JUMPNAUTS - Hao Jingfang


The world becomes a smaller place in this apocalyptic future.  There are two factions (ie controlling countries) now - the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations. Each side is nervously expecting the other side to initiate some kind of aggression. But it may not be either of the two nations that starts something ....  Three young scientists from the Pacific League of Nations learn that a very advanced, highly intelligent alien species has been sending messages, trying to make contact.

The trio look to be the ones to make first contact as they aren't convinced the extraterrestrials are a threat, but their counterparts in the Atlantic Division may take a more aggressive first contact step, which would likely bring the whole world into a losing conflict.

I don't read enough fiction from a different global perspective and when this appeared as an ARC I was eager to give it a read. I had not heard of author Hao Jingfang or read any of her work prior to this.

I really wasn't sure where this book was going when I started it.  We seem to start with a lot of the back story and world-building set-up. Our three main characters, the scientists, are not friends, but rivals and the tension in the early part of the book (maybe the first half of the book?) comes from these three learning to get a long and respect one another ... as well as a little romantic tension. Frankly, I found this first half of the novel tedious.

But as the story develops (that of the scientists working together to make first contact) the interest in the story builds and it actually becomes a real page-turner. Our ending is quite clever - I feel like I should have seen it coming, but I did get caught up in the moment-to-moment of the action so I had a nice smile and "oh, yeah" moment at the end.

I can see that knowing the three protagonists before they really began to work together increases the enjoyment of what they accomplish together, but I still can't quite get over how dry the first half of the novel was for me as I couldn't get a sense of how this was going to play out.

The aliens really are one of the more interesting characters in the book but we don't get a whole lot of them. But the door is open for a follow-up/sequel and I see on Goodreads that this is listed as #1 in a series.  Now that I've invested the time to get to know these people I'd like to see how the rest of the story plays out.

Looking for a good book? Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang is a first-contact scifi story that spends a lot (too much?) of time getting us set up but once the action kicks in the read is quite fun.  Half the book is good so ... half the stars?

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Jumpnauts

author: Hao Jingfang

translator: Ken Liu

series: Folding Universe #1

publisher: S&S/Saga Press

ISBN: 9781534422117

paperback, 368 pages

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