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.
I have read many of the sprawling, science fiction, space operas that include Mars as a setting. I am often thrilled by the hardscrabble life and pragmatic philosophy that must be practiced on the red planet. However, for me, Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang sort of fell apart for me. I listened to the English translation from Chinese and perhaps objected to the lessons implied by the plot.
After a civil war between Mars and Earth, the two powers are attempting to find peace. Mars sends a group of students including Luoying, a dancer, to Earth to build relations between the planets.
Jingfang seems to wax poetic about the youth of Earth who seem to be trust-fund gig-workers that work to fund a lifestyle against the Martians who join a working group and help to build a community.
Jingfang's glorification of capitalism against a communist, semi-authoritarian, syndicalism just left this anarchistic, …
I have read many of the sprawling, science fiction, space operas that include Mars as a setting. I am often thrilled by the hardscrabble life and pragmatic philosophy that must be practiced on the red planet. However, for me, Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang sort of fell apart for me. I listened to the English translation from Chinese and perhaps objected to the lessons implied by the plot.
After a civil war between Mars and Earth, the two powers are attempting to find peace. Mars sends a group of students including Luoying, a dancer, to Earth to build relations between the planets.
Jingfang seems to wax poetic about the youth of Earth who seem to be trust-fund gig-workers that work to fund a lifestyle against the Martians who join a working group and help to build a community.
Jingfang's glorification of capitalism against a communist, semi-authoritarian, syndicalism just left this anarchistic, white, male, American cold. However, if I'm honest, I feel that I missed an important cultural context that would have helped me to enjoy the book more.
