The "hard sci-fi" aspects of the series were mind-blowing. Honesty, I don't even remember much about the characters or the finer details of the general plot. But the science and theories, especially his take on the Fermi Paradox, were what kept my attention and really changed the way I thought about things in that regard. Truly mind-bending ideas on a universal scale. The ending was so crazy, the entire series felt very dark and nihilistic (to me), but the ending felt like it had a glimmer of hope in it.

I am lucky to have met Liu Cixin in Worldcon 75 in Helsinki. I got my copy signed by him. 😊

The black domain, the 0-homers, the death lines, and the 4-dimensional remnants of other species were some of my favorite parts.

I finished the trilogy a while ago, and it lingers like no other book ever. My husband just started the book 2. I told him the first book covers a few decades, the second spans a few hundred years. He's so surprised and went 'REALLY??' He has no idea what's coming at him in book 3!!! To say this trilogy mind-blowing is an understatement.

So this is my favorite book in the trilogy by far. I loved all the concepts and whilst it might be unpopular opinion it is my fave because of the way it blew my mind. I especially enjoyed 3 moments: 1. When Luo Ji finishes his time as the sword wielder, he bows to the trisolarians. That scene, the respect shown between both sides was really cool. 2. I actively cheered when the ships hit the button. The story had been so bleak with humanity, that getting that small triumph made me cheer at home. 3. I loved that although humanity was not the most important society (no one is), the message at the end comes in part in human language, symbolizing that human society was important enough in the great scale of things.

When I was a kid, I was scared of the sun exploding and destroying the Solar System. Thanks for new nightmare fuel as an adult Cixin….

I can just tell the book hangover from this is gonna fuck me up for months

What I loved about the ending was that it was essentially asking people to give up their own safety and re-enter the dark forest in order for the universe to continue. (Well, end, but start over.) They had to reject the premise of the dark forest in a way, choose self-sacrifice so that future others could live. And they had to do this with nothing more than a hope that enough others would do the same. To me the end is a triumph of shared humanity and hope over the concept of the dark forest itself.

I am so glad You loved 'Death's End' coz I did too and was so astonished to find that many Fans found it divisive ! I still think about the Events of This Book...the sheer scope of it.. like You said, couldn't have imagined it when I started 3body... now let's hope and pray We get to eventually see all of This in later Seasons of the Netflix Show !

I finished the trilogy two months ago. I have not read a series that left me feeling so many emotion. There were so many scenes that genuinely made me angry at humanity, they had so many chances to save the majority of the population on the planet and humanity refused. The sacrifices the characters made left me so saddened. Luo Ji being viewed as some dictator broke my heart, he was never thanked and he gave up so much to keep everything in check for years and to be hated was so saddening to me. Cheng Xin and Yun Tianming bing so close but never close enough to reunite truly moved my heart, they were so close to each other. Even Wade who was in my opinion a survivor, and would do anything to make sure humanity survived was executed and his technology was the thing humanity needed to survive, I was so angry. The way the Trisolarans dealt with humanity was so shocking and terrifying. The idea that so much of the human population would be wiped out not by the Trisolarans but by humans wanting to survive was so realistic and terrifying. I was left completely shocked with this book. The Dark Forrest has been my favorite so far but a great addition to the three books. Would love to hear your opinion on The Redemption of Time book.

I regret reading this series because it was so good that I can’t read any other sci-fi books at all. My favorite part was the whole chapter of Singer. Especially Singer’s line of reasoning about the hiding gene. As well as his conversation with his superior when he asked for the dual vector foil and his superior’s permission to use it and saying that such weapon isn’t really that expensive to make despite the weapon’s tremendous lethality. Also the part when Singer recklessly tosses the weapon just like it was nothing. Their civilization is so advanced we can’t even comprehend their power.

It was the best science-fiction book I’ve ever read, period. I am into hard sci-if and I am obsessed by physics and astrophysics. The work is full of references to actual scientific theories, and I am absolutely amazed by the author’s capacity of create complex plots and twists without leaving any loose ends. All 3 books are a perfect complement to each other. More: the trilogy gives material for the deepest philosophical discussions. All these without appealing to mysticism of any type, even the god’s hypothesis

Finished earlier this year and was disappointed there wasn’t much booktube coverage. Thank you for doing a deep dive!

In terms of the trial, I didnt even feel like the point of it was the trial itself. it was all about talking about what it means to be a human. What it means to be in a society, how we define our society, our laws, our morals. I found it so fascinating.

Enjoyed your review of this series! I read it last year and loved it all as well. So much a series that makes you want to talk about it.

Remembrance of earth's past is the most romantic love letter about entropy and nihilism...

Very good review indeed. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would thank you.

Great video as always Murphy :) I really enjoyed this trilogy. Each book was so good in different ways

Great vid. I look forward to reading the series.

why readers seem to overlook the love between Cheng Xin and Tianming?! The way that it blew my mind is the love moments between Cheng Xin and Tianming. It's a self-breakthrough for Liu Cinxin to write a wonderful love story in this trilogy. Very very few sci-fi writers could do that in their sci-fi novels. Not to mention that it's a very sci-fi and very romantic love story in a hardcore sci-fi novel. Cheng Xin met Tianming in that dinghy. .... 1. “All right, let’s talk about something else.” Cheng Xin smiled. “You want to know what I’ve been up to? After you left-” “I know everything. I’ve always been with you.” 2. “The universe is grand, but life is grander. We’re certain to meet again.” .... “Then let’s pick a spot to meet, somewhere other than the Earth, somewhere in the Milky Way.” “How about at the star you gave me? Our star.” “All right. At our star!” 3. Only one voice echoed in her mind: Our star. Our star... 4. “We don’t know where to go,” “We don’t know where to find them,” “Have you forgotten? Other than them, he also exists in the universe. You have a date,” “Yes, we have a date,” “Then let’s go to your star.” “Yes, let’s go to our star!”

All of my favourite characters slowly died off and I was left with the emptiness at the end

It's one of my favourite trilogies! The way it gets bigger and better all the time. I just wonder how you could go through the review without mentioning the Sophon, and also the beginning.

I'm glad you enjoyed this trilogy, it's certainly one that just stuck in my brain and I keep thinking about the Dark Forest every time I look up at the stars and wonder about what's out there.

This series feels like a true cosmic horror for the modern age. It effectively communicated the unimaginable insignificance of humanity when compared to the cosmic civilisations like the one Singer is from. He is just a grunt in his population, and yet through technology, he poses as existential a threat to humanity as an old god would in a lovecraftian horror.

When the "universe blinked" in the first book, i was intrigued. When the Dark Forest theory was explained in the second book, i hid under my bed. When they started to use cosmological constants as weapons in the third book, i lost my mind.

So glad you liked this series, Merphy! There's a Chinese series of the first book out already, but it's 30 episodes long, so it might not be your thing (I loved it, though, as did loads of other Chinese people).

I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! I read it last year and still think about it. Anytime anyone mentions aliens now, it makes me think of the dark forest. /bitesnails

This was a great video! I read this back in 2019 so some of the finer detailed moments are starting to get really fuzzy for me but there are two moments I will never forget. The droplet in the dark forest and when the decide to press the button. I think about both of those moments all the time. I still get chills from the button push. It may be my favorite moment I have ever read. Do you plan on reading The Redemption of Time? It takes place in the same universe with the same characters but was not written Cixin. Cixin did give it his blessing before it was published however.

I looooved these books! I read them all last year and I'm so happy that you enjoyed them. Will you be reacting to the Netflix series?

Love how Wade was right all along but I wished both him and the other character would merge their way of thinking for humanity to survive like two sides of the same coin but instead Wade is taken out and only one view is left which in the end dooms humanity.

Luo Ji "You either die a hero or live enough to see yourself being branded the villain." Cheng Xin "Better to live a shorter but fruitful and moral life than live a long and violent life" Wade "These is no right or wrong, survival is the only answer."

I think I had a very similar experience, and also found the ending to be extremely fitting. Fun spoiler chats!!

Singer chapter is easily my personal favorite chapters in fiction, especially when you consider that his wasnt the one that flattened us Hammers home the fact that "we are bugs" in this universe splendidly

Seems I need to add this to my TBR.

Found you through One Piece once and now listened to a vastly shortnened but well executed german audio book of this triology. Apparently there is a 4th book by Baoshu which expands on Yun Tianming's experience while being with the Trisolarians. From what I hear through the reviews, it is necessary for me to actually read the books now. This, even in the format I was introduced to it, was bitter sweet.

I really appreciated your take on everything, it was very nice! One thing I would like to point out is that you made an assumption of the ending your dad wanted, that isn't necessarily what he said. I understand where your dad is coming from, I thought that everything ending with nothing left would be a more satisfying ending. But I also appreciate your ending where there's threads of Hope still there.

I am just discovering these three books, watched the tv show of the first book. I LOVE how dark forrest of hiding from species who aren't good or advanced also small 10 dimensions but most are hidden from us. Makes you think of the big bang and everything being FRACTAL!!!!

Death's end gave me weird dreams for quite awhile.

I’m indescribably jealous of people who are able to write like this. How *THE FUCK* do people just come up with this stuff?!?! It’s staggering 😂

Great review! Are you also going to read The Redemption of Time, the fourth book in the A Three-Body Problem series?

I would say another thread that Cixin Liu was trying to convey is that you should live your life now and not wait for it to get better. Cheng Xin's story is so sad because she had the chance multiple times to live her whole life and each time she delayed and delayed. I think she might have lived to be like 45 years old? Maybe younger. Sure, she went ahead through time billions of years, but her experiences did not amount to that much. Several characters went through this, and I don't know how deep the sub plot of the cyrongically-frozen-humans Cixin Liu wanted to delve in to, but it is most certainly what caused a lot of pain and suffering to the characters in the book. I think it was almost a necessity to have to help push the story into the future, which as someone who is tired of writers not thinking of humans beyond the point of 80 years is frustrating, so I am grateful for the experience Cixin Liu gave readers/me.

The way you describe this book reminds me of the manga Teraformers. And the nightmares that persisted after.

Thank you! I never get the Cheng Xin hate. It’s not about being kind. It’s more like most of us can not endure wade’s hardened way. Even if you are an average person who on the not caring nihilistic side, it’s still very hard to kill another human being, let alone a city or a whole civilization. That’s why humanity chose her

I really love this series

I remember reading somewhere Liu admitted being rushed by the publisher towards the end of the third book. It is such a shame.

Thanks for the synopsis! What did you think of the Netflix series, or I maybe the one released a few years ago if you watched it?

great outfits… and nice explanation

Just finished this novel hours ago. My advice to anyone getting into the trilogy, especially with the Netflix series just coming out, is not to get too bogged down with the hard sci-fi concepts. They're very high-concept and, in my opinion, affect the pacing negatively at times. Cheng Xi is certainly flawed, but as you said at the end of your review, I think she is the perfect representation of the best parts of humanity. She constantly chooses hope and understanding over pure self preservation and while she is constantly tortured by why her decisions were wrong for humanity, she never sacrifices her ideals for her duty. A great trilogy and I loved how it ended. Even in the final throes of the universe, Cheng Xi still chose hope over self preservation. After 18 million years, Cheng Xi still gonna Cheng Xi.

Great review! I’m tired of people who review this book and take zero notes! This is wonderful.

If you're interested in more books like Death's End, sort of "reality warping cosmic wars with humans as bit players told in a deeply thematic way", there's a whole series that does that called Faction Paradox. It's _technically_ a spinoff of some Doctor Who novels, but it's basically fully standalone.

Just finished the last book… wow.. what a book. I think my favorite moments would be the flyby of Europa and of course the 4th dimension expedition to the tomb.

So many moments from this book stick with me, but most especially The Stairs of Responsibility because of where I was in my life personally. I finished this book days before the 2020 shutdown, and the entire thing quickly felt incredibly relevant at the time and definitely shaped a lot of my perspective on all of the pandemic. I think a lot of the political squabbles at the time just felt incredibly irreverent when viewed with the perspective of how small humanity is in the scheme of the universe and the question of how humanity moves forward when genuinely faced with danger. Although I wouldn't recommend reading this book without reading the rest of the series, for me this one is levels above the other two. I still find myself thinking about it constantly.

well said!!

My only question is what to read next!? How do you follow it up? I feel like I need some light and a feel-good factor.

Great review! Just finished the trilogy for my second time, and nothing really comes close

Remembrance of humanity's past was so good that I immediately wanted to start over and read it again when I finished it. And after months of reading nearly two books a week, I'm at a loss for what to read next because nothing compares.

Some of my thoughts: 1. You need to have read the previous books to understand this book. There is no summary or reminder in the book. Many characters and situations from the previous books are mentioned without any explanation. In my opinion that is a flaw that could be easily corrected with a few paragraphs of explananation. I read the first 2 books a few months ago, but I don't remember the details. 2. It is difficult to believe that the swordholder would be a single person. It is much more plausible that many leaders, presidents or prime-ministers of the world would all be swordholders and be able to press the button. And the deterrence weapon would only be activated if all, or at least a majority of the swordholders pressed the button. Putting the fate of the entire human race on a single person is too inplausible. 3. Many elements of the book are based on real science. It is difficult to know which elements are from the author, and which elements are from other authors or scientists. I wished there was an a bibliography with all the sources. 4. There is no mention of a Noah's Ark, at least in this book. Maybe there is in the previous books? I don't remember. If humanity were doomed to extinction, it is quite probable they would try to build and launch spaceships that worked as Noah's Ark. Such spaceship should have libraries with most human knowledge, and frozen embryos and seeds of most animals and vegetables, including several human embryos. The purpose would be that hopefully an advanced civilization would intercept and be able to revive the embryos, so humanity could survive and rebuild somewhere in the Cosmos. A more advanced Noah's Ark would have artificial incubators able to develop and give birth to the human embryos, and robot nannies able to take care, raise and educate the babies. An even more advanced Noah's Ark would have human adults in hibernation. A Noah's Ark is not that difficult to build and it is feasible, at least in its simplest form, with today's technology. Many arks can be built and launched and if at least one of them succeeds, then the human civilization could still exist and thrive somewhere in the galaxy. 5. If an alien civilization were to try to conquer the Earth, would they even bother to talk to humans? Do humans bother to talk to ants that might be living on a property where humans want to build a new house? Humans just build the house and kill any ants that stand in the way. Just like ants are completely ignored by humans, an alien civilization would just ignore humans and just kill any human that stood in the way. So to survive all you have to do is not to stand in the way of the aliens. The only problem is that aliens could want to occupy the entire planet, and possibly there would be nowhere to go to survive, except maybe outer space. And humans fleeing Earth would probably be completely ignored by the aliens.

I find there are a lot of similarity between this book and Hail Mary project, the main characters both got sent on this suicide mission without any knowledge of what would happen to them, and they both become friends with the aliens

The tv series is 30 some episodes which I’m not sure I’ll try. I’ll give the coming shorter series come next year a go.

I just finished this and I'm just soo depressed! Like profoundly so. I had no idea I was going to be reading something like this when I started the first book... Why does everything have to die....

I heard someone once interpret the trilogy as an ecological warning and I think it works so well! Humans treating themselves as important and getting comfy in the sense of impending disaster.

BTW, it's not so much our radio broadcasts that need to be worried about. Our largest radio telescopes would not be able to pick up our broadcasts if it were even just 4 light years away. However, our radars have been going for about a century which is a concentrated beam. These could be detected for potentially thousands of light years, though they have only reached 100 or so at the moment. So really, we are already a bit ruined for hiding.

This book series is akin to Asimov’s Foundation. The story isn’t really about the characters, it’s about the gigantic tale he is telling. The characters are just there to help the reader understand the huge story being told, like in Foundation. Both tales are fantastic.

what comes across, "again and again and again" in these books is that humanity makes decisions based on emotions and feels, NOT logic. and in this trilogy, is punished for it. again and again and again. also, I dig the author's hatred for pseudo science of psychology.

Just finished and had to come here right away because I can’t discuss with anyone that might watch the show. WOW, just WOW My only spoiler free description of this series: It’s not horror and is the scariest book series I’ve ever read! The author choice that surprised me the most was the first person narrative of the cleaning crew alien. I know there have been some Tri-Solaren (spelling?) points of view, but from book 1 we were never given a description of what they look like or what their planet is like. So this immersive chapter dive into a 3rd alien race felt amazing and harsh at the same time. I’m an audio book listener and it became comical how many times I thought this book was ending. Wow that was amazing twist before the end … 8 hours left ?? I can’t believe that ending twist… 4 hours left ??? That was cool to give them an end like that… 2 hours left? Then it was done and I have missed it since. Audible claims to have 5 books in the series, but this feels right to me. I’ll have to join you starting Grace of Kings next.

Despite the solar system getting destroyed in a dimension strike, it's nice to know humanity ended up thriving...even if they did have to hide

PS: Wade did nothing wrong.

I read the trilogy years ago, and then I covered the Three-Body Problem and the Dark Forest a few time after, but not the Death's End, the third book gave me the chilling and I don't want to retake that feeling ever again.

I finished this the other week and really loved it but came away really hating Chang xin. It was probably best to end it without her meeting (I forget his name) the "brain guy" but that is life: You don't always get what you want and you have to make due. I really think Cixin Liu finished the series too soon. I would have liked to have seen another hundred pages exploring Neo-Humanity after the two get out of light speed and back on the planet. I was actually expecting to find a humanity that was, itself, blowing up other worlds in the dark forrest, a sign that we sometimes become what we try to avoid.

Loved some of the high concept stuff, I couldn't care less about the single characters. In fact, some of them I actively disliked, such as the constant misguided decisions of the main character, until the very end, she's unredeemable and won't ever learn. I guess it was a good portrayal of an idealist. Beside the high concept stuff, I was really into the historical story at the beginning, the Singer part, and the three chapters fairy tale. Highly recommend Death's End

I think the Netflix series (though not perfect) gets the feel of the story right. Also I love the theme. It played in my head constantly while finishing the series.

My exact response to the fairy tale part! "No, get on with the story! Wait .. this is important .. I gotta try to figure this out!" 😊 I absolutely love this trilogy. As for the ending, I loved it and my friend who also read it was "ehh" about it.

I’m kind of with your Dad about the ending, but not as disappointed. Seemed to me that the end of the story wasn’t going to be with the relaunching of the universe but rather with having hope that it would but understanding on a deep level that it was really going to die.

Just found your channel, great stuff! Have you read the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson? If you like grand scope science fiction and big ideas with a little more character focus, check it out!

It's been scientifically proven that any summary of Death's End must be at least as long as Death's End.

The dual vector attack from Rabsoda to the solar system is the most mind blowing thing i've ever read in my live

I personally loved the ending, a bit melancholic but beautiful at the same time.

Same feeling about Tianming's five recalls in his euthanasia, the trial of the captains, and Chenxin's struggle when the attack came. And also agree about the thoughts of the ending. Even if the universe is a dark forest, why there are civilizations like the human race existing in this situation and reaching the end, I believe humanity weighs in its way and means a lot. Those survivors like Beihai and Wade showed respect for humanity in their ultimate decision.

Recommend the fan fiction of 3 body called “The Redemption of Time”

Just to put into perspective, humans adapted to the dying earth, behind Jupiter, on Mars, Mercury, behind Neptune, Uranus, Trisolarans, Spaceships, a distant star, inside a black hole all within a span of 300-400 years. Even made spaceship which could travel at lightspeed bending spacetime curvature. The book is a mind expanding and a mindbending story. Really enjoyed it.

How much it reminisces about the world we live in is what really touched me. The COVID 19 , the crisis in Gaza

My ranking for this series would be Three Body > Death's End > Dark Forest and I agree with your dad, I really didn't like the ending but everything else in this final book was amazing.

Now can we see why I try to suggest so much the hard sci-fi stuff? That I’m right and Merphy will love them?😂 Yes, Banks - Culture can hit the bar. This was a pretty good review of the book. You left out of the series what happened on Earth as a consequence. How serious is the… mistake that she makes. The attacks, the camps. Because (IMO) the main thing is all these decisions can be projected on the current state of the society that is presented by the author always. Let’s say it’s very advanced, no criminal activity, etc…. That described state of living gives the false sense of peace for the people. Next when the camps exist they are in constant danger they believe in a very different future and leader. So the decisions that can be made and accepted… That’s why the punishment is this harsh for the spaceship. Crimes against humanity and they also can’t face the fact they caused it. They are a mirror. How far they went or could go. Wade… it’s also mentioned that if he takes the button they would never attack. She was weak. The final attack was so awesome because they literally didn’t care that much to do anything it was cost effective.

Did anyone know if the magician chapter at the beginning was supposed to be explained by theoretical physics?

I can't wait for Netflix series.

Meeerphy! You need to read Baoshus' 'The Redemption of Time'. He is a protege of cixin liu and was allowed to write the story of... You know, the brain in the spacejar. I personally loved it too and it expands on Deaths End in a nice way!

I'm not really sure how I feel about the series. There were some parts that were so interesting, but they were never expanded on as much as I would have lived. There were also moments where they presenting something as being the only option, but clearly isn't and it just sort of left me scratching my head wondering: "what about these other 20 things you could have done first?" I did like that humanity didn't save the day, which I think fit the tone of the story, but I wasn't really a fan of the ending. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but I was expecting something more I guess. There were some really interesting concepts in the story, so I highly recommend syfy buffs reading it, but there people's opinions may vary depending on what you are into.

Death's End is the best one! 𝙎𝙊𝙋𝙃𝙊𝙉 ep. music inspired by 3BP book series kzfaq.info/get/bejne/naugiNd8u9CwgYk.html - Let us know what you think guys 🥁🎹📡

The hubris and arrogance of human depicted in the trilogy made me want to side with any other aliens😅

You know how.

Just finished Death's End and not entirely sure what to think, I have a hard time grasping that this was the same book with all the events that occurred in Australia w/ the Trisolarians and became very forgetful about the beginning of it (which I thought was great) when it came to what was occurring in the end. I by no means think this book was not anything but superb, because it was. I think the ending was great because it showcased humanity, or atleast what we expect from humanity, the caring for thy neighbor and willing to do what is best for the great good etc. It was very human of them how they ended the history of humans, I am very intrigued and think about the miniature planet Cheng Xin and Sophon created and left behind. Much like humans of Earth we were created from the water and I wonder if they were leaving the blueprints behind to create human species within that miniature planet or evolution might create a human in the billion of years to come with the new universe... just a thought.

to me it was interesting that the trisolorians ended up having maybe their first “technological explosion” (developing the light speed ships) after expending time with us and adopting some of the human culture (they were right to fear us, ahaha)

Wade is the man!

I honestly despise the second sword holder character. Every single pivotal decision she made, was the wrong decision. I'm especially annoyed by her decision to throw Wade under the bus. Like, no sh*t Sherlock! Of course this is going to bite you in the ass later; Wade was the only one doing anything that could remotely save humanity over the long haul!

Kudos for you as a Reviewer for tackling the three body problem, as it is a very problematic and thought provoking must read series. On one hand we have the death of the author issues, then the Chinese text translated by a well-respected author in his own right - who is aware of how chinese culture and science fiction are not the best bed fellows. And then we have the ideas which are very Asimov- big Ideas but from a Chinese perspective. But Asimov mushed up with a chinese traditional views of plot and characterisation. It is a must read for grown up sci fi fans - but LOTS of people will hate this

first, I'm with your dad, the ending is kind of meh for me. "Cheng Xin" is a chinese name. "Cheng" is just the family name, but "Xin" mean "heart" in chinese. the conflict between Cheng Xin and Wade is a repeating theme throughout the series. Morality and humanity always make the worst decision but the dark side of the humanity save the last hope for humanity. it's as dark as the dark forest theory but it's also reality,

I thought the question of whether or not the universe ends was left open ended. Although based on the prevailing dark forest mentality I guess it's more likely than not that the universe ends.

Tell your dad that he is wrong and didnt understand the ending. The ending is bleak af and uncertain both cause we dont know where our last 2 humans end up after leaving their pocket dimension, but moreover cause of the implication that there's a high chance not all surviving civs will heed the call and return all matter they have taken. Our own (dumb) Cheng Xin does that by leaving the fish bowl and that alone could mean the end of the universe (and no reset); she again makes the same mistake in putting more importance on HER FEELINGS/MENTAL STATE than what needs to be done. The universe doesnt care about your "feelings".

I love this book, but I absolutely hated the ending, I don't think that humanity had to be the best at something and rise above, the notion the we are insignificant I quite actually liked, but the ending was extremely boring for me, even reading through the final 100 pages felt like a task and not like an enjoyment of a story that I liked.

I had been interested in that series before, so it's good to know now that I don't need to bother with it. Imo, themes of hope are extremely dangerous to add to a story, because hope leads to an expectation of the answer to that hope. What were they hoping for? All throughout the story, what were they hoping for? In the ending, how were their hopes treated? Most importantly, what message does the story send people about their own hopes? If I feel like a story has contempt for things I consider good, I'll probably hate it.