My opinion:
- Interesting concept of a Dark Forest & cosmic sociology axioms.
- Unpleasant characters: Ye Wenjie (narcissistic and psychopathic), Cheng Xin (a kind billionaire lol).
- Disappointing ending—the last few chapters feel weak.
Bonus: Absolutely fascinating interpretation of the first book by @yogthos@lemmy.ml.
Totally agree that novel ideas about science fiction are presented. A group of humans betraying all of humanity was a nice inversion of the “one man has to save everyone” concept.
For me, the succeeding novels became increasingly boring and inconsequential.
Major spoiler for book 3
I was compelled to read the books when I learned about other species collapsing dimensions as a weapon of war. How fascinating.
Unfortunately, that entire concept was explained in two paragraphs by a character who had no right to know that information. And then we moved on like nothing happened.
I think a better novel that explored very similar themes is The Last Human by Zack Jordan.