A review by mayhemreading
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I’m removing 0.25 of a star because Luo Ji is an annoying little small man. Everything else like writing and plot is ✨chefs kiss✨. 

Changed rating to 4/5⭐️
Edit: The more I reflect on how the author writes female characters I find it difficult to brush aside. There is, of course, nothing I can do to change this. The ideal woman is described as being educated yet completely unaware of the world around her,  has talents/aspirations but only looks to the man to decide her future, and of course (and disgusting, might I add) she must be “childlike”. Luo Ji, OUR MAIN CHARACTER, is an unmotivated, unaccomplished, self loathing, self interested piece of garbage who expects the world, and the “perfect woman”, to kiss his feet. My favourite parts of the story are every part that he is not in. 
What’s more, all the women in this story are the ones who cause set backs and failures in the fight for humanity. They are the villains, they are the helpless, they are the unknowing. 
This book is still very much worth the read if you love science fiction but be prepared to read through the disgusting sludge of paragraphs describing women in this story.