Death's End

I listened to the entirety of this novel on audio book because after the first two books, I knew I would never return to this series if I had to actively read it. Listening had two unexpected benefits. First, though some of the Chinese names were hard for me to keep track of in a visual medium, they are all distinct syllabically, so the auditory medium allowed me to keep track of them better. Second, I was able to comfortably listen to this book at 1.75x speed, thereby cutting the nearly 30-hour runtime down to around 17. The prologue is easily the best part of the volume, telling a story of the Ottoman siege of Constantinople at the end of the Byzantine empire. This grim tale of war, technology, and magic provides a flicker of entertainment which dies ten pages later when we return to the modern-day and future-world settings. Swathes of exposition, uninteresting “scientific” theory, and pretentious philosophical thought dominate the volume, and when the story attempts to emerge, it boasts a boring plot with flat, inconsequential characters about whom it is impossible to care. Indeed, I believe you could remove up to 90% of the book and lose nothing. Here’s a toast to the universe where a 60-page version of "Death’s End" exists. After having read all 1500 pages (approximately 75 hours) of this series, I would not recommend it to anyone who reads for enjoyment.

Each book in this trilogy is better than the previous one. If you’re reading this review, the answer is yes. It just keeps blowing your mind.