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A review by ktlee_writes
Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang
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
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