I’m glad I’m not alone. I don’t think it’s a bad novel as such. I read a lot of science fiction and I can see where it has ideas people might not have run in too if they’re not in the deep end of the genre. And I liked that it provided a different cultural perspective than the overwhelmingly white, male, and American science fiction that I grew up with. But I didn’t find the plot very compelling, largely because it relied so heavily on deus ex machina technologies.

Also, if you like that kind of Dark Forest/cosmic horror story Y’all should go read Blindsight by Peter Watts. It’s overwhelmingly the most horrifying, upsetting, and nihilism inducing science fiction novel I’ve ever read. It’s also a pretty snappy novella length and available free online. https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

Note that Blindsight isn’t particularly gory - there is some blood and violence but not that much. Instead the author’s premise and the philosophical questions that arise from it make you feel like an early hominid huddled as close as you can around a fire because it’s the only thing holding back the dark and the creatures that hunt you.