There was a period a little bit ago where I feared I was incapable of reading Chinese scifi anymore because I can't really get into Hao's other book "Vagabonds" (too political) or most of Cixin Liu's books, which would have broken my heart, and then I picked up Vagabonds and loved it (also it's translated by the amazing Ken Liu, who's one of my favorite authors ever).

The premise (and the review): imagine if the History Channel was correct about aliens and then apply it to a futuristic Chinese setting with crazy anime technology.
Sound intriguing yet? It should! And there's also characters who learn to form close friendships despite their trauma, international civil war intrigue, and aliens who look like qilin - which according to old Qin Dynasty drawings, were only the derpiest Chinese "unicorns" to exist. I really enjoyed Jumpnauts, which I believe is the first in a series of books (or was novelized from a Chinese graphic novel) and I believe there will be a sequel, which I'm really looking forward to.

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.

The premise of this book sounded so exciting, but I don't feel like it really delivered on its promise. First, I really liked the translation note and the thought put into it, and while the dialogue is choppy, I really doubt it was a translation issue at all. I think it's just the style of writing. I thought this would be a science-driven book with space travel (given the cover) but instead got more of a science-light, magic/ancient aliens love triangle with increasingly implausible scenarios. I think that, if only one of a few elements were strengthened, I would have really enjoyed this, but unfortunately things never came together.

From the jump, I was sort of side-eying the science part of this science fiction. Why would an object moving at "almost" light speed take less than a year to move more than a lightyear? Isn't that how light years work, as a measure of how far light can move in a single year? Obviously it goes much further off of the rails later on when you introduce millennia-old emperors, ancient secret underground castles in contact with aliens, and so on. In that sense, this is much more a fantasy book than a sci-fi one, though I typically don't mind blending the genres. It felt almost Dan Brown-esque in some parts, but very heavy on the philosophical exploration. All of that would have been fine, even fun, if I had liked the characters more. But they felt quite one-dimensional to me. I particularly hated Jiang Liu and even though Yun Fan felt so flat and had minimal personality, I still wanted her to be free from him. A lot of this book felt like it was substituting info-dumping for worldbuilding and that was just hard to enjoy. I could see where the author was trying to do quirky banter between the three main characters and if that worked for you, you'll probably love this book.

Positives: interesting near-future world setting with very casual introduction to technology which I enjoyed, the space ship!, quite funny in some parts. I thought this was a stand-alone but seeing it's actually part of a series makes a lot of sense; I think the pacing was so much slower and so much was left un-developed because it's intended to be explorer later. This is a unique book and I appreciate the risks it takes with not following typical story beats. Lots of look into real history.

This was a nice read. References to history and science abound. Has a classic sci fi feel but with a historic twist. A but bogged down in the middle but overall good.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Asian Literature, Sci-Fi, Philosophy, Chinese Literature

I'm always interested in reading novels by people from other countries. One of the challenges is that it's a translation. Is the science perfect? It doesn't seem like it is to me, but since this is a novel more about society than science, it didn't bother me.

Even though the amount of philosophy in this one is a bit overwhelming, I enjoyed it.
Here's why:

— The alien spaceship
— The alien's tests
— The aliens
— How the characters change
— Solution oriented
— Quest for democracy
— Protection for the poor

My very top thing in this book was the surprise of the spaceship. Please, do yourself a favor and don't find out in advance. I laughed in delight when it came onto the page.

Happy reading!

I love first contact sci-fi books so I was so excited when I was approved for an eARC by NetGalley and Saga Press. Jumpnauts had a lot more philosophy in it than I was expecting and some of it was a bit hard for me to get through. There were certain speaking passages that were a page long (on my Kindle Paperwhite) and it felt dense at times.
I did like the 4 main characters but wish we had gotten a bit more depth to them. I have heard this is planned to be a six book series so I'm sure we will get a lot of character growth in upcoming books but I do wish there had been more exploring in this book. The ending of the book left me curious about what the rest of the series will bring.
I loved Ken Liu's translator note at the beginning of the book as well as his footnotes throughout the book.

DNF - PG 21

First of all, huge thanks to Netgalley and the publishers (Simon & Schuster) for the chance to read this arc!

Sadly, this book really did not work out for me. At all. Which I am quite upset by, especially considering how much I was looking forward to this book.

First I want to say that I'm pretty sure I've never read any translated work besides manga and a couple of light novels. I don't know how much of my trouble was a cultural thing, maybe the writing style is specifically Chinese, and in that country this is the standard for writing. Because I read predominantly American books - with a few United Kingdom and even fewer Australian books thrown in - my reading preferences are a certain thing - and there are very specific things I do not like that this book does.

So, I didn't really read enough to comment on plot/storyline or, really, most of the characters.

What I want to do is post a few excerpts to illustrate my issues. (You may or may not have the same issues as me, so be informed!) (Also, this is a proof, which means things could change before publishing happens!)

The first truly bad sign for me was at the beginning of chapter one (after a prologue that I didn't much like the writing style of, either).

'Jiang Lui tried to tiptoe his way off the plane without waking Uncle Bo, but the plan failed miserably. As soon as he opened the cabin door, a frigid blast of air forced its way in and woke up the steward. The blast also made him realize that his body was definitely not ready for the sudden shift from a tropical island in the Pacific to a wintry city in north China.

Du Yibo rubbed his eyes, sat up with half his muscles still asleep, and realized that he was at the wrong airport. The sight of Jiang Lui trying to sneak away on the tarmac enraged him. He was out of his own seat in seconds and chased after Jiang Lui, who gave up the attempt at stealth and began to run like a gazelle.'

First of all, if you don't understand my problem, you do you. I, however, have literally gotten headaches from books that insist on head hopping. There are other examples of head hopping, in just the little I read, but this was the big, glaring on. And…also about the writing style - once again, not sure if this is cultural - a lot of things are overblown.

Instead of a person saying something, maybe with an exclamation point, they nearly yelled it. And then seemed to immediately calm down for their next sentence.

There's also some very…suspect science. There's poor math in the whole light-year issue, but, my mind could not turn loose of this:

'"Dr. Johnson, I've noticed that in the past year, several pulsars closest to us have exhibited regular changes in their emission patterns. I believe this may be the result of manipulation by extraterrestrial intelligence."'

After Yun Fan comes out with this, she's not ridiculed, no mention is made of this being anything other than typical science. Jiang Liu immediately jumps on board with her assumption (which she doesn't state how she concluded that) and it is viewed as de facto that this…thing is an alien spaceship. No questions asked.

Of course, Jiang Liu isn't going to question Yun Fan because he very, very badly wants to get in her bed.

Which, if I'm being totally honest, is the main reason I pulled the plug on this book when I did, because Jiang Liu just keeps getting grosser and grosser.

'"Welcome, Dr. Jiang."
"Always a pleasure to visit a beautiful woman."
Yun Fan pretended not to hear this.'

&&

'"Not so good to be alone in such a desolate place. Good thing I'm here to protect you."
Yun Fan didn't change her tone. "There's no danger here."'

&&

'Jiang Lui could see that he would never get anywhere like this. Telling himself that he was ready to take the long road to his goal, he decided to first show her the data he brought.'

&&

'"Come on!" Jiang Liu put on an aggrieved expression. "I gave you such good data, and you won't even ask me to dinner? That's so cold. Look, my plane has already left, and I've got nowhere to go. Are you really going to toss me out on the street, hungry and exhausted?"'

Then, after she tries to direct him away from dinner as politely as possible:

'"No worries. Even if you don't have food here, we can go out."'

Then, when she continued to refuse, politely:

'"That's no problem." Jiang Liu smiled. "I'll take care of it. If I can get us a ride, then you'll come to dinner with me. Deal?"

Yun Fan finally laughed in exasperation. "I've never met anyone so shameless. What I really want to say is that I have no interest in going to dinner with you. I was trying to turn you down politely, but you leave me no choice except to come out and say it."

"Well, you didn't deny that we have a deal. 'That' is the same as agreeing. So when the ride comes later, you have to keep your promise."'

This is the point that I stopped reading because the lack of no is not a yes and no does not mean yes.

Once again, I do not know if this is a cultural thing, if this is how men are expected to act in China, to flirt and to let a woman know he is interested. I will say if a man doesn't get the hint and then tries to take the lack of a no as a yes with me, he's liable to get my fist in his face.

(Please note: this review has been posted both on NetGalley and Goodreads!)

(Extra NetGalley note: I do not like to rate DNF. I do not feel that I have the full story if I do not finish the book to give a fair rating. However, NetGalley will not accept a rating-less review. Ergo, I have given it a one star, because that is what I would rate the pages that I did read.)

Tensions run high in a future where the world is divided into two factions, the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations. But when the realization comes that a powerful third party has been an influential presence on Earth for millennia, three rising scientists form an uneasy alliance to secure first contact with this extraterrestrial life.

JUMPNAUTS is an inventive and entertaining read that seamlessly blends Chinese classic vibes (Hao's original words are 中式古典美學) and science fiction. When I think about Chinese classics, they often have a melancholic and romantic undertone that evokes deep contemplations—going in, I couldn't fathom how quantum entanglement and Daoism could coexist in a book.

Hao beautifully fuses Chinese philosophy, civilization, and physics into a page-turner. I was mindblown by Hao's originality in connecting blockchain to Ruism (儒家), Daoism (道家), and Mosim (墨家); I was also mesmerized by the character's conversations about implementing various ancient Chinese belief systems in how one designs technology.

Due to the frequent citations of these ancient texts, I read most of JUMPNAUTS in Mandarin and referenced Liu's translations & footnotes to compare. It's worth mentioning that Liu's translations stay true to the meanings while giving it a more modern feel, and I didn't quite get the "Chinese classic aesthetics" from the English translation.

Consider this phrase from Confucius, 明知不可為而為之, translated as "the belief that one should do what is right even if they know failure is certain." There's just something about Ancient Chinese that conveys so much with so little that maybe only Latin could do it justice—but nobody wants to read that 🤣 I still relished Liu's masterful translation, which is no small feat because there is A LOT of Archaic Chinese that even Mandarin readers will have to look up, but just know the aesthetics Hao tries so hard to preserve could be lost.

On the other hand, Hao's original texts have a web novel feel. I wonder if it's due to the lack of "character development" that conforms to Western standards, because the MCs are all in their 20s but already wildly successful in their careers 🙈, or if the three MCs' backgrounds & personalities follow specific algorithms commonly seen in light novels. I didn't get that web fiction vibe from Liu's translation from the few chapters I've read, and it's a testament to his craft in preserving the meaning yet subtly enhancing the literary merits of JUMPNAUTS.

Based on Hao's social media, JUMPNAUTS is book 1 of a 6-book series, and the pacing reflects that. Half of book 1 is world-building, and things don't get interesting until 50%. While there is a clear ending, some might find JUMPNAUTS unevenly paced if read as a standalone.

Overall, I enjoyed JUMPNAUTS and will be impatiently waiting for the sequels! I'd suggest interested English readers look up Liu's footnotes throughout the text to get a feel of the Chinese classic vibes. If you have some background in Chinese philosophies, Hao introduces some fascinating ideas about AI and consciousness, communications and connections, and different "levels" of civilizations in JUMPNAUTS.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for early access to this book for review. I love alien/first-contact books, so the synopsis immediately drew me in. I had a fun time reading this, however I feel like there might have been some words lost in translation or some of the connections to the characters/situation. I felt like some of the weight of it wasn't all there, but I still enjoyed the ride. I would be interested to read more works by this author.

I thought this was such an interesting premise and I hope to come back to it in the future! I'm not in the right headspace for a Science Fiction book at the moment, so maybe that's why I struggled my way through it. A brilliant story about a race to first contact!

I love a good science fiction book, and if it involves a first encounter, that's just icing on the cake. I was looking forward to this book from this award-winning Chinese writer whose story checked both boxes. I don't know if something got lost in translation, but this was less than a stellar introduction to this writer. The characters were one-dimensional, the writing was simplistic, and the dialogue clunky.

Earth is now divided into two factions, the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations; war is imminent. Add to this, an alien race, thought to have visited in the past, is now trying to make contact. Two scientists and a wealthy playboy are trying to interfere with a potential military response and make first contact. The race is on.

As stated, the premise is intriguing, but the execution is lacking. 1/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Saga Press, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The publication date is March 12, 2024.

3.75 stars out of 5, rounded to 4.

I was hooked right away by the translator's note for Jumpnauts. It set me up for success in a way that I don't know if I would have felt without having read it. I very much appreciated the approach that Ken Liu took in translation, especially the addition of footnotes to give necessary context to western readers not familiar with classic Chinese texts, myth , folklore and history. Translation is an art and I always consider myself lucky when a translator such as Ken Liu gives the gift of smart and accessible translation that still challenges readers to push their own knowledge bases beyond where they started.

Having seen photos of neutrino detectors, I totally understand how they might inspire an author to write an 'aliens-put-this-thing-here' story. I found that combined with the underground statues in the mausoleum a super intriguing premise and cool combination of science and art and history. I do find it frustrating that some people genuinely believe that "humans never could have build XYZ so it must have been aliens," but as this is a story and not someone tweeting their conspiracies, I'm more inclined to let it slide.

I loved learning about Mohism and plan to do more research, as some of the ideals I learned in footnotes really resonated with me, especially feigong. Another credit to Ken Liu for those fabulous, information filled footnotes that give enough to help with the basics and get you interested in learning more.

Qi Fei and Jiang Liu's dynamic was really enjoyable to read as it progressed. I started the novel not really caring for any of the main three characters, but those two grabbed my attention. As things developed and the two are both given explicit instructions to kill the other things got more heightened and intense, which made the characterization and their development enjoyable to watch. To contrast, the characterization of Yun Fan felt sloppy at times. She keeps telling the others how she doesn't need saving and she can fend for herself, but the other characters have to save her from danger again and again. She doesn't subvert their expectations nearly as much as it seems like the book was trying to set her up to do.

I did have some qualms with the pacing. Some parts of the book really felt too slow, but others felt very rushed. For example, I was surprised how quickly things went from "we'll never bring another person on board to our work, let alone Chris Zhao" to immediately inviting Chang Tian to pilot. While I understand that Chris kidnapped Yun Fan and belonged to an agency that was in contention with Qi Fei and Jiang Liu, it felt out of left field for them to suddenly bring someone into their team.

I understand that this story takes place in a time where space travel is more commonplace, but having the whole rocket takeoff scene take place in less than a page was also dissatisfying. Later, I was suprised that they physically and mentally felt as though they had spent months on the loong space ship, based on how quickly that section passed in the story.

This story is written in third person omniscient perspective, which I have come to understand is more common in some Chinese stories, but it did cause some confusion in places. One such example is the moment where it is purported that "There was no such thing as true altruism. All instances of human kindness were, ultimately, derived evolutionarily from the drive to procreate." Is this something that one of the characters believed? Multiple of them believed? Was it something the author was putting in there as commonly believed fact? Was it something the author thinks, or doesn't actually think? Very hard to say even having finished the book!

I think this was an interesting read, but I also struggled with it at times, mostly due to the inconsistent pacing and characterization.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster/Saga Press and Netgalley for access to an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Jumpnauts was an excellent and exciting science fiction read by Hao Jingfang; I was pulled in and couldn't tear my eyes from the pages.

This book is a unique look into a not-so-distant future, where the world is filled with smarter, more sophisticated tech/AI and is separated into the factions of the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations. War between this factions is coming, yet while tensions rise, Yun Fan follows the footsteps of her father's disgraced research on aliens. Smart and powerful in their own spaces, Qi Fei and Jiang Liu are pulled into Yun's journey as she sets out to track down a transmission to an unknown entity in space.

I enjoyed the pace of this story - it felt slow and steady, yet would quicken into action only to slow down again and engage into character conversations about philosophy, folk stories, and more. I think a well-written science fiction book makes the reader question their own life philosophies and this certainly had my brain working hard to wrap my head around faith and ideals, not to mention the complex and clever writing around space, pulsars, blockchains, and more.

I appreciated the character development and how the main characters change, grow, and learn from one another. This book felt so close to our reality - I really enjoyed this!

Also, shoutout to the translator, Ken Liu. I can't speak as a native Chinese language speaker, but as an English speaker I think the way he kept certain concepts made sense to me and I like that he put in footnotes for more information/depth.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and am very excited to give a review of this.

I could not put this book down. This first contact story is compelling and richly written. The translation work is beautiful and I enjoyed reading about some of the translator's choices as well. I can see this book becoming a sci-fi classic.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Saga Press for an advance copy of this book of speculative fiction dealing with humans and their problems, aliens from far distant stars, and first contacts with a lot of derring-do tossed in.

I have been a fan of science fiction probably since I started reading, and yet my knowledge of science fiction from outside of America is distinctly lacking. I grew up in a time where it was hard to find science fiction magazines, there were no speciality shops and the information was more based on the popular stuff, and what was easily available. English authors were considered Continental reading. I would come across Heavy Metal, but most of the people were not clothed inside, and that drew my attention more than anything. Stanislaw Lem was published by Houghton Mifflin I think, and that and RUR was probably as close to anything east of Poland I read for quite a while. So to see so many more kinds of stories, from all over the world is great to me. And like the science fiction I grew up with some I like, and some are just not for me. Jumpnauts: A Novel by Hao Jingfang and translated by Ken Liu, one of my favorite authors, is my jam. A big sprawling story with humans making mistakes, betraying each other, first contacts, maybe last contacts, mysteries, and much more.

The book begins in a bar with explosions happening somewhere, and a young man wanting a drink, but his family won't leave him alone. The time is 2080 or so, the planet is as usual divided, and Hawaii where Jiang Liu is hanging out is set to be bombed. Jiang Liu's family is wealthy and powerful and arranged for him to get out, but his Uncle when calling Jiang Liu to arrange a flight out mentions that there has been a signal from space, one Jiang Liu has been waiting for. Jiang Liu escapes his family and goes to the Museum of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Hung, to meet with an archeologist, who is the only person working do to the war. Yun Fan is her name, and she also has an interest in alien affairs, one that goes back to her father and beyond. At the same time beneath the Museum is an ancient structure is broadcasting signals to the aliens, signals that have been intercepted by one of the two groups fighting for control of Earth. An agent is sent to find out what is going on. And than things get strange.

A big story with a lot of science, history, folk tales, conspiracy and a bit of fantasy mixed in. There is a little bit of learning curve, to both get into the writing style and to see where the story is going, but the book does lock a reader in fairly quickly. The writing might seem a little odd in the beginning. There is an introduction by the translator about that, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story at all. I liked the feeling the book had, the this is science fiction, so we are making sense here, but suddenly there are scenes that just seem odd, crazy and weird all at once, but work well. The ideas are good, and the characters do grow and change. I wasn't sure what I expected, but I enjoyed this story quite a bit, and would like to read more by the author.

Recommended for people who have found science fiction to be a little staid recently. I liked the ideas, the willingness to try things and just go for it. And to take the story to some uncomfortable places. This was a real treat, and one of my favorite fiction works that I have read recently.

impressive sci-fi, although at points i found the translated prose to be weak. the entire concept, however, was fascinating. thanks for the arc.

This is an interesting idea, but for me it just didn't grab my interest. I couldn't connect with the writing, and the story was less than engaging. I appreciated the translator's forward, but I just never bought into the whole concept.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being given freely.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of the book.

I'm not sure if it was the translation or not, but it was hard for me to get into it. I found myself bored reading at times when I know I shouldn't be bored. I was looking forward to this was, but unfortunately I was let down.

This is the kind of book that you can’t put down. I started it not meaning to. I was in the middle of reading another book that I was really into but I thought I’d just read a page or two of Jumpnauts, see how it started, and then realized I couldn’t stop reading it. I don’t want to give too much away but I will say it was a very interesting take on an old sci fi trope in regards to aliens and first contact and also completely believable while having all the hard sci fi elements that I crave. I also appreciated how the translator chose to keep certain Chinese words he felt could not be translated well and he makes an excellent and compelling case for his doing so in the Preface. I felt this book really benefitted from that decision as learning these words only helped me appreciate this book and it’s story even more.

This book was different than the description I think leads on. The plot is spot on, however, there is a lot of action for a book I think you would not anticipate this from. Overall, it was a lot of fun.