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.