Soh Kam Yung reviewed Jumpnauts by Ken Liu
A promising book, but let down by the way the story is presented.
3 stars
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 …
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.