The Dark Forest

Cixin Liu’s The Dark Forest is available on Audible as a 22 hrs 36 mins unabridged audiobook, narrated by P. J. Ochlan.

Publisher’s Summary

The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem!

Over 1 million copies of the Three-Body Problem series sold in North America

PRAISE FOR THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM SERIES: “A mind-bending epic.”—The New York Times • “War of the Worlds for the 21st century.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Fascinating.”—TIME • “Extraordinary.”—The New Yorker • “Wildly imaginative.”—Barack Obama • “Provocative.”—Slate • “A breakthrough book.”—George R. R. Martin • “Impossible to put down.”—GQ • “Absolutely mind-unfolding.”—NPR • “You should be reading Liu Cixin.”—The Washington Post

The Dark Forest is the second novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China’s most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.

In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion-in just four centuries’ time. The aliens’ human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth’s defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he’s the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.

The Three-Body Problem Series
The Three-Body Problem
The Dark Forest
Death’s End

Other Books by Cixin Liu
Ball Lightning
Supernova Era
To Hold Up the Sky
The Wandering Earth
A View from the Stars

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

Audiobook Details

• Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
• Length: 22 hrs 36 mins
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release year: 2015
• Audible category: Literature & Fiction / World Literature / Science Fiction & Fantasy

Listener Ratings

The Dark Forest holds an average listener rating of 4.6/5 from 18292 Audible ratings.

On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:

• Performance (narration): 4.5/5
• Story: 4.7/5
• 5-star ratings: 75% of all ratings

What Audible Listeners Are Saying

5/5 stars — “Maybe it’s me…”
This is great science fiction in the mold of The Foundation Trilogy. Yes, it’s that good. Characters are distinctive and well developed, the story is compelling, science (fiction) based and not fantastical, the translation is absolutely amazing (not that I speak Mandarin, but the English idioms are natural). Maybe it’s me, but I did not like the narrator in Three Body. His characterizations were exaggerated, cartoonish and detracted from the seriousness of the storyline. Ochlan is measured, serious, well-paced and brings enough distinctiveness to the characters to make listening easy and enjoyable.

— Flotsky, Audible listener

5/5 stars — “Excellent Second Book – Worth Struggling Through”
As with many reviews of this audio book, I agree that the narration takes vastly from the experience. It was a hard book to get into (but well worth the work), and it was quite frustrating to have to struggle with what characters were speaking. I’d say re-record with Scott Brick and a cast of other characters played by other people.

— Benjamin Buren, Audible listener

5/5 stars — “Plodding on to Book 3”
I wish I could read this in the original language. I get the feeling that so much was lost in translation. Often the narration/text comes across like those martial arts movies of the 60s/70s, stilted and low budget. It often has this feel ("OK Boss, we will attack tonight and show who’s in charge.")

Not as good as the first volume but I’m determined to finish this series so necessary.

New Ideas —> 5 stars
Believable Science —–> 5 stars
The top two are the most important in SF
_____________________________________________
Plot ——————–> 3 stars
Translation ————-> 3 stars
Performance ———–> 3 stars

The ending came out of the blue -deus ex machina.

— Walking Bird, Audible listener

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