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| (Cover Designer: Kelli McAdams) |
Jumpnauts is exactly the opposite of the sort of novel which I expected Hao Jingfang to write, initially in a bad way, but also ultimately in a good one.
Hao's debut novel, Vagabonds, was an extraordinarily subtle work of science fiction. Taking the form of a slow-paced and contemplative science fiction story, that earlier book detailed the deceptively complex story of how two seemingly analogous characters from Earth and Mars voyaged to one another's worlds, only to come away from the experience with wildly contradictory views not of the planets they have just visited, but instead their respective homes. Ultimately, Vagabonds represented a novel whose dense and intricate plot wove together the lives of multiple generations of individuals, all of whom struggled to navigate an enduring political and social conflict requiring they confront the weighty question of how utopian societies should define themselves.
By contrast, Jumpnauts (which just as with Vagabonds has been translated into English by author Ken Liu) is a fast-paced and light-hearted adventure narrative. This is a book featuring endlessly smug protagonists, deliberately stylized banter, and elaborate action set pieces involving self-styled "super-spies" whose high-tech mech battles with one another are punctuated with pop-psychoanalysis of their opponent's motives, all while navigate a sci fi narrative involving political conspiracies and ancient aliens who have been secretly manipulating the course of human history for tens of thousands of years.
Which is to say that Jumpnauts is a book that initially comes across as silly, and not always in a good way. For the first half of this story, Hao's blandly over-the-top action and (seemingly) shallow characters produce a novel that is not so much filled with people as it is cliches, with the protagonists moving through the plot robotically as if on fixed rails, all while the plot itself comes across as similarly shallow and predictable. It's only by the novel's second half that these faults are revealed to be intentional on Hao's part, with Jumpnauts's latter half dismantling the stilted narrative it has pretended to be telling, and reassembling itself into a still silly but now also somehow profound work that was concealed within the structure of the first.
Plot Summary
The book begins by introducing the first of its three main protagonists, Jiang Liu. Jiang Liu (who as with the majority of this book's characters is referred to via both his surname and given name simultaneously), is as the novel begins ignoring increasingly passive-aggressive calls from his mother, father, and uncle while he sits drinking alone in a bar in Hawaii. As we soon learn via scattered bits of world-building, Jiang Liu is the young heir to a vast international corporate empire, and as a result has gone through life without ever facing meaningful obstacles. Described as being "the very image of youth to break many hearts" (p.1), as Jiang Liu's story opens, he has recently learned from his wealthy parents that the warring global superpowers of the Pacific League and the Atlantic Alliance are plotting to bomb the Hawaiian town in which he is staying. Yet rather than fleeing on one of his family's many private jets (as his mother and father's repeated calls demand), Jiang Liu has instead illegally leaked the plans for this bombing raid to the general public, all in the hope that as many people as possible might escape this air raid. Having done this, he now sits alongside those who cannot afford to evacuate, seemingly contemplating his own death.
It's in this surprisingly bleak context that Jiang Liu's uncle Bo finally gets a hold of him. After berating his nephew for having stayed in Hawaii for as long as he has, uncle Bo also randomly mentions that a deep space radio observatory that he oversees has just detected a signal of the sort that his nephew has been searching for for several years. This conspicuously off-topic bit of news (Hawaii is about to be destroyed in only a few hours, after all) immediately brings Jiang Liu out of his depression, and it's in light of this information that he agrees to board uncle Bo's private jet. Immediately afterwards, Jiang Liu uses some clever psycho-acoustic programming to incapacitate both his uncle and the jet's pilot, and then reprograms the aircraft's autopilot to fly him not to one of his family's many expensive mansions, but instead the secluded tomb of China's ancient first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
After arriving at this famed historical site, Jiang Liu meets up with an old friend of his, Yun Fan. In addition to being a brilliant archeologist who several years earlier asked Jiang Liu to notify her if he ever detected a very specific type of signal emanating from deep space, Yun Fan is also (as we learn just a little too quickly) the one and only woman to have ever rejected Jiang Liu's romantic advances. Convinced that Yun Fan now owes him a date in exchange for the information he has brought her about this deep space signal, Jiang Liu hardly even bothers to ask about the nature of her research, or to wonder why it is that this person who has spent her career excavating ancient relics found in the tomb of China's first emperor might have successfully predicted the discovery of a mysterious radio broadcast emanating from deep space.
Instead, Jiang Liu is far more concerned with the fact that his imagined date with Yun Fan is interrupted by the arrival of Qi Fei, a former boyfriend of her's who shows up at the tomb mere hours after Jiang Liu. Working as an intelligence operative for the Pacific League, Qi Fei has voyaged to Qin Shi Huang's tomb intending to investigate a mysterious neutrino emission which has begun emanating from this facility's catacombs--a signal which Qi Fei's superiors at the Pacific League fear may be the work of an Atlantic Alliance spy. Of course, neither Qi Fei nor Jiang Liu hold much concern for one another's respective missions, and upon meeting one another instead immediately launch into a protracted battle of egos as they compete for this woman's nonexistent affection.
It's only as a grudging afterthought that Yun Fan finally explains the true nature of her research to both men. Not only has her family been working for many generations to document evidence of alien visitations on Earth--visitations which they believe are recorded throughout all of human history--but recently she has succeeded in uncovering otherworldly technology hidden within Qin Shi Huang's tomb. This is, most notably, a 2000 year old neutrino emitter built on principles that modern science has only just barely begun to grasp. Moreover, thanks to the deep space signal which Jiang Liu has just notified her of, Yun Fan now knows that these mysterious aliens are due to return to Earth in only a matter of days, meaning that she must now personally venture out into deep space to greet this vessel (lest the warring nations of the Pacific League and the Atlantic Alliance mistake it for a warship).
This revelation in turn soon thrusts all three of these characters into a dense international conspiracy as they scramble to find information about this approaching alien vessel, all while being pursued by agents of various global superpowers who are incapable of recognizing the otherworldly power that is about to intercede in human history.
Main Review/Criticisms
In spite of the creativity of this setup, discussing the successes of Jumpnauts is difficult, because doing so requires that I first highlight what initially appears to be this story's catastrophic failure.
For much of this novel's first half, Jumpnauts's plot is defined by characters who appear less fully realized people, and instead as shallow stereotypes. Jiang Liu in particular is a sort of impossibly competent figure--a 26 year old billionaire who, in addition to having a PHD in astrophysics that he never seems to use, is also an unparalleled martial artist, an internationally wanted computer hacker, and (it is belatedly revealed much later in the book) a successful philanthropist who secretly founded a famous global charity when he was still in his teens. Meanwhile Qi Fei is if anything equally implausible as a protagonist--an accomplished soldier, brilliant computer scientist, and renowned military tactician who now carries out elite undercover missions for the Pacific League, and as a result is equipped with an endless collection of high-tech weaponry (the advanced hoverbike he rides around on is, naturally, a suit of high-tech robot armor in disguise). Then there is Yun Fan herself, who is not so much a character as she is a type. Perpetually aloof and emotionally detached, Yun Fan is fixated on one goal in this story and one goal only--making contact with the ancient aliens whom her father and grandfather spent their lives studying.
It's worth noting that shallowly one-note characters like these are not necessarily an indication of a story's flaws. Even cartoons, if properly framed, can convey profound depth and nuance, and so the fact that Jiang Liu, Qi Fei, and Yun Fan often function less as people and more immobile character types isn't an immediate liability to this book's plot. While the broader narrative of Jumpnauts often contains moments which strain believability, these story elements can still be taken as an extension of this book's deliberately light-hearted action-adventure aesthetic. Instead, the main problem which arrises in the early half of Jumpnauts is that, in addition to frequently being implausible, the characters of this book also quickly reveal themselves to be toxic in a way which feels insufficiently examined.
There's one moment early on that functions as an example of this, with Jiang Liu recalling how he first met Yun Fan--specifically how she unexpectedly appeared at a lecture being given by his academic mentor many years prior. In the ensuing flashback, Jiang Liu relates how he instantly fell in love with this woman whom he has never met, and mere seconds after being introduced arranges an impromptu date with her under the auspices of discussing some questions she has regarding recently detected fluctuations in the emissions of high-energy pulsars.
Yet as the sequence continues, and Jiang Liu and Yun Fan meet to discuss pulsars over dinner, Jiang Liu repeatedly attempts to steer the ensuing conversation away from Yun Fan's studies, and instead to the intimate details of her personal life. He does all of this in spite of the fact that Yun Fan is very directly indicated to have believed her meeting with him was a professional consultation, and moreover repeatedly signals to Jiang Liu that she finds his questions about her personal life insulting. Yet rather than respecting Yun Fan's boundaries, Jiang Liu for his part makes it clear that he views her rejection of his advances as a personal challenge.
He was amazed by the breadth of her knowledge. Although she lacked the specialist's grasp of the technical details, he could tell by her questions that she had devoted considerable effort into understanding these subjects. Time and again, he tried to redirect the conversation to her personal life, but she never gave an inch, either skillfully stepping around his attempts at flirting, or even openly mocking him when he vexed her.
He couldn't remember the last time he had failed so miserably with a girl. (pp.13-14)
The implications of Jiang Liu's behavior here only grow worse after he is reunited with Yun Fan. After arriving at Qin Shi Huang's tomb, Jiang Liu proceeds to effectively bully this woman into once more having dinner with him. This time around however, due to how Yun Fan continues to reject these advances, it's hard to not recognize that Jiang Liu's actions stray far too close to what could be considered sexual harassment. It's not merely the case that Yun Fan has clearly indicated that she has no interest in pursuing a relationship with Jiang Liu, but also that Jiang Liu has for his part very overtly indicated that he will not respect Yun Fan's wishes that he leave her alone, with this belligerent attitude framed by the novel as if it were indicative of a quirky sci-fi romance, and not something more sinister.
"If I can get us a ride, then you'll come to dinner with me. Deal?"
Yun Fan finally laughed in exasperation. "I've never met anyone so shameless. What I really want to say is that I have no interest in going to dinner with you. I was trying to turn you down politely, but you leave me no choice except to come out and say it."
"Well, you didn't deny that we have a deal. That is the same as agreeing. So when the ride comes later, you have to keep your promise." (p.17)
The toxicity of this behavior only becomes harder to endure when Qi Fei arrives on the scene. Much like Jiang Liu, Qi Fei is very overtly indicated to harbor an unrequited love for Yun Fan, with both he and Jiang Liu therefore reaching the entirely predictable conclusion that they hate one another. The tedium of their resulting interactions is only further exacerbated as their feud over Yun Fan balloons into cartoonish melodrama, with Qi Fei briefly attempting to use his authority as a soldier of the Pacific League to arrest Jiang Liu and charge him with treason against this nation. This results in a sequence wherein the two travel to a high security military facility, with Jiang Liu and Qi Fei ultimately engaging in a standoff as they battle to demonstrate their physical, intellectual, and philosophical superiority over the other.
Again, the outlandish nature of this material is not in and of itself a liability (in another context the cartoonish action could be fun to read due to the deliberately over-the-top way in which it is written). The issue is that neither of these characters have any real depth underlying their motives. Jiang Liu claims to love Yun Fan, but he clearly views her more as an abstract symbol of status rather than a person (as evidenced by the fact that all he knows about her is that she's not interested in going on a date with him). Likewise Qi Fei seems to hate Jiang Liu not because he perhaps legitimately distrusts this individual, but instead because he sees Jiang Liu's carefree attitude as a personal challenge. The end result is that the battle at the military facility where Jiang Liu and Qi Fei hurl clever quips at one another (all while revealing a collection of increasingly high tech weaponry which they both apparently carry around with them everywhere they go) only comes across as trite. It's not just that neither of these characters feel real, but that their unreality doesn't accomplish anything.
"Director Qi, may I finally leave now?" Jiang Liu asked. "Or are you going to send more of your little friends after me?"
"It's still too early to speak of leaving." Qi Fei jumped off the hoverbike. "My steed would like to test you first."
Qi Fei grabbed the handlebars of the hoverbike and began to pull. Instantly, the bike split down the middle into two pieces. A bystander might have thought Qi Fei a superhero, capable of tearing apart a vehicle as though it were a piece of fried chicken. But a closer examination revealed that the hoverbike was built to disassemble itself in this manner, and each half now writhed to fit around Qi Fei's body like living armor. (pp.53-54)
A similar issue exists with Yun Fan. Much like Jiang Liu and Qi Fei, Yun Fan spends the first half of this novel driven by a goal that is not so much a meaningful character motivation as it is a melodramatic platitude. Desiring only to make contact with the approaching aliens, Yun Fan openly professes very early on that her primary goal in this story--indeed, her primary goal in life itself--is not to facilitate humanity's first contact with an alien civilization, or even necessarily to vindicate the memory of her father and grandfather by proving to the scientific world that their outlandish theories about ancient aliens were correct. Instead, Yun Fan's singular motive in this story is to ease her own lifelong guilt at the skepticism that she once levied against her father for his outlandish theories--skepticism which she now believes resulted in his death. So intense is this guilt that Yun Fan openly declares that she is willing to make contact with the approaching aliens even if these beings prove hostile. In Yun Fan's view, her guilt over having not unquestioningly accepted her father's belief in ancient aliens is so great that relieving herself of it is worth more than the entirety of human civilization itself.
Which results in a novel that is tedious, and melodramatically self-absorbed, and at its worse moments outright toxic. Jumpnauts is all of these things, but it's only at the book's half-way point that Hao reveals that it's all of these things intentionally.
Thoughts on the Book's Latter Half (Major Spoilers Follow)
It's a little bit of a cliche in the alien first contact genre that, when the protagonists finally make contact with the long sought after aliens, the beings whom they encounter are represented as either manifestations of (or reactions to) these characters' inner biases and assumptions about the universe.
For instance, in Hank Green's novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, the main character, April May, ultimately encounters the mysterious alien entity at the heart of that story's plot, only to find that this act requires she confront her own preconceptions regarding the fame and social influence she has garnered as its original discoverer. Likewise in Carl Sagan's novel Contact, Eleanor Arroway ultimately voyages to a distant star system to make the titular contact with an alien civilization, only for these entities to appear to her in the form of her deceased father (in the process gently guiding her through a personal realization regarding the relationship between science and religion which she has resisted for the entirety of that story). Meanwhile a substantially darker iteration of this same material appears in the space opera Leviathan Wakes, where the police detective Josephus Miller ultimately makes contact with the deadly alien life-form at the center of that novel's mystery, only to discover that this entity interacts with him via the partially reanimated body of Julie Mao--a woman whom Miller has never met, but toward whom he has developed an intense parasocial obsession.
Which is to say that alien first contact novels often conclude with their protagonists making contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence that represents itself not as something alien and unknowable, but instead a form which those protagonists find familiar. It's via this form that these entities guide these protagonists through some sort of personal realization which they have so far resisted. This can be a confrontation with a personal fantasy made real (as was the case with An Absolutely Remarkable Thing), a realization as to the mutual interplay between science and religion (as was the case with Contact), or even a discovery as to the extent to which the protagonists of these stories have allowed their own biases to hamper their view of reality (Leviathan Wakes). Whatever the scenario, the resulting stories feature, in effect, characters who venture out to the edge of human knowledge, and are greeted by a very familiar manifestation of their own ignorance.
Jumpnauts is in this respect no different, and yet in this case Hao employs this trope to enact an almost metatextual twist on her novel's subject--a revelation about the nature of this book which very literally warps the reality of the story itself.
When Jiang Liu, Qi Fei, and Yun Fan finally voyage out into deep space and encounter the approaching alien vessel (a ship which, creatively on Hao's part, appears in the form of a creature from Chinese mythology called a Loong, and whose name Ken Liu notes in the introduction he has deliberately chosen not to render via the English word "Dragon"), all three of these characters are required to undergo a series of challenges demanding that they face manifestations of their own deepest regrets. Each of these experiences then in turn reveal to every character that the motivations which have so far driven them through this story are hollow of depth.
That is, Jiang Liu, Qi Fei, and Yun Fan are all revealed to be people maintaining fictional roles which they have constructed around themselves so as to hide the insecurities which truly drive them through their lives, with it being these fears that they must finally now abandon if they are ever going to face something truly unknown.
Normally, a book levying this sort of psychological reading upon its characters so late in the text would come across as reductive, but given the deliberately self-absorbed nature of Jumpnauts's early chapters, Hao is able to pivot what could very easily have been a story-breaking cliche into something profound. Jiang Liu, for his part, finally confronts the simple and long-foreshadowed realization that he does not actually love Yun Fan--that his toxic fixation on this woman is rooted in a view of her not as a person, but an abstract symbol which he is pursuing so as to avoid confronting his own insecurities. Similarly, Qi Fei comes to realize how his own mindless dedication to military duty is itself just an expression of his own inward vulnerability--a vulnerability that cannot tolerate the casual freedom which Jiang Liu exhibits as a part of his own equally fictitious public persona. Even Yun Fan for her part finally realizes that her lifelong goal of making contact with her father's and grandfather's aliens had nothing to do with these aliens themselves, but instead her own preoccupations with the guilt and personal fears that she has allowed to define her existence.
It's only by setting aside these fears that all of these characters finally manage to recognize one another as people, and in the process make first contact (so to speak) with the other intelligent beings with whom they share their universe. It's just that the beings with whom they make this contact are not, at least at first, the extraterrestrial entities they expected. It turns out that the real aliens actually were the friends they made along the way.
And then Hao takes this metaphor a step further. Upon finally accomplishing this goal of freeing themselves of the anxieties that have kept them isolated, Jiang Liu, Qi Fei, and Yun Fan meet the actual alien at the helm of this vessel--a cheerful and disconcertingly casual entity who appears in the form of a Qilin, and who introduces themself as "Huhu." Explaining that they are a low-ranking emissary from a coalition of technologically advanced civilizations spread across dozens of parallel universes, Huhu immediately grants everyone the next step in the evolution of human society. This is, namely, the ability to experience a perfect empathy with one another resulting in telepathy.
It's on this note that all of these characters accompany Huhu back to Earth, and with their newfound capacity for telepathic empathy are faced with a reality which they now realize is defined by the protracted military conflict unfolding between the Pacific League and the Atlantic Alliance. This is a conflict which now appears very similar to the pointlessly ego-driven posturing they had all three previously engaged in, except for the fact that its consequences are far more deadly.
The result of all of this is that while Jumpnauts initially appears to be a shallow and self-absorbed action-adventure story, it eventually morphs into an action-adventure story which functions in part as a critique of action-adventure stories. Through this twist it finally becomes clear why it is that an author as talented as Hao Jingfang would write a book like Jumpnauts--why it is, perhaps, that the author of a book as subtle and carefully structured as Vagabonds is the only person who ever could have written a book like Jumpnauts.
Which is to say that Jumpnauts is still a silly book--a novel whose cartoonishly over-competent characters don literal robot armor while pursuing melodramatic ambitions that may or may not result in the destruction of all life on Earth. Yet Jumpnauts is in the end all of these things intentionally, with that intentionality giving way to something that is, despite the book's cartoonish action, profound.