A review by crothe77
Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang

adventurous informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was given an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang is a Chinese sci-fi story about four people learning about how aliens have helped advance human civilizations. The four are Yun Fan, Qi Fei, and Chang Tian who are childhood friends and Jiang Liu who is romantically pursuing Yun Fan and is rivals with Qi Fei. The world has been divided into the Pacific vs the Atlantic, fighting against each other for control. 

What I liked was the questions asked about civilization. My favorite question was ‘if an ancient society technically still continues through it’s people, language, and culture, but the government changed, did it actually end?’ in relation to Greece, China, and several other ancient societies. It’s a great question and there is no clear cut answer provided, referencing how morality and values change and that could be a key factor.

The novel explores ancient Chinese philosophy, utilizes Chinese history and folklore/mythology, and imagines a universe where aliens have helped civilizations on Earth to advance while also exploring cosmology, how societies in different universes would view time differently, and of symbiotic relationships between societies. I really loved the use of qilin and loong as they are two of my favorites in Chinese folklore. 

Qi Fei, Yun Fan, Jiang Liu, and Chang Tian all felt very distinct with very different personalities and each dynamic was different as a result. My favorite dynamic was Qi Fei and Jiang Liu’s with Jiang Liu and Yun Fan’s a close second. Yun Fan was perhaps my favorite character.

The translator, Ken Liu, provided some footnotes to help readers unfamiliar with concepts in Chinese philosophy or classics in the Chinese literary canon. While I was familiar with most of it, I still found the footnotes useful when I couldn’t remember a detail or if the information was new to me. 

I would recommend this to fans of sci-fi exploring the relationship between aliens and society, readers looking for sci-fi in translation, and lovers of Chinese philosophy used in the sci-fi and fantasy space.