Jumpnauts

Jumpnauts demonstrates the value of sticking with a book even when the beginning chapters seem disappointing.

This story primarily follows three characters (an aloof archeologist named Yun Fan, a self-absorbed tech billionaire named Jiang Liu, and an elite soldier named Qi Fei) all of whom find themselves trapped in an international conspiracy when they discover an alien spaceship en-route to Earth. What follows is a sort of near-future "spy-fi" thriller in which everyone races to find information about this vessel, while also fleeing two warring nations who plan to use this ship's technology against their enemies.

It's a creative premise, but unfortunately Jumpnauts's first half is defined by one-note characters whose motives often feel underdeveloped. Jiang Liu and Qi Fei in particular feel less like fully realized people, and instead toxically masculine gender stereotypes who engage in increasingly cartoonish ego battles as they compete for Yun Fan's nonexistent affection. Yet what only becomes apparent in Jumpnauts's second half is that all of these flaws are intentional on Hao's part. The point of this novel is an examination of the ways that its characters fail to communicate, with everyone maintaining elaborate ego facades so as to hide their vulnerabilities from one another.

Which is to say that Jumpnauts is an alien first contact novel about characters who venture out into deep space, all so they can avoid contacting the other intelligent (human) beings with whom they share the universe. Outwardly it's a silly story, but also a profound one if you are willing to trust what the author is doing with her narrative.

I've written a longer review of this book on my blog, though be aware that I get into plot spoilers.

erichendel.blogspot.com/2024/12/review-jumpnauts-hao-jingfang.html

A story that merges Chinese-style SF with a high stake meeting with aliens that doesn't quite meet the expectations of this reader. The blend of martial arts with futuristic tech is there, but the story's characters and situations didn't really pull me into the story.

The story evolves around one girl who continues the work started by her father, figuring out that much of the advances by human civilizations in the past was driven by periodic visits by aliens. Now, another one is due, and she is determined to go and meet the aliens.

But her plans are complicated by the involvement of two antagonistic men: one is wealthy, with commercial connections through his family, the other is a military AI leader who wants his own Pacific League to triumph over the Atlantic Alliance. Together, through cooperation and rivalry, they will set out together to meet the aliens, survive a test of their skills before the meeting, and then manoeuvrer through the political and military alliances on Earth to present the potential 'upgrade' of humanity peacefully, and for everybody.

While the book is brimming with ideas, the presentation of the science and technology, especially from the aliens, is somewhat clunky, with info dumps that bring the story to a halt while the characters (and the reader) digests the implications. The motivation of the characters are also presented in chunks, which didn't really let me 'get into' the characters as the story progressed.

Thus, this is a book that has a promising premise, but somewhat let down by the way the story is presented by the author.