The Dark Forest Audiobook By Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator cover art

The Dark Forest

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The Dark Forest

By: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
Narrated by: Daniel York Loh
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About this listen

Bloomsbury presents The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, read by Daniel York Loh.

Read the award-winning, critically acclaimed, multi-million-copy-selling science-fiction phenomenon – soon to be a Netflix Original Series from the creators of Game of Thrones.

Imagine the universe as a forest, patrolled by numberless and nameless predators. In this forest, stealth is survival – any civilisation that reveals its location is prey.

Earth has. Now the predators are coming.

Crossing light years, the Trisolarians will reach Earth in four centuries' time. But the sophons, their extra-dimensional agents and saboteurs, are already here. Only the individual human mind remains immune to their influence.

This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a last-ditch defence that grants four individuals almost absolute power to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from human and alien alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown.

Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.

Praise for The Three-Body Problem:
'Your next favourite sci-fi novel' Wired
'SF in the grand style' Guardian
'Mind-altering and immersive' Daily Mail
Winner of the Hugo and Galaxy Awards for Best Novel

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2015 Cixin Liu and Joel Martinsen (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First Contact Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Fiction
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Critic reviews

'A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology.' (George R.R. Martin)

'Wildly imaginative, really interesting... The scope of it was immense.' (Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States)

What listeners say about The Dark Forest

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If I destroy you, what business is it of yours?

I'm sitting here trying to put the pieces of my brain back together. It's been a very long time since any novel has made me feel this way. The first 10/10 I've read in over half a decade.

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A refreshing take on the 2nd Book.

Many people claim the other famous reading has a narrator which butchers Japanese accents even to the point of it being racist. Whilst I never took it this hard, it certainly was a special pronounciation style which lent itself to being slightly stereotypical (this IMO however isn’t so bad for an audiobook, it helps in understandability). However, this young sir right here does an amazing job of narrating the story differently - with a (I must say) amazing, deep, wonderful voice which really adds to the dramatism and sadness of the whole story.


I would love to hear the whole trilogy narrated by this narrator - but would urge him (ironically, considering what I just mentioned about the other narration available) to listen to what “ez” sounds like in Latin Languages, especially not in Spain but in Latin America (as where the characters in this book which have such last names come from). His pronunciation of Spanish Names is actually IMO about as bad as the Japanese stereotypical pronunciation on the other narration available, but luckily since this detail is far less present on the story (since you don’t hear the names over and over), it probably won’t bother most people. That being said, it got to a point where like I am sure he even mixed Díaz and Chávez a few times (besides practically omitting the Z sound which is key here).

Additionally, in comparison to the other narration, this one has substantially more “chapters” so it’s far easier to revisit. No 8 hour chapters here (thank you…).

Regardless, I am super happy I bought and listened to this version too - it was an amazing experience, perhaps even better than the first time (other narration) and I would certainly recommend this one to any fan who cannot take the other narration style seriously, they probably will find this one to be quite more theatrical yet not any less tragic.


Amazing work please consider doing the full series - would definitely listen to the rest too.

PS: once or twice I noticed a line or two recorded on different takes on what was obviously a different setup - please try to omit this very very tiny mistake next time too - after all, it does take away a bit from the professionalism of what is otherwise a fantastic portrayal of the story.

Also, please add chapter names too - not just numbers (which are greatly appreciated too)

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Amazing plot

I was engaged the entire story . The context , situation and events are deeply engaging. I hope the third book is as good as this.

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Dark but beautiful

The story portrayed is one of the most deeply horrifying experiences I have had, but in the process of exploring such a world, I found profound beauty within the ugliness of humanity, and started to think beyond the concept of good or bad.

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Top narrative and great story

A great narrator for a great story !!! Hope to hear him as well in sequels

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Amazing story

Captivating story telling. Great character development which takes time but gives a depth to the story that is much appreciated. Although the story is written originally in Chinese it is a very human story. Western books typically focus on aspects like romance and suspense or cliffhangers. Perhaps I am seeing something that is not there but I feel that these typical western focuses are not present in this series of books. There is however a focus on other things such as science and culture. Along with the book being a great story I find these sometimes subtle differences intriguing.

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So much better than the previous part

The story was much better, the writing as well, and I never realized how much an expressive narrator adds (the one who did 3-body was very wooden)

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The best sci-fi books ever written.

Could not stop listening, the breath of politics, technology and science, covered into one story is outstanding.

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Great narrator and story

The story in this book is stronger than the previous book The Three Body Problem. Daniel York Loh as a narrator is magnificent and I hope we can see his narration of the sequel.

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Such a profound book, really enjoyed!

The author has done a great job, personally I felt the story is even better than the first book. Can’t wait to read/listen to the third book!

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