Reviews - Vagabonds | The StoryGraph

311 reviews for:

Vagabonds

Hao Jingfang

3.49 AVERAGE

ncox10's review against another edition

4.5

challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

anna_23's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

readingnookreviews's review against another edition

3.0

Wow this is a BRICK of a book! Coming in at a whopping 640 pages, this science fiction novel has an immersive new universe of Earth and Mars, and their differing cultures on each planet. I found the premise and underlying tension interesting, however I was rather bored overall. I liked the unique main characters but there was such a slow pace that I didn’t feel really paid off in the end.

“Vagabonds” was rather tedious, however the author did clearly show the contrasting values and struggle of integrating/reintegrating into a society that differs so widely from the other (Earth or Mars). There are many lengthy passages regarding philosophical and political struggles the characters go through, and I felt that the tangents took away from the main storyline/plot. There just wasn’t a strong conflict/plot to keep the reader captivated and interested.

If you are looking for a sci-fi book that also feels a bit like a Philosophy 101 class, then this is for you! Personally, I wanted more focus on the sci-fi concepts and overall world since the descriptions were beautifully written.

Thank you to BookishFirst and Gallery/Saga Press for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

ktlee_writes's review against another edition

3.0

VAGABONDS by Hao Jingfang (translated by Ken Liu) depicts a universe 200 years into the future, after the humans living on Mars have fought and won a war for independence from Earth, though tensions remain high between the two planets. The novel begins as a group of Martian kids return to Mars after spending five years living as cultural exchange delegates on Earth. When these "vagabonds" confront the reality of the structured, regimented life on Mars that they left behind after experiencing the freedom and flexibility of Earth, their hearts are stirred to demand more of their government, despite Mars' more equitable distribution of resources compared with Earth's hyper-capitalist economy that leaves winners and losers.

The main thing one should know about this book is that it's not very sci-fi. If you go in expecting a lot of mind-bending, wondrous descriptions of futuristic technology or a fast-paced plot, you'll be disappointed. But if you take it for what it is - quiet, introspective meditations on the tensions of what values to prioritize most in building a society, the inevitability of each generation to rebel against prior generations, the desire in each human heart for freedom - it's a thought-provoking read that helps cast in a new light some of the dynamics we see in real life on Earth. In fact, it seems more like a book on comparative government, fictionalized and set in the future across planets.

I appreciated the slow unraveling of the main mystery of the novel, which centers on one of the vagabonds, Luoying, how exactly her parents met their deaths when she was just a child, and what role her grandfather, the consul of Mars, played in those deaths. That being said, there were parts of the novel that could have probably been cut, which would have helped with the pacing (it's a long book at 624 pages or 22 hrs on audio). The audiobook is narrated by one of my faves, Emily Woo Zeller, and it works well on audio (especially at 1.75x speed

kiggenstane's review against another edition

4.0

I almost gave this a 3/5 because it’s so much longer than it should be, but the fascinating ideas it presents partially make up for its length. Although many of the characters were not especially interesting and the romance felt perfunctory, the situations the characters found themselves in were very interesting, and the setting was remarkably well-developed. Ideally, I think this story would be told as a movie, which would force it to be more concise. But even as a novel, it was so powerful that I’m quite certain it will change the way I think about economics, propaganda, and the social contract for a long time.

By the way, I really enjoyed the audiobook reader!

mmarthia's review against another edition

5.0

I was in love with this book from the first chapter.
The writing is just impeccable. For me, this is like top-tier writing, not overly complex, and overdone, and it has the right amount of lyricism in it. With that being said this might not be for everyone. We see our characters being caught in between the two powerful worlds and the identity crises they face when coming back home. It was quite interesting to see the two main points of view: first, from the one that experienced the two worlds, and second, from, the ones that always lived on Mars. This is a very character-driven book and has a lot of themes for discussion.
I'm definitely going to check out other books by Jinfang.

black_girl_reading's review against another edition

3.0

Hao Jingfang’s Vagabond’s was a beautifully voice acted intergalactic sci-fi novel that was clearly written by an economist. About two worlds, that of capitalist earth and a precariously terraformed socialist Mars, this book was largely about the idealism of youth struggling against histories unknown to them due to the cloaking of what came before in the wars and the resettlement and the struggle for survival and joy in a fascist state. This audiobook was 21 hours long, and much of it was just parched political theory in the dry deserts of Mars. There were many characters, none fully realized, and many allegories to China and the US, none particularly energizing. I told @reggiereads in the final two hours last night that I was ready for an unmentioned giant space monster to come and gobble up every angst ridden person in this imagined new home. Terraforming an unyielding world is boring folks. Real boring. There was surely something in this book, but I’m just not exactly sure which reader is looking for the improbability of space paired with the dustiness of financial analysis and the dramatics puzzled over by the most dramatic of privileged youth.