The Dark Forest is a near-future apocalyptic science fiction novel written by Liu Cixin. The novel is the second in a trilogy (called "Remembrance of Earth's Past") and is the sequel to the first novel. Cixin is a renowned Chinese author who earned the Hugo award and won the Galaxy award nine times. He is known worldwide for his extraordinary work of science fiction. The novel was first published in 2008 and was translated into English later on.
The novel continues on the story of Earth, which is about to be invaded by aliens who outsmarted humans and were able to constantly spy on Earth and all of its beings and their actions with the help of subatomic particles called sophons. Humans estimated the The Trisolarans (the aliens) are going to invade Earth in four centuries, which is not a lot of time in terms of space and galaxies. What the humans discovered is that the Trisolarans are not able to read what's on their minds, so whatever they plan is unknown unless they speak of it. Given that, human beings decided to choose 4 people, known as Wallfacers, to think of plans to destroy the Trisolarans without telling them to anyone. They are granted all the world's resources whenever they need them. The novel continues on describe the challenges these Wallfacers face, and how one of them didn't actually want to be a Wallfacer.
The Dark Forest received numerous positive reviews from different sites and readers. For one, it received a 4.4 out of a 5-star rating on Goodreads. Petrik, a Goodreads member, wrote: "A superlative sequel that made its predecessor pale in comparison, The Dark Forest is an excellent middle book that made me finally recognize all the praises that Cixin Liu received”. Niall Alexander from Tor.com writes in his book review that this novel is “ bolstered as it is by a complex protagonist, an engrossing, high-stakes story and a truly transcendent setting."
