Justin's Notes

The Dark Forest is the second title in the Remembrance of Earth's Past series, following the Three Body Problem. This book was nuts. I enjoyed the Three Body Problem but felt like it was a bit difficult for me to get into. I then took like eight months before picking up the sequel. First off, if you end up reading this series, I would not recommend so much time between. It felt a little difficult for me to get back into the story at first, mostly because I needed to try to remember quite a few smaller plot details. Much of the cast of characters is different in this book, so it does feel a little bit like a new story all together. That said, this story was so good, especially the second half. I finished this book and wandered to my house, audibly talking to myself about how cool the ending was.

It follows a man named Luo Ji who becomes one of the four Wallfacers, those responsible for trying to think of a solution to save Earth from the incoming invasion by the Trisolaris, an extraterrestrial life civilization. This story is heavily influenced by a scientific theory called the dark forest hypothesis, the main idea being that any and all life in the universe, humanity or extraterrestrial life, stays silent yet hostile, with the fear of being destroyed by any other life that is found. Cixin Liu interweaves this hypothesis so beautifully into this story, making it equally mind-bending and thought-provoking. Aside from that, there are multiple other similarly thought-provoking topics in this book, but in fear of giving too many plot points away, I will leave it at that. Lastly, I really enjoy Luo Ji as a character. He is super fascinating, with his development throughout the book switching between extreme growth and regression. I can't blame him, though. If I were tasked to save humanity, I might be pretty chaotic as well.

Obviously, you will need to read the Three Body Problem first. But if you like science fiction, this series is starting to feel like a must to me. I know I am a little premature with still needing to read one more book to finish it out, but it is so good. The writing may feel different or challenging at times, and it has moments where the science language feels overwhelming, but it is well, well worth it.

This story follows a couple, Isolde "Iz" and Warren "War" Wilby, known as The Hexologists, who are hired detectives, solving mysteries and problems in the city while leaning on Iz's ability to use hexes and her father's bag of magical relics. They are hired by the royal secretary to investigate a letter claiming to be from an estranged, unknown son of the king, along with attempting to figure out the king's illness. This case leads them into a wild and dangerous investigation, unearthing secrets and lies for decades.

This wasn't my favorite book I have read, but I still enjoyed it. I thought the magic was interesting, the world-building was unique, and the characters were built up really well. One of my favorite parts of this book is Iz and War's relationship. The balance they had between trust in each other and readiness to challenge was fun. You could tell that they truly love each other and have a marriage that thrives on their trust and supporting each other's decisions. I also really enjoyed the world-building. The atmosphere of the city, feeling like a bit of a steampunk setting, is really fit for a story based on detectives and mystery solving. I thought it created a really fun world to imagine as the story unfolded. I do think that I wanted more from the magic systems. Not necessarily in the explanation of it, but more in the usage of it. I think the idea of drawing hexes makes it a little less exciting in combat specifically, which felt a little underwhelming to me at times.

Overall, this story was a fun mystery that unfolds itself excitingly with a surprising conclusion at the end. Once I got into it, I did enjoy it; it just wasn't my favorite and never made me obsessed, which is a pretty big tell for me on how much I enjoy a book. Honestly, if someone asks for fantasy recommendations, this story is going to be lower on my list. That said, I do think I will continue the series when the next book comes out, and if someone tells me they are reading it, I will still be excited for them.

Heading into the year, I wanted to try and read more history books. Not only to just expand the genres I read in, but also to learn some new things. Since reading history is pretty new and different from what I am used to, this book was both exciting and difficult for me to get through. So I would take what I am about to write with a grain of salt, purely due to my inexperience as a historical reader.

This book was quite interesting for me, but it didn't captivate me like I thought it would. I went into it thinking it would solely be based on Genghis Khan, when in reality it is more focused on the Mongolian culture, life, and ultimately the Mongolian Empire as a whole. Some of the facts I thought were really cool were how the Mongolians preferred to be nomadic and tribal. Further into the empire, after Khan's death, they tried to create capitals and cities, and it seemed to not go as well, to the point whereas the empire met its downfall, then reverted to a more nomadic people group. I also thought it was fascinating how Khan wanted freedom of religion as he continued to conquer most of the Eastern world and into the Western world. Within the different cities and trading routes established by the Mongolians, there wasn't any kind of religious reformation. The Mongolians had their beliefs and were fine with others having theirs. I felt like Weatherford was trying to hammer down the point that the Mongolians were really conquering the world to protect themselves from enemies. Also, I do want to point out that my understanding is that the Mongolians were incredibly brutal, dangerous and powerful. I thought that Weatherford didn't expand on their brutality as much as I expected him to.

One of the harder parts of this book for me was that with the time period being so far back and the lack of written sources and material, it does seem very up in the air as far as interpretation goes of the sources. Maybe that is normally for any history older than the past few hundred years, but there were a decent amount of "it was rumored" type statements. It just made some parts feel a bit more subjective and more up to interpretation instead of being hard facts. But maybe that is more common in history than I thought!

If you are an experienced history reader, I don't know if you should take much of what I said as truth about this book. If you are new to history, you really should just find some event, people group, or time period you are already quite fascinated with to dive deeper into. That said, this seemed like a pretty solid read.

I really enjoyed this book. I am still a Stephen King novice, but every time I read his writing, it just astounds me. It is so engaging; his pacing always feels perfect, and I so easily become invested in the characters in the story. The Eyes of the Dragon is no exception. This is a more classic-feeling fantasy tale from the mid-80s, following a dark wizard trying to get as much control over a kingdom as possible as the royal family attempts to keep control. The story is full of secrets, has a few solid twists, some incredible characters and is told like I am sitting around a fire 20 years after it happened by my grandpa. I loved every minute of it.

Honestly, it's going to be hard to talk much about this story without giving things away. Usually the back covers of books reference high-level plot points, but King really holds the secret of what the story is about. What I will say is King is one of the best at writing his characters. He connects them together flawlessly, both in their relationships to each other and their own development. I was especially fascinated by the progression of Thomas, one of the princes in the story, and Dennis, a servant to the royal family. The way they change and the implications of their growth and decay over time really grew the story into a captivating tale. I also loved that this story simultaneously felt like nothing happened while everything happened. The story is pretty well contained in a small geographic space. There isn't tons of action and high-paced battles. It is just about truth and how truth often prevails.

If you like fantasy stories, I would absolutely recommend. If you love Stephen King, it's a no-brainer. If you are new to Stephen King and don't like horror, this is a great one to pick up. I am pretty confident basically anyone can enjoy this story, so go grab it.

Water Moon follows Hana, the daughter and new owner of a pawnshop where you can trade your regrets. On her first day running the family shop, she finds the place trashed and her father missing. She then meets a customer named Keishin, who joins her on an adventure to find her father, unveiling mysteries and questions she has had for decades.

I was really excited to read this book. The idea of a pawnshop from another world that shows itself to you if you are chosen, where you can trade away your regrets, sounded quite unique. I love when stories blend a somewhat "real" feeling world with a mystical one. Right at the start, I was fairly drawn in. It felt a little dreamlike, with similar vibes to how I feel with Murakami's writing, but no where close. Still, it felt mystical, mysterious, and I was excited. I unfortunately didn't love it.

The biggest issue for me was that the world-building had so much potential, but ultimately fell short. The way the characters interacted with the world, all the locations described, the different magical abilities the characters had. The Night Market in the clouds was such an amazing feeling place to me. It all sounded so good, but it just felt like nothing was executed very well. I also honestly didn't like Keishin, which is a pretty big deal since he is one of the main characters. I just felt like he didn't fit into the story, and his role took away from the magical world that Hana belonged to. The relationship between Hana and Keishin didn't hit for me, and their dialogue felt pretty shallow. The ideas for this world and story were there that I thought could be really good, but the implementation just felt too basic for me.

Honestly, I don't totally know if I would recommend this book to many people. It was decent. It had pretty solid pacing and was a quick read, but just didn't feel polished and didn't execute the plot and world-building as well as I hoped. If it sounds interesting to you, you should obviously read it; if you do, I would love to hear your thoughts.