I finished Cixin Liu’s The Dark Forest (paid link) today, and it blew me away.
I wasn’t sure he could follow The Three-Body Problem (paid link),and the first 80% of the book was a solid four stars — I thought that was about the best I could hope for, given how amazing and surprising and wonderdul TTBP was.
That last 20% was a complete surprise, a nuclear fireball of pure jaw-hanging-open whoa that kept me reading in the bath for much longer than I’d planned. I couldn’t stop until I’d finished it.
It’s different than the first book, especially in its structure. More straightforward, with less of an undercurrent. But so good. I can’t wait for the final volume, but I’ll have to as it’s not out in translation until April 2016.