Death's End

What a journey of humanity. From a contact to an extra-terrestrial intelligence to the end of time. When i finished the book, my world seems so miniscule compared to grand universe introduced by Cixin Liu. All ideas presented in the book are just beyond imagination. Death's end is not your typical science fiction, it pushes what science fiction could be.

One critic: this book has a lot ups and downs. It is not like typical story: building up tension until climax arrives; it is more like a journal, describing grande events, memories of humanity in the universe. Some might don't like this type of story telling, but it is still enjoyable for me. All unimaginable brilliant ideas compansate the downside.

это просто ууух! давно я не “глотала” книги. головокружительный сюжет просто с вселенским размахом, куча проблем научного, политического, этического и еще какого хотите характера. чересур длинные описания технических и научных подробностей, на мой взгляд, но в целом прекрасная научная фантастика

Increíble, un desenlace espectacular. Si bien, en mi opinión, no supera a la segunda entrega, este final me deja con el corazón llenito y lista para revivir la historia con todas las adaptaciones que vienen en camino.

A bit stretched but the last few chapters were amazing.

9/10

I feel that this series has gotten better with each subsequent book culminating into an amazing finale. That being said Death's End was still a novel of two tales for me. On the one hand you have some of the most brilliant future science fiction out there. Idea's that absolutely capture the imagination and you see how humanity progresses and regresses over such a large time scale. It's incredibly enthralling.

Then on the other side, without going into spoilers, you have certain decisions that Cheng Xian is making through the novel, but some of them have extremely weak reasoning and are not very compelling. It gets to the point that it's actually bit frustrating.

So again I didn't like the character writing...is basically what that amounts to. Story of the three books there. Yet, I found the science fiction aspect so captivating and enjoyed the unfolding of this incredibly bleak story to such an extent that it not only warrants 5 stars despite any flaws it may have, but it will also hold a place on my favourites list moving forward. 

Masterpiece, masterpiece, masterpiece. One masterpiece for every book in the series.

Cixin Liu has such a clear, concise and direct writing style with 0 fluff that makes it refreshing to read. No over describing the colour of the walls and facial micro expressions and the poetic emptiness of space, none of that. He writes in such a way that you come up with those metaphors and poetics yourself. You feel what he wants you to feel with the situations he portrays.

As for the plot?
This ties in with the Dark Forest for my most favourite book in the series, fuck, favourite book ever (for now). While the Dark Forest focuses on humanity's reaction to the mystery revealed in the Three Body Problem, Death's End is very much like the three body problem in physics. Unpredictable as fuck. And I love that. Each development always leaves you thinking, “What could possibly happen now???” And a new development occurs that makes you repeat that question.
Just the sheer scope, imagination, creativity and use of real scientific concepts leaves me astounded as to how one man could write all this. How much research did he do? Did he have to do any research at all or does all of that knowledge just exist in his head? Idk...

I was initially led to reading this series by a YouTube video called ‘The most horrifying series in science fiction'. The video asked me to pause, read the series, and come back. So I paused, read the series and never came back. Because I understand why someone would think that way. The implications and concepts outlined in the book might be horrifying to some. But the sheer creativity in those concepts... Man. I'm more amazed than terrified.

Overall, 10/5. A five star rating just isn't enough. So I give it a five star two times.

Did not expect this book to actually make me sentimental but here we are. I hope I am not in the minority as someone who is “at peace” with the ending of this astounding series.

Again,  we get to the see the best and worst of humanity through this story. We follow a new “main” character named Cheng Xin.

TBH, I was nervous starting this book. Not just because of what might happen in the plot but because it is the last book of the trilogy. For a series that is adamant on not getting you attached to a single character, you do get attached. Well, at least I did.

Strangely, this felt more like a love letter to earth and humans. So, I was pretty emotional by the end of this book. 

It was unexpeted how alone humans are in the climax of the story, which makes the stakes higher because we no longer have a known enemy to fight. Which is another refreshing take because so many of the stories we read has a final showdown of some sort and in this case, there's none.

Some have pointed out the sexism in this book, especially with a female protagonist. But to me, there's really not much to go on since there's not really any character in the whole series that I would consider well rounded to make comparisons anyway. We get characters from both sexes doing the good and the bad. I think it was important that Cheng Xin was a woman specifically because of how people perceived her. Especially compared to previous “main” characters in the series. 

She was  the only character who was “chosen” by the people. And it had largely to do with how they perceived her and how they perceived her had a lot to do with her gender. However problematic that is, this kind of assumption is something that exists and maybe breaking that “norm” is not something the humans have grown out of in centuries. Would it have been great if this was somehow removed? Yes. But the book does not shy away from pointing out that this perception and reasoning is a flaw. Even some of the things, they assume about her, Cheng Xin does not even claim to be and she often finds herself withdrawing whenever she feels like this perception gets too out of hand.

But I don't think this was the point. Sure, they chose Cheng Xin because of their assumptions of her which is rooted on her gender (The Madonna references are obvious) and maybe some of the things she did do.
relinquishing her claim on her star and its planets was seen as a charitable act which most likely drove the votes in her favor, also holding the baby... like a mother... madonna references etc.

I think the point is the reasoning behind that choice. Humanity had the choice based on the worst and best that they could do. The worst being violence and the best being compassion and love. Sure, they made that choice using the assumptions they had. BUT, they chose the person they believed highly likely to carry out that sentiment, regardless of how foolish it might be. See what I mean by the book making me sentimental?

Is it right to blame Cheng Xin? I don't think so. She, of course, felt a lot of guilt about this but is it realistic that the fate of humanity rests on one person? They could have easily not respected her wishes when she wanted to prevent a  war, but they did. If anything, why not blame the Trisolarians who still chose to attack DESPITE widespread agreement among humans to welcome them and integrate them into human society? In the end, they chose the violence that led to their doom. If anything, the books shows that choosing violence only leads to a cycle. Even with arguably pacifist characters like Wang Miao and Luo Ji, they ultimately chose violence. Wang Miao letting the military use his nanomachines to kill the ETO members and Luo Ji holding both Earth and Trisolaris hostage. This sentiment is also shown in how the Earth humans prosecuted the crew of Bronze Age and even Luo Ji himself for possible crimes (against humans and against other life forms)

I think they saw Cheng Xin as representative of what is good in humans. Quite literally, they chose to save her, sort of like Pandora's box Did humans get to become the greatest civilization of all time by defeating their enemies and conquering the universe? No. In the end, humans chose to save their humanity. NGL, the book got me listening to “What a Wonderful World” because of how much it got me in the feels, lol.
“Humanity chose you, which meant they chose to treat life and everything else with love, even if they had to pay a great price... Love isn't wrong.”
And finally, the final parts of the book, 
Was I disappointed that we don't at least get a happy ending on a small scale? IDK, at that point, I was already emotionally exhausted that one final tragedy felt like a mosquito bite compared to oh IDK, losing the entire solar system. Also how casually it was done, OUCH. But it brings me a bit of satisfaction that in the end, everything resets. So what does it matter that other species were too busy eliminating each other when we all go back to nothing in the end? Sure, we did not get to be the greatest conqueror of the universe and practically extinct but at least we didn't waste our time in the universe on nonsensical violence. Carpe diem and all that

This completes the Three-Body Problem Trilogy, and takes us centuries into the future.

My impressions are on the entire series.

It's been termed “hard sci-fi” for a reason - there is a lot of science, arguments about science, and projections on scientific development within the huge span of this book.

The premise: An alien civilisation is looking for a new habitat and Earth is it. Humans have 450 years to prepare for the invasion and in that time, the aliens - Trisolarans - have sent invisible “sophons” to halt progress in fundamental physics and to also spy on human activities. Of course, this supposes that we (humans) are not alone in the universe. Indeed, not only are we not alone, but also in danger of being discovered by other alien civilisations, not just the Trisolarans.

The span of the story is breathtaking - four hundred and fifty years. Also, the challenge inherent in postulating how human civilisation will respond to such a threat to their existence. Will the world governments put aside differences and work together or will human society fracture into different groups seeking different solutions to the problem?

The author tackles all this, and more, and that in itself makes the book worth reading. I also enjoyed the arguments surrounding technology and should humans pursue a technological development that can guarantee its safety in the future but that can also annihilate it if it falls into the wrong hands at present?

Then there are the debates on whether human civilisation is worth saving at all, given the damage we have wrought on Earth, and would it be fair if a small segment of society, ie the ones who can afford to build the sophisticated ships with ecological systems on board, survives but the majority dies?

These, plus the premise, was what kept me ploughing through the pages, because, to be frank, the characters and the writing would not have sustained my interest.

There are so many characters in each volume of the trilogy that I rather gave up keeping track of them all except for the few who remained central to the tale. The characters felt a bit flat for me, especially the “Western” characters who populated Books 2 and 3 — some of them seemed like caricatures, and there were only a handful who came to life in a more meaningful way, most of them in Books and 3. Book 2 also came across as sexist in its depiction of women, with the main character, Luo Ji, going on and on about his version of the ideal woman - suffice to say, she would fit right in with all the traditional Asian stereotypes about the feminine ideal. This is repeated, though less obviously, in other parts of the trilogy, so much so that I felt it was the author's view and not his characters.

Fortunately, the story kept me reading. The tech is fascinating and among those I found most interesting included hibernation, the information windows, lightspeed spacecraft, anti-matter weapons, slowing down the speed of light, and the unfolding or falling in of dimensions.

The story does not have a happy ending. Earth dies. In fact, the entire Solar System is annihilated. The nature of the attack is itself intriguing and involves the Solar System being sucked into a two-dimensional plane, thereby losing light, life, and energy. The humans that survive are those who escaped the Solar System and find other habitable planets.

This book does not make for light nor entertaining reading. It does raise important questions about our existence in this universe, the rate of technological progress, the futures we are building and the legacies we want to leave behind.

Great ideas, but odd ending left a sour taste

The best sci-fi serie I've ever read.

Que esta serie va sobre un primer contacto con vida extraterrestre o una invasión. Pues no, va mucho más allá.

Había leído sólo el primer libro hace algunos años y no continué esperando a que estuviera la trilogía completa, pero se me fue pasando y tuvo que ver que de repente no leía tanta ciencia ficción, hasta el año pasado. Por eso y porque decidí avanzar con series empezadas.

Empezando puedo decir que esta serie se va al top y no sé si se puedan encontrar tantas que lleguen o se acerquen a la magnitud de lo que abarca Liu Cixin con esta trilogía. También mencionar como algunos capítulos podrían funcionar como historias cortas y como metiendo personajes nuevos logra que te interesen en pocas páginas.

Lo que diría de esta tercera parte es que a diferencia de las primeras dos, que aunque se siga a un personaje principal, tiene varios personajes que te van llevando por la historia de años, décadas y siglos. En este hay muy pocos personajes y se siente más llegado a las 3/4 partes del libro, donde de repente si es como estar leyendo una enciclopedia.

Estuve debatiéndome entre las 4 y 5 estrellas, y deje que dependiera del final. Y pues ni modo.

After reading first and second book, I was disappointed that the third one is yet to be translated to my language. I was skeptical of reading english version, but I decided to try it as an audiobook. Narration was beautiful and mesmerizing, I was completely emreged in the story.
I couldn't have predicted any decision characters made nor did I see it coming. Loved it!
Now that I've finished the series, I can't tell am I experiencing book hangover or existencial crysis

Que decepción tan grande. Todo arranca muy bien, pero aproximadamente después de las primeras 300 páginas solo viene un montón de descripciones, información bruta, más descripciones y puro y duro aburrimiento. Cixin Liu ha jugado conmigo. Tantas páginas y horas esperando lo que nunca ocurre.

Durante casi toda la saga Cixin interpreta y adapta teorías científicas reales a su mundo ficticio de forma muy interesante, pero para la segunda parte de este libro la historia deja de ser de ciencia ficción para convertirse en un aburrido relato de fantasía. Las ideas científicas se vuelven ridículas y en exceso inverosímiles.

Cheng Xin es la peor personaje femenina que he leido en la vida.

Wow. Vermutlich werde ich auch an den dritten Teil der Serie noch eine ganze Weile denken. Unglaublich.

Die Welt und Konzepte und Story Elemente sind einzigartig und man kann sich vor Cixin nur verbeugen.

Bedrohungen in diese Reihe sind wirklich beängstigend und insbesondere dieser Band ist voll von Existenz Anxiety Triggern (TM).

Vermutlich ist das Buch nicht für jeden geeignet. Die Figuren und alle Protagonisten der Reihe wirken teilweise nur wie Storyvehikel. Sie sind okay, aber an sich nicht spannend.
Ist im Endeffekt aber okay, die Story ist größer als die Figuren.
Viiiiiel Größer! (Hier gruselige Theamin Musik vorstellen)

Sollte man erlebt haben

5/5

The third book draged a bit, but overall a really good exploration of scifi concepts. I hope they do a decent job bringing it to the screen.

This book buffles me. It has 5-star good parts, which it then ignore and skip without finishing, or finishing in bad ways.

Given 4 stars because I want to judge it for its good and not its bad.

Wow! What a crazy ride. This probably one of the best sci-fi books I've ever read (listened to). It's hard to comprehend how the author came up with some of the concepts explored here, which are both abstract and wonderful but also grounded in and based on the fundamental laws of physics. And there are so many of them(!), originally and carefully woven into the story, not unlike any other sci-fi book I've read before.

I never thought a science fiction book could make me feel such deep existential terror or marvel at the possibilities of the future to come. Romance, politics, philosophy, space battles, and an inconceivable number of plot twists characterize this tightly written narrative. It makes one ask - how do we judge the past? How do we plan for the future? Are we able to unify as mankind or we are doomed because of our differences?

I found the ending quite painful. It's beautiful, and there is a sliver of hope. It's a very, very small sliver though. That aside, it was a satisfactory ending for such an epic.

I don't know anything about physics beyond basic survival body knowledge, so this series was really fun to think about. There are so many concepts that were like a brain massage to learn and think about and try to incorporate into my understanding of the universe (which is part reality and part what I want to be involved). I liked the third book the best because it was the least laggy and the least sexist. This series felt like getting sucked into a story about aliens, then being dunk tanked into a mind blowing ground shifting epiphany about the physics of the world, then more compelling story, then someone else hits the dunk tank target, and on. This book had some really fun fantasy parts and it was cool to see this clearly extremely imaginative sci-fi writer stretch his equally brilliant fantasy/fairy tale muscles. I'd recommend the series if you're up for a time commitment and some minor perceptive reality crises.

I finished the book last night and I still feel like I'm wrapping my head around the insanely imaginative world Liu Cixin created. I wasn't driven to read this book for the plot or for the characters, but to watch the universe unfold as I flipped the pages.

If you've read the first two books in this series then you know exactly what you're getting into with Death's End, however it is probably the best of the three. The translation was phenomenal and the scope and scale of the story was so much more grand than The Three Body Problem or The Dark Forest.

I can't recommend to everyone, but if you're into hard SCI FI this series needs to be on your list.

I loved this series, cool use of technology and some interesting social and political ideas about the future. If you liked the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson I think you would like this.

If this were a technical rating, the book would get 5 stars. For me however, the book felt like a bit of a slog. It took me 2 months to read it and the story line, good gosh, feels like it is stretched across time.

I felt like there were large sections of the story that didn't really apply to anything in the overall arch that we were following - or maybe it was so long that I lost the thread of the story!

It also felt like the main protagonist, Cheng Xin, was being constantly punished by the author - although she does admit her own uphill climb in one of the later chapters entitled “The Stairs of Responsibility”.

The ending of the book (last 15%) also describes in detail the end of the Solar System. It's pretty visual and pretty bleak, and one heck of an idea to wrap my head around.

In fact, the book is full of ideas that are hard to wrap my head around - and that's what Liu Cixin does amazingly well.

For me though, as someone who is reasonably new to hard sci-fi, I found this book to tip me over the edge into “whoa, this is a bit much”. I've also read that apparently there's a fourth book in the works (or even finished) and I've no idea how that story would even continue!!!

As for the contents of the story, I'm not sure I can even explain - certainly epic and thought provoking!

Me ha defraudado bastante.
La historia empieza por donde acabo el anterior libro y por un tiempo parece una extension de este. Esta parte es la mejor.
Luego la cosa empieza a derivar hacia no se sabe que, todo mas grandioso, mas tiempo, mas distancia, mas poder y no se exactamente que hilo hay ya, ni se habla de la sociedad ni de nada, solo la protagonista pasandose por la historia de vez en cuando.

En total, como algun otro comentador ha dicho, lo mejor es acabar al final del primer o segundo libro.

This trilogy is like a detailed game of Civilization with a strong understanding of science and human nature, with Death's End being the end of the epic.

I really enjoyed the multiple generations and the different perspectives as time goes on. Liu continued to surprise me with the story, even when I thought the end had come. Some may find the scientific detail a drag, but I found it fascinating. I'm sure there are a number of speculations based on current understanding, but I found it stimulating and intriguing. This is the best quality science fiction I've read in quite some time.

The greatest. EPIC.