I have recently finished the novel that I have been reading, “Death’s End.” Since my last reflection, there was a lot of development and eventually resulted in the protagonist and another character, left alone to enjoy the rest of their lives in a virtual, 1x1km world that can be changed to their preference.
My overall impression of the novel is that it is a unique and intriguing read. There may be sudden shifts in plot and sudden changes in the future of human civilization, which I think the author attempted to use to convey a meaning. The novel starts from a utopia between 2 civilizations sharing knowledge into a realization that the entire universe is dependent on survival-of-the-fittest mentality, or according to the book, like a “dark forest.”
I noticed that the author tends to use a lot of imagery, metaphors, and similes to convey an abstract theme, comparing it to current-day objects while providing a sense of uncertainty. An example is where the author describes an interstellar weapon as a “paper slip” (Liu, 587) and where a spaceship getting sucked into a 2-dimensional world is like “ice creamed dropped onto every direction” (587).