The Dark Forest

De: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator

Narrado por: P. J. Ochlan

Soon to be a Netflix original series!

"Wildly imaginative." (President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy)

This near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking listeners to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from Cixin Liu, China's most beloved science fiction author.

In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion - in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike.

Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.

The Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy

The Three-Body Problem

The Dark Forest

Death's End

Other books

Ball Lightning

Supernova Era

To Hold Up the Sky (forthcoming)

©2008 Cixin Liu (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

I am your Wall-Breaker

Any additional comments?

The words "I am your Wall-Breaker" being spoken made me tremble with anticipation. I'll mention a bit more on that later. To begin with, this book is the Sequel to the "The Three Body Problem". Three Body Problem finished with while not exactly a cliff hanger, it was definitely did not complete most of the major plot points. The Dark Forest picks up on right on the heels of its predecessor and introduces both new characters and uses familiar characters. Let me say that if you have it read the Three Body Problem you will probably be lost and confused if you jump directly into the Dark Forest. After listening to the first three chapters of "The Dark Forest", I decided to go back and re-read the "Three Body Problem". Most authors when writing a sequel give a quick summary or explain major plot points of the previous books, this does not happen in the dark forest but jumps directly into major scenes with important characters. Let's put it this way, if you cant remember what a sophont is (hoped I guessed the spelling on that right, since I've only ever listened to the audiobooks) or what it was doing to the world, The Dark Forest expects you to know that information from the first book and doesn't do any recaps or extra explanations, which in my personal opinion was great cause it just left more space for the author to tell this story.

Now while the first book was more of a scifi alien mystery book, this book focuses on mankinds a reaction too the technology lock the earth has been put under. The only safe way to his information from the incoming alien fleet is to keep that information in your own head. So Earth task 4 individuals to become wall-facers, people who are to implement plans and strategies to save mankind while keeping it all in their own heads so that the aliens figure out their plans through direct spying. Hence the creation, of the Wall-Breakers, humans who sympathy lies with the invading aliens and who have taken on the job to observe the wall-facer's and deduce their true plans/strategies and expose these both to the aliens and the world in general before their plans can come to fruition. Hence when the words "I am your Wall-Breaker" appear, this lead to some of the most interesting and thought provoking scenes in the story.

As for narration, losing Luke Daniels was quite disheartening. While P.J. Ochlan does a fine job in narrating, his rendition/reading of characters is very different from the way they were portrayed in the first book. For me the biggest, disconnect was with the Police Officer Da Shurr. Due to the fact that Mr. Ochlan voices him so diff entry from Mr. Daniels, I found that I had to keep reminding myself that this was the same character from the first book, not a new character. That being said P. J. Ochlan does a good job with his reading but be prepared that you probably won't recognize characters by voice anymore. While this detracts from the overall enjoyment of the listening experience it is still a decent narration.

For my final thoughts on the book. I personally was a little disappointed at how things wrapped up at the end. A little to fast and anti-climatic for my personal taste. I can't say anymore without spoiling anything. I give it a 4/5 which is still great. I still give it 4/5 stars so please read it for yourselves and decide. I honestly think it just comes down to personal preferences when you reach the end and how much you enjoy it.

Now I thought that this book was the 2nd in a trilogy, yet the way it ends it pretty much clears up all questions and plot threads. It really reminded me of Ben Bova's writing style, enough to either answer the question or enough to where the question may not be completely answered but in those cases it's pretty much left to your interpretation. No glaringly open hanging plot threads left behind. Which leads me to wonder about the third book in the trilogy. With "The Dark Forest" ending I considered the story done, in fact I had to actually double check that this was indeed a trilogy and not a 2 book series. If/when book 3 is released I have no idea what the plot will be or what direction the story could or would take but I enjoyed book 1 & 2 so much that I wouldn't hesitate to purchase book 3. So in summary of you enjoyed "The Three Body a Problem", then "The Dark Forest" is a must read. If you haven't read book 1, I would almost say that it's impossible to start with this Book and understand what's going on, so if it sounds interesting give Three Body Problem a try. Lastly I hope Cixin Liu continues to write and translate any future books into english.

Awesome!!!

I cant wait for book three! I was skeptical of a new narrator, but P. J Ochlan did an excellent job.

Listen to this one at 1.25x

This is an incredible story paired with the slowest, most disinterested speech synthesizer of a narrator. I found that listening at 1.25x speed - something that I think I've only done once before - granted much needed urgency to the narration. It's still robotic, but the increased speed seems to make it more like a C3PO who needs your attention, rather than a Marvin who couldn't care less.

As for the story? Look, I really liked Asimov's Foundation series. At risk of committing a terrible heresy, I feel like these are the next generation's Foundation novels (or maybe the next, next Generation's). They're a wellspring of ideas. Their scope is mind-blowing.

If you're having trouble getting through the book, I urge you to stick with it. Crank the speed up a notch, then give your brain some time to adjust to the increased speed. The story is too good to pass up!

Brilliant depiction of what COULD be!

If you could sum up The Dark Forest in three words, what would they be?

Virtually impossible to "sum up" such an epic story in a mere "three words!" But I'll give you these three; Epic, Technically-Accurate, Riveting.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I'd have to choose Luo Ji but really all the characters make up this fascinating engaging story!

Have you listened to any of P. J. Ochlan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have never heard this narrator before but he's spectacular!! What a difficult task to create SO many voices with So many accents and so distinctive! Pure Genius as far as I'm concerned and I would LOVE to Audio-book more Sci-Fi from P.J. Ochlan!!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The 2nd installment of a 3 book series which is SO incredibly smart and well written, it might even open the reader's imagination to the possibility this could be not far from the true Humanity's fate! I experienced a range of emotions during this whole series!

Any additional comments?

I was blown away by this series! So well written and such brilliant interesting stuff! So much of it is drawn from real scientific facts and then the sci-fi/fantasy elements fit so seamlessly it creates a fun and terrifying ride that humans might want to think about before making choices that have made so many mistakes already! But, HEY, this is just fiction; and good fiction at that! Have a fun ride with this one, I look forward to reading it again in couple of years!!

Turkey excellent.

By far the best of the three main books in this series. The investment in story, characters and explanations pays off at every turn. The reader can only be enveloped fully in the firm belief of the logic, passion and motivation of the characters in this world and their stories. Somehow even the most fantastic theories of space, time and science seem completely within the realm of explanation and relatable story telling.