Jumpnauts

Hao Jingfang

Bloomsbury

Review: Lauren O’Connor-May

Yun Fan is a beautiful but reclusive archaeologist with a secret obsession.

Decades ago, her grandfather was visited by what appeared to be the ghost of a long-dead, legendary Chinese emperor. The emperor gave him detailed instructions on what to do if an alien race ever returned to Earth.

The instructions became a family obsession, passed down the generations. By the time Yun Fan receives the baton, the legacy has become burdensome, so when the signals she has been secretly monitoring indicate the return of a spaceship, which hasn’t been seen in centuries, Yun Fan hatches a plan.

Also monitoring the signal, at the request of Yun Fan, is Jiang Liu. The handsome, wealthy, and reckless magnate is obsessed with the archaeologist because she is the only woman who has never succumbed to his charms.

Military man Qi Fei on the other hand is delighted when his general instructs him to investigate the signals because he knows it will make him cross paths with Yun Fan, his estranged teen sweetheart.

When the three collide, they tumble into an adventure that takes them not only onto the mysterious and seemingly empty spaceship but also to another dimension where they learn the truth about humanity’s past, present and future.

Jumpnauts is a mind-bending piece of speculative fiction which blends philosophy, politics, science and history. Although the novel’s pace does stagger when the characters get into complicated historical and philosophical discussions, it never loses its intrigue.

While the concept that aliens have been quietly influencing humanity for millennia is not new, I enjoyed the Chinese flavouring that this novel gave the theory.

This book is the third by the new and award-winning writer Hao Jingfang who is definitely worth watching.

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Book review: Jumpnauts

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