Book Review: "The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu

 

4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

The Dark Forest is the second book in Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” series. I felt that it was a bit denser of a read than the previous book. Plus, with the constant time jumps as our protagonists wake up after being put in hibernation, I understand The Dark Forest is doing a bunch of heavy lifting, zooming towards the final confrontation I am sure is coming in book three: the promised invasion four centuries hence by the Trisolarans.

Nevertheless, I found myself enjoying the exploration of a human society wrestling with invasion by an alien species much more technologically advanced, despite this alien civilization having to be resilient and constantly restarting after climatological disruptions caused by the planet’s chaotic orbit around its system’s three stars. Trisolarans fear humanity for their exponential leaps forward in technology in their relatively short existence as a civilization and are actively trying to pump the brakes.

In particular, the idea looked at in this one is that of “the dark forest” hypothesis when it comes to thinking about how civilizations would react to the discovery of other civilizations. Basically, it comes down to the fact that the reason we haven’t heard from other civilizations is that they are paranoid about discovery and possible destruction by other civilizations and thus choose silence instead of broadcasting their presence.

“The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”

It paints an admittedly bleak picture of the universe, especially compared to that of the Star Trek universe. (Although, I suppose there’s an alternative universe explored in Star Trek where humanity chooses war when the Vulcans make first contact with Earth.)

But then, the book has bright spots of awe and wonder:

“It’s a wonder to be alive. If you don’t understand that, how can you search for anything deeper?”

Earth is trying to find ways around the technological barriers the Trisolarans have erected and come up with the Wallfacer Project, for the human mind remains the only thing that is opaque to Trisolaris, whose people are used to very transparent communication. Deception remains a puzzling idea to the Trisolarans. Four Wallfacers are chosen, most influential statesmen or scientists, but the fourth one is Luo Ji, an unambitious, ordinary Chinese astronomer and sociologist.

The Wallfacer Project is a very controversial and interesting idea, the fact that these four men can marshal the resources of the world with very little oversight in an attempt of strategic misdirection on a grand scale.

Luo Ji is overwhelmed and baffled by his new status and is bewildered when the Earth Trisolaran Organization (ETO) seem to target him out repeatedly for assassination, no matter his repeated skipping forward in time via hibernation. The ETO has also tried to disrupt the Wallfacer Project by appointing Wallbreakers for each Wallfacer, and Wallfacers drive many Wallfacers to insanity or suicide in their revelations of Wallfacers’ actual plans, some of which involved betraying humanity. Stuff that we’d today consider crimes against humanity.

I can’t imagine it’s easy living knowing you have the scrutiny of the whole world and Trisolaris on you and yet finding a way to concoct something that Trisolaris would never see coming. Humanity is desperate in The Dark Forest, and it shows.

Ultimately, two hundred years in the future, where the book concludes, things are looking grim for humanity, whose space fleet has been mostly eliminated in an attack by a Trisolaran probe. Luo Ji makes a huge, last-minute gamble on behalf of humanity. Whether it works or not, you’ll have to read The Dark Forest to find out!

This is a very heavy, dark book that still finds moments to express awe and wonder at human existence and the universe. I highly recommend fans of classic science fiction and science fiction newcomers alike read this series, but make sure to set aside some time, as this is more of an intellectual compared to action-driven space opera.

Happy reading!

--BookOwl