Awesome. Incredible. About 50% into The Dark Forest, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading. I read this book in about a week, which might be the fastest I've ever read a book of this size. It was a roller coaster ride with quite a few cliffhangers of different scales. The author would drop some new piece of information, and I had to wait patiently in suspense to find out more. There are so many mind-blowing concepts to be had throughout the course of the entire series; I am amazed by Liu Cixin and his ideas.

While I'm not sure that she is supposed to be particularly likable, the main character of this book annoyed me at times. She struck me as naive, sheltered, idealistic, and sometimes dense, despite having a doctorate degree. She found herself in the same kind of predicament more than once, and the nature of that, combined with how many times she enters hibernation, made her seem entitled.

The portrayal of the universe and it's inhabitants is awesome and depressing at the same time, and it feels so real and correct, despite me obviously having no real-world evidence for it. How could it possibly be any different?! Humanity always seemed to be a step behind its adversaries, and that was difficult to witness. I wanted them to succeed. Maybe they did in a more subtle and realistic way, and it was at grave cost.

Like I said, there are so many amazing ideas contained within this series. I would love to read more about Liu's universe and its civilizations (e.g., the details of the interstellar wars that took place). I highly recommend this book and series. It's easily one of my favorite trilogies of all time.