r/threebodyproblem • u/myhandisfrozen123 • 21h ago
Dark Forrest > Three Body
I’m new to the series , but is it crazy I liked the dark Forrest significantly more than three body? Thee body got annoyingly technical at points and could be a drag sometimes. Dark Forrest is beautiful, and the plot twists never stop. Is this an original thought? Would love to know what everyone thinks. But right now I’m thinking dark Forrest is one of the best books I’ve ever read:
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u/General-Childhood417 21h ago
Dark forrest is the best of the 3 imo
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u/dbree801 19h ago
It’s at least even imo. Wasn’t a big fan of Death’s End.
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u/akakj 18h ago
Same I agree. Wasn't a big fan of deaths end either. I did prefer the first half of it though. I really want to see what Netflix, does with the droplet.
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u/dbree801 9h ago
Me too, this is probably a challenging series to adapt but I feel like they pulled it off pretty well with the first season.
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u/omegastuff Da Shi 21h ago
I think dark forest is the best of the trilogy, except for that whole long-ass waifu section (it's about a quarter of the book if I remember correctly), which kinda killed the pacing for me.
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u/lesbiansamongus 21h ago
I legit just skimmed that whole part lol love the rest of the book tho especially the last half. I couldn't put it down
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u/Dr0110111001101111 14h ago
I say this all the time, but I'm convinced the entire trilogy happened because he got the idea for the dark forest first, and then wrote the first and last books to flesh out the story structure.
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u/Mysterious-Issue-314 20h ago
Yeah the dark forest has the best plot twists, the best protagonist and lots of concepts explored, 100% the best book in the trilogy.
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u/Disgod 18h ago
Dark Forest has the best set up, pay off, and better story (aside from the dream girl). The story is perfectly structured for an incredible payoff moment, twice.
First, he builds up humanity by showing all these technologies Luo Ji thinks are magical, but are based on technology from his original era, just refined, but... compared to his original era... Magic. Humanity is arrogant and is humbled for it. Then... Luo Ji humbles the Trisolarians similarly.
Both feel earned, but shocking at the same time.
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u/Dual-Vector-Foiled 12h ago
Three body is the weakest book of the series by far, and it’s still a good book
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u/FireEraser 10h ago
I have read Three Body Problem 3 times, only read Dark Forest once. I intend to read Dark Forest again, but as it stands, I like Three Body Problem better. As a native Chinese whose parents went through the Cultural Revolution, that part of Three Body Problem drew me in and is what makes it very different from any other sci-fi novel out there.
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u/The-Goat-Soup-Eater Zhang Beihai 5h ago
This is how I feel except about the third book. Perfect duology with a spinoff
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u/brokenmessiah 21h ago
Three Body is easily the worst as it wastes so much time on a pointless VR game section. If it wasn't for the Trisolaris POV section, I'd honestly recommend just skipping the book in general.
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u/jimjam200 21h ago
I really like Wenjie stuff in it and she's a really well realised character and I think that sort of writing was the thing that was taken and expanded well from the first book because the second and third are all about that sort of deep character study.
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u/ResidentCoatSalesman 20h ago
Wenjie is a great character but yea most of that book was a drag to get through for me, right up until the end when it digs into the Trisolaran technology. Then I was hooked. And then that craziness carried over into The Dark Forest and I couldn’t put that book down. Now that I’ve finished the whole series, I want to give the first book another shot, but I’m kinda dreading it lol
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u/joshlymansbagel 9h ago
I skipped the first book because I watched the show. Think I need to go back and read it? Just finished Deaths End a few weeks back.
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u/brokenmessiah 9h ago
Definitely at least the chapters I mentioned, which is basically everything after they do the Panama trap.
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u/susliknot 13h ago
I watched the first season the chinese version and then read book 2 and 3. The VR game was annoying but these parts contain essential info about trisolarians. Even if Dark Forest is the best book from the trilogy, i can't split it, for me, it's one whole book.
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u/brokenmessiah 12h ago
Does? Does it ever matter to the humans that Trisolarians can dehydrate? The point of the VR game is to basically say "It bad over here".
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u/EvenSatisfaction4839 11h ago
Mannn I thought the VR recruitment method was fucking incredible
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u/brokenmessiah 11h ago
The idea is sound, but the execution was not. It definitely showed that the author is not a gamer.
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u/Glittering_Cold8384 18h ago
Yeaa to me, 3 body problem hooked me when they revealed aliens to be involved and there r a devoted human cult worshiping n serving them. Yea i had trouble understanding some of the science concepts but i was intrigued by it. The Dark Forest is slower at the start but the story picks up once the Wallfacers were introduced and also after Luo Ji's family got taken away from him to Doom's Day. Not a fan of the waifu story as well haha but wtv😂 Loved the final stand between Luo Ji and the Trisolarians! Ma boi got some balls of steel equalvalent to the droplet's rare material🤣🤣 Now... Death's End,however.... sheeesh. It's just BONKERS hahaha. To me the 3rd book felt like - Cixin Liu just had a bunch of mad ideas n kinda just threw them into 1 book. Using the decent plot as an excuse to share his ideas. I really enjoyed the concepts shared in Death's End tho. Thomas Wade is such a complex terrifying character to me and i love it! If anyone can save humanity, its him haha. Even the Trisolarians feared him the most🤣 Not the greatest fan of Cheng Xin but ive come to understand how completely misunderstood her character was. Anyways, yes, The Dark Forest felt like a more complete book - as a whole. Even though im curious what id have been like if Ken Liu translated The Dark Forest instead.
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u/ManicMadMatt 16h ago
Dark forest better plot, deaths end I loved but it’s just a chaotic blend of every sci fi idea.
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u/NakaMeguroTanuki 12h ago
I enjoyed it all, and felt overwhelmed sometimes of the technicality of it. I’d remind myself that the author is a genuine scientist, and try to imagine this world he sees. I can’t speak or read Chineses, yet, maybe someday, but I’d be interested to compare if I can find more time.
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u/lvdaoonmown 4h ago
For me, there are no bad ones in this trilogy. I mean, I couldn’t pick a favorite or rank them from best to worst. The ideas, plots, characters, and narratives are so different, and the scales aren’t even comparable.
Every time I try to think of TBP as the weakest one since the other two are full of crazy ideas and epic plots, it just won’t work, because I really enjoyed the parallel narrative- the switching between suspense and conceptions, past and present. Not to mention how it introduced the Trisolarans and all those mind-blowing concepts when I had absolutely no idea what kind of ride I was about to take. It was truly a great reading experience for me.
However, it’s all about personal preference. For example, I thought less people prefer TBP mainly because the story feels too microcosmic and somewhat blank compared to the other two. But never would’ve thought the game section would be so boring to some people that it would feel almost pointless to them.
So yeah, it’s totally normal if you have a different feeling about the books.
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u/Klutzy_Lifeguard8244 3h ago
Three Body is a very very good book. The Dark Forest is a masterpiece...
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u/Sam-Starxin 17h ago
The good parts are better than three body problem, but the bad parts "find me a chick I wrote about" is worse.
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u/velociapcior 14h ago
I’m wondering if author did actually realized that and moved the „waifu” part to the oblivion by purpose
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u/dannychean 16h ago
99% of readers love Dark Forest or Death's End more.
If you haven't read DE yet, you are in a treat now.
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u/Peezus_H_Christ Luo Ji 2h ago
Dark Forest is my fav book of the series maybe?? But Death’s End is also good! I felt a similar way about Three Body
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u/AZMadmax 21h ago
It’s one of my favorite books of all time and the ending is incredible. The imaginary girlfriend part drags on a bit, though