The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin – Book Review
Last Updated on May 31, 2022 by Sanidhya Arora
Book Review and Summary:
The science fiction thriller, written by the author who has taken the world by a storm with his magnificent books, Cixin Liu, has yet again delivered a jaw-dropping novel, ‘The Dark Forest’. This book is sure to leave all readers speechless. A brilliant take on the entire universe, and all of the mysteries that lay untold. If you have ever been bewildered by the Infinitely large universe, with all of the secrets humans may never be able to uncover, this is the perfect read. This novel has concepts and scenarios that will leave you baffled, and is sure to give you chills. There are several aspects about the universe that remain an enigma to the human brain, questions like, Do Aliens exist? In this book, you will find out what could happen if these far fetched ideas of ours are reality. What would it mean if there are numerous civilisations in the universe? Do we humans have the strength to battle these enemies, or will we remain incapacitated in a scenario of space wars? ‘The Dark Forest’ will answer these questions. But don’t be mistaken, after reading this book, the riot of thoughts in your mind will only intensify.
‘Imagine the universe as a forest, patrolled by numberless and nameless predators. In this forest, stealth is survival – any civilisation that reveals its location is prey.’ Earth has. Now the vicious predators are on their way. Predators, whose strength cannot even be imagined by humans. So strong, the entire human race could be wiped off existence. Traveling through light years, something we are incapable of doing, they will arrive here in four centuries. However, the sophons, their extra-dimensional agents and saboteurs are already here. The only weapon we have against them, is our mind, but will that be enough? This is the motivation of our last-ditched defence plan, The Wallfacer project. This grants four individuals access to all of Earth’s resources, in order to develop a plan to fight for survival. The only condition, this plan needs to be a complete, so we can ambush the enemy. Our minds truly are the strongest weapon in this battle. Out of the 4 Wallfacers, Lui Ji, an unambitious astronomer, who is struggling to get in terms with his new position. Earth’s fate lies on his hands, and he’s the one the aliens want dead. Our enemy is immensely powerful, with most of their strength unknown to us. Only a miracle could save Earth from its demise, but we need to be aware of the fact, that our end could be closer than it seems…
Final words
For any lovers of the science-fiction genre, I highly recommend this amazing novel. The book is extremely gripping, and is sure to keep people up at night, just thinking about the our role in the universe. I would give this book a 9/10. The only reason for not giving it a perfect score is that the beginning felt very slow, but as the action kicked in, the pages just kept flipping and flipping until the book was devoured. I honestly loved this book, and being a huge fan of this genre, and books related to the universe, I very strongly urge everyone to read this book!
The possibilities in this universe are beyond our imagination, and as of now, we are insignificant creatures in this ‘dark forest’, just praying we don’t become someone’s prey…
