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undeadbydawn t1_j1im9ix wrote

The Dark Forest is the most profoundly depressing book I've ever read. Nothing else comes remotely close. I had to just not read at all for a good 3 months after finishing it because it sucked every shred of joy out of the experience. Being reminded of that makes me want to remove the books from my home. I will never read Death's End

However, that wasn't because of the way the breaking of humanity was described as per your quotes, but because Cixin Liu's take was so profoundly nihilistic. He, as an author, apparently lacks any faith in humanity whatsoever.

This was most clearly demonstrated by devoting 200+ pages to the protagonists.... imaginary girlfriend. And the mad scramble for his handlers to find the direct human equivalent of said imaginary girlfriend. That creeped me the fuck out in a way I honestly never imagined possible.

For you to see yourself reflected so clearly in his writing strongly suggests that you need some for real help with your own mental state, and I recommend you look into that as soon as possible

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zxyzyxz t1_j1jcdb1 wrote

> I will never read Death's End

You should, great ending.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1iqz50 wrote

Oh yeah the imaginary girlfriend was too much even for me. That was some incel level stuff if I have to be honest.

And Im honestly not liking Cixin books, not because of the plot but because of the writing. It wanders off too much and they way he phrases things sound odd most of the time. Probably because of the huge differences between mandarin and english. But Im not re-visiting these books regardless. Im powering through the last ones just because Im already commited to the time I dedicated to the previous ones. Stockholm Syndrome I guess.

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undeadbydawn t1_j1irp5m wrote

Dark Forest forced me to establish a hard 'do not continue' rule for hated books. It's saved an awful lot of time and hassle.

There's some value in reading bad books. But those that are horrible enough to regret buying them? Nope. Gone.

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1ltmsx wrote

The most depressing thing about it was how boring it was to read

I will also never read Death's End

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