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savvylit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
After reading The Dark Forest, I was nervous to dive into the final book. I am glad I did, though, because Death's End returned to the subject matter that I had really enjoyed in the first book: accessible philosophy and physics.
Death's End features an incomprehensible timeline that is honestly a mind-boggling feat of imagination. Imagining the extremely distant future - we're talking millions and millions of years - really cemented the trilogy's creeping feeling That human existence is both incredibly insignificant and ephemeral.
Death's End also features a very epic star-crossed lovers storyline that felt absolutely made for the cinema. At its best moments, this whole book often reminded me of one of my favorite films, Interstellar.
What ultimately made this a three-star read for me was the misogyny in this book that really felt overwhelming. Cixin Liu does not seem to like women. Unfortunately, like a lot of other "classic" sci-fi from the Western canon, women are often poorly portrayed in this series. The most obvious & shameful example of this is the fact that all of humanity's poorest and most naive decisions regarding alien contact are made by female characters. Even though this book features the very rad & highly-educated female protagonist of Cheng Xin, her "weak" femininity and "motherly" inclinations are constantly emphasized. These qualities eventually lead to a few huge mistakes on behalf of the entire human race. Gross.
Relatedly, Cixin Liu also seems absolutely obsessed with the gender binary. There is an era in this book's timeline in which all the men are constantly described as incredibly "effeminate." Many characters lament the loss of "true" masculinity during this time. This era comes to represent a time period in human history where humanity failed at making the correct decisions. What an elaborate way to show how much of a misogynist you are - by saying that the one era without masculine leaders was the most foolish and complacent era of humankind.
What ultimately made this a three-star read for me was the misogyny in this book that really felt overwhelming. Cixin Liu does not seem to like women. Unfortunately, like a lot of other "classic" sci-fi from the Western canon, women are often poorly portrayed in this series. The most obvious & shameful example of this is the fact that all of humanity's poorest and most naive decisions regarding alien contact are made by female characters. Even though this book features the very rad & highly-educated female protagonist of Cheng Xin, her "weak" femininity and "motherly" inclinations are constantly emphasized. These qualities eventually lead to a few huge mistakes on behalf of the entire human race. Gross.
Relatedly, Cixin Liu also seems absolutely obsessed with the gender binary. There is an era in this book's timeline in which all the men are constantly described as incredibly "effeminate." Many characters lament the loss of "true" masculinity during this time. This era comes to represent a time period in human history where humanity failed at making the correct decisions. What an elaborate way to show how much of a misogynist you are - by saying that the one era without masculine leaders was the most foolish and complacent era of humankind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War
msharmonyb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
amandasystems's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Very classic sci-if, including the misogyny and the slightly stilted language. I’ll think about the underlying theory of politics modulo infinite scales for a long time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide and Misogyny