Death's End - Cixin Liu

Considering the scope and scale of what Cixin Liu proposes in his Three-Body Problem trilogy, it's not surprising that there some gaps in the passing of eras and eons and that there are inevitably a number of principal figures who come to prominence over the course of the three books. The scope that Death's End encompasses is even vaster than the periods covered in the first two books, but thanks to advances in hibernation, Cheng Xin remains central to take in the galactic scale of what occurs in the final book of the trilogy. We thankfully don't have to wait that long.

At the start of the final part of the trilogy, we are still anticipating the principal dilemma of the fact that the Trisolarans have become aware of intelligent life on Earth and that they are on their way to eradicate the problem. That sounds like a pulp science-fiction fiction idea, but while the trilogy has its genre moments - surprisingly often more of the romantic kind than space opera - it's rigorous in its hard science concept and also on the sociological and psychological impact on humanity. Where it takes us here is almost mind-blowing.

Just to ease us into the millennia that is about to be covered and the changes that occur over that period, the author reminds us that even though the arrival of the Trisolaran fleet is still 400 years away because of the distance they have to cover, we only need to look at how far humanity has come on in the previous 400 years to know that there will be further great advances in technology and human behaviours in the next 400. The challenge is to imagine what they will be, specifically when faced with imminent (in the scale of things) extinction. Liu’s vision is anything but conventional. 

That means that through necessity, over 400 years he has to find examples of ordinary and extraordinary people to pin these ideas upon, as well as the various options and possibilities open to humanity. In Death's End we get a few more characters who, in the Crisis Era, have a number of propositions and philosophical views on how humanity has to adapt in order to meet the challenge of a space travelling alien race far more advanced than humanity's limited capacity to work together, let alone surmount the challenges of physics. We have a number of those characters whose importance to the overall scheme of things is hard to see, but it looks like the fate of humanity will rest on scientist Cheng Xin, scientist and Yun Tianming, a former colleague who is however dying of cancer and preparing to take an euthanasia option.

The combination of these two figures however opens up other options in addition to the knowledge that we know has come from the Wallfacer Project in the previous volume of the trilogy, The Dark Forest, and their input proves to be invaluable when the hand of the dark forest deterrent is played. The dark forest deterrent was always a risky gambit, something like Mutually Assured Destruction, where exposing the existence of Trisolaris to the universe and thereby indicating that they could pose a potential threat that would lead to their own elimination. That nuclear option remains in the hands of the new Swordholder replacing Luo Ji and it's a huge responsibility. The other project that Cheng Xin is involved with seems likewise a desperate and remote gamble, the challenge of somehow overcoming all the very obvious technological obstacles of sending a human being 1 light year away at 1% of the speed of light.

But that’s only the first half or so of Death's End and without introducing any spoilers two main themes develop over the course of the work and the trilogy as a whole. Even from the earliest chapters of The Three-Body Problem, there is the warning that the existence of humanity is fragile and, should its existence become known outside the solar system it will, Cixin Liu believes, be regarded as a threat, showing up like a light in a dark forest. The other theme is obviously connected, that of the necessity or eventuality of humanity to advance technology and seek out existence beyond the confines of Earth. Over the period he covers such advances seem possible and he makes a convincing educated case - or at the very least, a entertainingly speculative one - for how humanity reacts and seeks solutions to the threat of annihilation of the human race and indeed the end of the universe itself. No small ambition for any SF novel.

Despite different perspectives and time periods, mostly brief chapters supporting analysis on the central character of Cheng Xin, Liu organises the wide scope of the work together effectively, keeping the momentum going, keeping the reader onboard with the technical detail and yet still managing to throw new surprises and events into the mix. As with any good science-fiction novel, it doesn't just construct an imaginary future based on impossible technology, but considers the deeper issues of humanity as we know it now and how it will react to advances and catastrophic events in the future. The resettlement of the entirety of humanity to Australia and the extraordinary events that follow for example could apply to the mass immigration cause by climate change or any future catastrophic event that threatens social order.

There is a warning given here from Sophon. "The era for humanity’s degenerate freedom is over. If you want to survive here, you must relearn collectivism and retrieve the dignity of your race". Cixin Liu expands this to have much wider universal implications, much further than you could possibly imagine. It's a huge challenge, an enormous idea to consider, as well as all the astrophysical questions and concepts it takes in. As the final part of the trilogy, and indeed the trilogy as a whole, this is an ambitious but well thought-through work for all the options and stages of humanity could go through when faced with a profound existential crisis, facing challenges far beyond the ordinary. It's certainly one of the most impressive works of science-fiction I've read in a long time.

Reading notes: Death's End by Cixin Liu is published by Head of Zeus. I read the eBook/Kindle download from Amazon. Although it can be difficult to avoid spoilers when reviewing the third book n a trilogy, there really is so much in this final volume that you couldn't possibly give anything essential away. Apart from the ending, obviously, but even then, it would make little sense without all the work that Cisin Liu has put into the whole concept and necessarily elaborated upon and built up across all three of the large books in the trilogy. This is essential SF.