Josiah's Reviews > The Dark Forest

This was a pretty great read. I have a weak spot for stories about uber-geniuses competing against each other (which this book semi-falls into with the Wallfacers), and I loved following the different puzzles spun against the threat of the advancing alien force. There were a lot of effective plot twists, some really creative worldbuilding, and the climax of this book wins the award of being one of the most unexpectedly-epic conclusions I've seen in a story!

Like was the case with the previous book, the characters aren't terribly well-developed for the most pat and I had a hard time engaging with them. I was also really not a huge fan of the literal wish-fulfillment girlfriend character as we never got a good idea for what motivated her and she really was more of a plot device than anything else. Perhaps that was supposed to be intentional given certain characters' desires to just make her a plot device, but... I really just didn't buy it and found the practice of indulging in the protagonist's fantasies to be rather eye-rolling.

While this book isn't one I'd recommend for the characters, though, between some impressive worldbuilding, an engaging plot, and some really intriguing thematic points, I enjoyed this book a lot. Not sure where the story is going to go from here since this climax wrapped up a lot more of the plot than I expected for the second book in the trilogy, but I'm definitely going to have to get my hands on that last book in the series.

Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good).