Vagabonds

Hugo winner Hao Jinfang's Vagabonds details life a century after the Martian war for independence. A delegation of students from Mars is sent to earth to help ease tensions between the two societies. But the group finds it difficult to build a life there and even more difficult to re-acclimate to life on Mars when they return. For eighteen-year-old Luoying, a dance student and granddaughter of the Martian governor, her return raises more questions than it answers. She wants to know how her parents died and what the true purpose for sending her to earth really was. And what the future on Mars really holds--maybe man isn't meant to be there at all. I can't imagine how lovely this novel is in Jinfang's native Chinese, because the writing through translator Ken Liu is beautiful. It's the writing alone that made me want to keep turning the pages. Unfortunately, a couple things detracted from the overall experience for me. The length of the novel was a struggle. Not necessarily the length itself, because I can read long books, but I prefer them to be tightly paced. In Vagabonds, though it was technically gorgeous, and I was excited by the premise, I never really connected to any of the characters in any meaningful emotional way. I ended up reading through and not really remembering much of what I read and not being that upset about it. That being said, I would definitely seek out more of Hao Jingfang's works. She clearly is a talented writer.

Three stars to this one. Vagabonds is due for release on April 14, 2020. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing this copy to review.