The first novel from the Hugo Award-winning author of Folding Bejing, Hao Jingfang, translated by the Hugo Award-winning translator of The Three-Body Problem, Ken Liu.
A century ago, the Martian colonies rebelled against the rule of Earth. Having declared an independent Martian Republic, the two planets evolved along separate trajectories, becoming two incompatible worlds vastly different in their scale, economy, sociopolitical system, and, most importantly of all, ideals. Inhabitants of the two planets have come to view each other with suspicion and even hatred. Five years ago, with the apparent goal of reconciliation, the Martian government sent a group of students to Earth to study humanity's home planet and act as goodwill ambassadors from the Red Planet. Now the students have returned to Mars, accompanied by a group of prominent Earth delegates, to see if the two worlds can learn to co-exist in peace and friendship.
Almost immediately, negotiations break …
The first novel from the Hugo Award-winning author of Folding Bejing, Hao Jingfang, translated by the Hugo Award-winning translator of The Three-Body Problem, Ken Liu.
A century ago, the Martian colonies rebelled against the rule of Earth. Having declared an independent Martian Republic, the two planets evolved along separate trajectories, becoming two incompatible worlds vastly different in their scale, economy, sociopolitical system, and, most importantly of all, ideals. Inhabitants of the two planets have come to view each other with suspicion and even hatred. Five years ago, with the apparent goal of reconciliation, the Martian government sent a group of students to Earth to study humanity's home planet and act as goodwill ambassadors from the Red Planet. Now the students have returned to Mars, accompanied by a group of prominent Earth delegates, to see if the two worlds can learn to co-exist in peace and friendship.
Almost immediately, negotiations break down and old enmities erupt.
Luoying, a gifted Martian dancer, finds herself caught in the crosscurrents of political intrigue and philosophical warfare. Martians and Terrans, artists and politicians, old friends and new mentors, classic books and revolutionary ideas – everyone and everything challenges her, pushing her to declare her allegiance. Attuned to the hopes and fears of both her native land and the world on which she came of age, Luoying must shoulder the burden of discovering the truth through the web of lies spun by both sides. She must chart a new course between history and the future that is coalescing around her. If she fails, everything she's ever loved will be destroyed.
It's a slow-moving story with a focus that shifts between characters without warning, but it paints a beautiful picture of a possible life on Mars. It is clearly an exploration of Chinese tensions between their self-perception and how they are viewed in the eyes of the world. Mars is a prosperous and egalitarian but rigid society. Earth is a dynamic but sometimes cruel society. The Vagabonds of the title are the very few who travel between these worlds and seek to reconcile them. The lack of narrative momentum is what took away a star for me, but it's definitely worth reading, especially if you're looking for something reflective.
A nihilist philosophy treatise couched as hard scifi
3 stars
Fairly translucent allegory involving an idealistic communist society contrasted with a cynical hypercapitalist one, and some typical liberty vs. responsibility discourse, but some interesting viewpoints and contexts are presented
TW: suicide, death from great height, plan crash, warmongering 3
After years of war, Mar and Earth are at an unsteady place. Sending their children to study at Earth for 5 years should have brought them closer, but with the homecoming of those children, things only become more unclear. They do not fit on Mars anymore, with more doubts and anger than they left with, and certain leaders on Mars seem determined to start another war. Following a student home from Earth, a film maker following his Terran mentor's foot steps in the wake of his death, and the political rift formed by the idea of a "wet Mars", this is a deeply political novel.
This is definitely a very Chinese novel, which I appreciate yet which also made it harder for me to read. I couldn't really connect to much in this story, personally.
The writing, unequivocally, however, is …
TW: suicide, death from great height, plan crash, warmongering 3
After years of war, Mar and Earth are at an unsteady place. Sending their children to study at Earth for 5 years should have brought them closer, but with the homecoming of those children, things only become more unclear. They do not fit on Mars anymore, with more doubts and anger than they left with, and certain leaders on Mars seem determined to start another war. Following a student home from Earth, a film maker following his Terran mentor's foot steps in the wake of his death, and the political rift formed by the idea of a "wet Mars", this is a deeply political novel.
This is definitely a very Chinese novel, which I appreciate yet which also made it harder for me to read. I couldn't really connect to much in this story, personally.
The writing, unequivocally, however, is beautiful. The translator did an excellent job, and I'm sure the original writing is fantastic. It's poetic, and crisply descriptive. It's also very philosophical in a way that made it feel heavier than it was. The philosophy and the politics mixed in a way that made it both more and less understandable.
I do like the concept, and the politics were actually really interesting in concept. The way that it's both deeply unrealistic, because it's on Mars and it's hundreds of years past us, with decisions we're no where near having to even think about (if ever), it still feels very true. It's written well because it feel genuine, yet just fantastic and fictional enough to be out of the question.
I can appreciate this novel in a general sense, but it wasn't really the book for me. It felt like the opposite of a "feel good" novel, ending everyone's stories with just enough negativity and hopelessness to feel exhausting, and the incredibly slow pacing made the book, which was already long & hard to wrap my head around entirely, even harder to get into. As I didn't get invested in a certain political opinion, or any of the characters in particular, I was just never all that compelled by this story.
