I really really wanted to love this book more. I came in with such high expectations, and perhaps that was my downfall. It wasn't a bad book, but it certainly wasn't nearly as great as I was led to believe. 

Let's start with the good. Cixin Liu is a master at speculative fiction. The thoughtfulness of the world development and implications of the story are deeply thought out. Characters often reacted to their extreme situations with surprisingly insightful (if not overly bleak) realism. This, combined with an extremely fast-paced and shocking final 1/3 of the book leaves the reader feeling pretty satisfied at the end. 

However, the first 2/3's of the book were a slog to get through. I wish I could say that the ending made up for how slow and often boring the main body of the book was, but it really didn't. The Dark Forest could have easily been half the word count and probably would have benefitted from it. The prose oscillated between clunky/boring and overly purple/flowery with not a whole lot in between (though from other reviews I am led to believe that might be due to the translator). 

On top of my issues with pace and writing is the character work. In short, every single character in the entire book (with one notable exception of a side character) is entirely unlikable. I'm not invested in any of their journeys or decisions except for the impact on others. I'm actively rooting against most people, and when the main character has good ideas, I'm actively disappointed because I don't want him to be right. Further, the book's treatment of females is extremely disappointing. The Three-Body Problem had a thoughtful and dynamic main female character. While The Dark Forest's female characters are barely even caricatures - either completely devoid of personality or a literal "dream girl" (minus the manic pixie).

 So as a whole, the book was quite difficult to just read and get engrossed. Cixin Liu's genius was suffocated in a vacuum left by insufferable characterization and poor pacing.