that adds more suspense to the story and keeps listeners' attention. L.E. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine