Lauren Smith’s Reviews > Death's End > Status Update

The people of this era were pretty. Too much. She didn’t like it. Where were the manly men? With horror, she realized the woman next to her might be a man. The men were pretty. They spoke with soft voices. Their hair was long. What was the matter with these people? None of them were the hot sexy beefcakes of the past. Everyone is so feminine. How can we have a strong world defense system if everyone is feminine?

The entire series suffers from Liu’s over-optimism that a common enemy would unite the Earth. In a post-COVID era, we know this is far from true. Sweeping passages like “all cell phone use was forbidden, and everyone was okay with this” provoke incredulity.