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laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Jumpnauts follows a small group attempts “a desperate mission of first contact with a mysterious alien race before more militaristic minds can take matters into their own hands.” Jiang Liu, a young astronomer from a wealthy family, Qi Fei, a military researcher, and archaeologist Yun Fan shift from rivals to allies as they aim to unravel a series of mysteries and prevent war.
Initially, this book reads much more in a thriller/espionage vein than I’d expected, and the very beginning is a bit slow; however, I was quickly drawn in. In addition to the central plot involving both alien contact and human politics, the characters’ relationships and back stories are well developed, including their relationships with their families (who are secondary characters and/or absent but very much have an impact).
There are many, many references in this text – the characters debate Chinese philosophy including Confucianism and Mohism, discuss LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” and underlying themes include artificial intelligence, democratic decision-making, human/technology interfacing, and more. Ken Liu’s footnotes were immensely helpful for me when it came to the nuances of the conversations on Chinese traditions – I would recommend reading his introduction to get a sense of his approach.
Since reading this, I’ve learned that it is intended to be book one in a series; based on it, I’ll happily pick up the next one when it comes available.
Content warnings: sexism / misogyny, (threat of) war, classism
Content Warnings
Minor: War, Sexism, Classism, and Misogyny
michela_wilson's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
If you ever enjoyed those late-night History Channel "documentaries" that try to prove aliens were the reason for humanity's progress you are going to absolutely love Jumpnauts!
In this futuristic version of Earth, we follow of group of four unlikely friends who find out aliens are coming to Earth and they might be friendly. However, they live in an era of a cold war between two major factions who both want the aliens' power for themselves. These four have to find the aliens first and convince them and themselves that humanity is worth helping and trusting in.
I had an incredible time reading this book. The beginning was a little melodramatic and the science was a bit funky, but I really enjoyed the characters and all of their quirks, which began to shine in the second half of the novel. The latter half of this book starts to get deeper into each character's motivation for being who they are. They each have to dissect their past and what they want their future to be. In fact, this book's best feature is the deep conversations about the importance of community and individuality in humanity and whether there is hope for the future.
The main issue I had when reading Jumpnauts was the amount of loredumping there was in the beginning. Now I am a big sci-fi and fantasy reader and I understand the need for a lore drop now and again, but there were times I felt like I was reading a textbook, which was not a fun time. I think this may have been because of the translation of the book from Maderian to English. I believe the translator may have felt the need to overexplain some details, but I did not like how it ended up in the final work. There was no trust put in the reader to figure out how the world operated because it was straight-up told to you, but the lore dumping is not as bad in the latter half of the book.
I am very excited to see more of this world and I had a wonderful time escaping into this futuristic alien universe.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hao Jingfang for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In this futuristic version of Earth, we follow of group of four unlikely friends who find out aliens are coming to Earth and they might be friendly. However, they live in an era of a cold war between two major factions who both want the aliens' power for themselves. These four have to find the aliens first and convince them and themselves that humanity is worth helping and trusting in.
I had an incredible time reading this book. The beginning was a little melodramatic and the science was a bit funky, but I really enjoyed the characters and all of their quirks, which began to shine in the second half of the novel. The latter half of this book starts to get deeper into each character's motivation for being who they are. They each have to dissect their past and what they want their future to be. In fact, this book's best feature is the deep conversations about the importance of community and individuality in humanity and whether there is hope for the future.
The main issue I had when reading Jumpnauts was the amount of loredumping there was in the beginning. Now I am a big sci-fi and fantasy reader and I understand the need for a lore drop now and again, but there were times I felt like I was reading a textbook, which was not a fun time. I think this may have been because of the translation of the book from Maderian to English. I believe the translator may have felt the need to overexplain some details, but I did not like how it ended up in the final work. There was no trust put in the reader to figure out how the world operated because it was straight-up told to you, but the lore dumping is not as bad in the latter half of the book.
I am very excited to see more of this world and I had a wonderful time escaping into this futuristic alien universe.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hao Jingfang for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Minor: War and Misogyny
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