Death's End

Did not expect this book to actually make me sentimental but here we are. I hope I am not in the minority as someone who is “at peace” with the ending of this astounding series.

Again,  we get to the see the best and worst of humanity through this story. We follow a new “main” character named Cheng Xin.

TBH, I was nervous starting this book. Not just because of what might happen in the plot but because it is the last book of the trilogy. For a series that is adamant on not getting you attached to a single character, you do get attached. Well, at least I did.

Strangely, this felt more like a love letter to earth and humans. So, I was pretty emotional by the end of this book. 

It was unexpeted how alone humans are in the climax of the story, which makes the stakes higher because we no longer have a known enemy to fight. Which is another refreshing take because so many of the stories we read has a final showdown of some sort and in this case, there's none.

Some have pointed out the sexism in this book, especially with a female protagonist. But to me, there's really not much to go on since there's not really any character in the whole series that I would consider well rounded to make comparisons anyway. We get characters from both sexes doing the good and the bad. I think it was important that Cheng Xin was a woman specifically because of how people perceived her. Especially compared to previous “main” characters in the series. 

She was  the only character who was “chosen” by the people. And it had largely to do with how they perceived her and how they perceived her had a lot to do with her gender. However problematic that is, this kind of assumption is something that exists and maybe breaking that “norm” is not something the humans have grown out of in centuries. Would it have been great if this was somehow removed? Yes. But the book does not shy away from pointing out that this perception and reasoning is a flaw. Even some of the things, they assume about her, Cheng Xin does not even claim to be and she often finds herself withdrawing whenever she feels like this perception gets too out of hand.

But I don't think this was the point. Sure, they chose Cheng Xin because of their assumptions of her which is rooted on her gender (The Madonna references are obvious) and maybe some of the things she did do.
relinquishing her claim on her star and its planets was seen as a charitable act which most likely drove the votes in her favor, also holding the baby... like a mother... madonna references etc.

I think the point is the reasoning behind that choice. Humanity had the choice based on the worst and best that they could do. The worst being violence and the best being compassion and love. Sure, they made that choice using the assumptions they had. BUT, they chose the person they believed highly likely to carry out that sentiment, regardless of how foolish it might be. See what I mean by the book making me sentimental?

Is it right to blame Cheng Xin? I don't think so. She, of course, felt a lot of guilt about this but is it realistic that the fate of humanity rests on one person? They could have easily not respected her wishes when she wanted to prevent a  war, but they did. If anything, why not blame the Trisolarians who still chose to attack DESPITE widespread agreement among humans to welcome them and integrate them into human society? In the end, they chose the violence that led to their doom. If anything, the books shows that choosing violence only leads to a cycle. Even with arguably pacifist characters like Wang Miao and Luo Ji, they ultimately chose violence. Wang Miao letting the military use his nanomachines to kill the ETO members and Luo Ji holding both Earth and Trisolaris hostage. This sentiment is also shown in how the Earth humans prosecuted the crew of Bronze Age and even Luo Ji himself for possible crimes (against humans and against other life forms)

I think they saw Cheng Xin as representative of what is good in humans. Quite literally, they chose to save her, sort of like Pandora's box Did humans get to become the greatest civilization of all time by defeating their enemies and conquering the universe? No. In the end, humans chose to save their humanity. NGL, the book got me listening to “What a Wonderful World” because of how much it got me in the feels, lol.
“Humanity chose you, which meant they chose to treat life and everything else with love, even if they had to pay a great price... Love isn't wrong.”
And finally, the final parts of the book, 
Was I disappointed that we don't at least get a happy ending on a small scale? IDK, at that point, I was already emotionally exhausted that one final tragedy felt like a mosquito bite compared to oh IDK, losing the entire solar system. Also how casually it was done, OUCH. But it brings me a bit of satisfaction that in the end, everything resets. So what does it matter that other species were too busy eliminating each other when we all go back to nothing in the end? Sure, we did not get to be the greatest conqueror of the universe and practically extinct but at least we didn't waste our time in the universe on nonsensical violence. Carpe diem and all that