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The Subtle Art of Folding Space
Not yet published
Expected 7 Apr 26
The Subtle Art of Folding Space
, is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo-winning author John Chu channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics.
Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.
Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.
If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.
Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.
Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.
If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.
240 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 7, 2026
12217 people want to read
About the author
John Chu
71 books132 followersJohn Chu is a microprocessor architect by day, a writer by night. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming at Boston Review, Bloody Fabulous, Asimov's Science Fiction, Apex Magazine and Tor.com. His story "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
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May 8, 2025I'm not that much of an avid scifi reader, but OMG that cover. I love it.
May 24, 2025
Not enough SciFi contends with how hard people work to keep everything from falling out of the sky. Chu steps up to that challenge with a spirited exploration 'behind the scenes' of how fragile our world is (and the maintenance it requires). It bends physics and genres alike. It's a book we need right now. I know people are going to be giddy for this one.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
2.5 Stars
I make a policy to read and review as many new science fiction releases as possible each year. So naturally I was excited to pick this up, especially with such a delicious cover.
Unfortunately I found this one much weaker than I hoped. The story just felt very… silly which is not my personal preference. I understand that this one was intended to be a fun science fiction novel but the tone just didn't work for me. I found the characters a bit over the top and not particularly realistic.
I wanted to love this one but unfortunately it just didn't work for me as much as I wanted. There were some interesting ideas that I would love to see explored in a different narrative.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I make a policy to read and review as many new science fiction releases as possible each year. So naturally I was excited to pick this up, especially with such a delicious cover.
Unfortunately I found this one much weaker than I hoped. The story just felt very… silly which is not my personal preference. I understand that this one was intended to be a fun science fiction novel but the tone just didn't work for me. I found the characters a bit over the top and not particularly realistic.
I wanted to love this one but unfortunately it just didn't work for me as much as I wanted. There were some interesting ideas that I would love to see explored in a different narrative.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
October 29, 2025
I received a free copy from Tor Books via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date April 7th, 2026.
I was struck by this book's gorgeous cover, as well as the crunchy premise that invites comparisons to Everything Everywhere All At Once. In The Subtle Art of Folding Space, Ellie is dragged back into the world of the maintainers that fix the plumbing of the multiverse by her abusive sister as her mother is dying. With the help of her enigmatic cousin Daniel, Ellie is swept into an investigation into the maintainers' many secretive factions, which threatens the stability of the multiverse.
This book is set in a magical realism flavored world where ordinary people know about the skunkworks as an obscure factoid, but people rarely bother to learn if their parents weren't already maintainers. Like attending Chinese school to learn Mandarin as a schoolchild when neither of your parents speak it. The fact that nobody bothers to learn these skills when it literally allows its practitioners to teleport stretches the bounds of belief a bit. But it allows Chu to casually slide the most bonkers bits of worldbuilding into the plot completely deadpan, which I adored. Particularly in the writing of Cousin Daniel, who's been saturated in the eccentric world of the skunkworks for longer than Ellie. Daniel is furiously and somewhat unsuccessfully Clark Kenting it, while hiding a deep streak of ruthless competence and an outrageously eclectic skill set which manifests at convenient times. He's very much the sort of character Diana Wynn Jones would write.
While the frenetic complexity of the worldbuilding is fun, the heart of The Subtle Art of Folding Space is about abuse. I'd say Ellie's much older sister Chris and her constant assassination attempts were comically villainous, if it wasn't for how throughly she has Ellie sucked into it. My personal definition of abuse is that it's when someone you love has you convinced that you deserve to be hurt. Chris has, very painfully, convinced not only Ellie but also their entire social and familial circle that Ellie is the disreputable black sheep and Chris the golden child. This extends from strongly implying that Ellie abandoned their dying mother to convincing their entire family that Ellie isn't fluent in Mandarin. Meanwhile, Ellie vainly hopes that she can fix their relationship if she can just be nice enough to Chris. It's a bit painful to watch her take the very tentative first step towards saying screw Confucius and cutting her sister off over the course of the book.
An absolutely effervescent gem of worldbuilding where the universe is run by pipes that go gloop gloop and quantum physics is a bug fix installed last century, shot through with a deeply felt and very messy family drama that makes the arcane question of saving the world much more immediate. The book ends with obvious hooks for a sequel, and I'm very excited to see where Chu takes this series next. Recommended.
I was struck by this book's gorgeous cover, as well as the crunchy premise that invites comparisons to Everything Everywhere All At Once. In The Subtle Art of Folding Space, Ellie is dragged back into the world of the maintainers that fix the plumbing of the multiverse by her abusive sister as her mother is dying. With the help of her enigmatic cousin Daniel, Ellie is swept into an investigation into the maintainers' many secretive factions, which threatens the stability of the multiverse.
This book is set in a magical realism flavored world where ordinary people know about the skunkworks as an obscure factoid, but people rarely bother to learn if their parents weren't already maintainers. Like attending Chinese school to learn Mandarin as a schoolchild when neither of your parents speak it. The fact that nobody bothers to learn these skills when it literally allows its practitioners to teleport stretches the bounds of belief a bit. But it allows Chu to casually slide the most bonkers bits of worldbuilding into the plot completely deadpan, which I adored. Particularly in the writing of Cousin Daniel, who's been saturated in the eccentric world of the skunkworks for longer than Ellie. Daniel is furiously and somewhat unsuccessfully Clark Kenting it, while hiding a deep streak of ruthless competence and an outrageously eclectic skill set which manifests at convenient times. He's very much the sort of character Diana Wynn Jones would write.
While the frenetic complexity of the worldbuilding is fun, the heart of The Subtle Art of Folding Space is about abuse. I'd say Ellie's much older sister Chris and her constant assassination attempts were comically villainous, if it wasn't for how throughly she has Ellie sucked into it. My personal definition of abuse is that it's when someone you love has you convinced that you deserve to be hurt. Chris has, very painfully, convinced not only Ellie but also their entire social and familial circle that Ellie is the disreputable black sheep and Chris the golden child. This extends from strongly implying that Ellie abandoned their dying mother to convincing their entire family that Ellie isn't fluent in Mandarin. Meanwhile, Ellie vainly hopes that she can fix their relationship if she can just be nice enough to Chris. It's a bit painful to watch her take the very tentative first step towards saying screw Confucius and cutting her sister off over the course of the book.
An absolutely effervescent gem of worldbuilding where the universe is run by pipes that go gloop gloop and quantum physics is a bug fix installed last century, shot through with a deeply felt and very messy family drama that makes the arcane question of saving the world much more immediate. The book ends with obvious hooks for a sequel, and I'm very excited to see where Chu takes this series next. Recommended.
September 30, 2025
WARNING: This book will make you hungry, and also maybe a little confused but mostly hungry!
Ellie is a maintainer, responsible for preserving the delicate infrastructure that enforces the rules of her universe. Unfortunately, rival forces are at work, her mother is dying, and her sister is...a complicated individual. When her cousin Daniel finds a particularly unusual discrepancy, Ellie's issues with her family take on a new danger, and all that's at stake is the structure of the universe.
It's always been a little weird to me how often fiction glorifies sibling relationships, particularly between sisters, so I find myself drawn to the few books that feature siblings at their most ruthless (Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake comes to mind). Chris being super messed up makes their dynamic more interesting, because yes Chris is the person who knows Ellie best but that also enables her to hurt Ellie the worst. Daniel, Belt, and Adhi were all delightful, super colorful characters as well. It's basically impossible to review to book without specifically shouting out the world-building, most of which definitely went over my head but it's just gorgeous and really unique feeling.
I'm all for books just boldly doing something wildly different, but it's a big plus that this book happens to also be really good and succeeds in what it's doing (though what exactly that is, I couldn't tell you)!
Thank you to John Chu and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Pre-review: Another gift from Tor, you guys are the loml <3333
Ellie is a maintainer, responsible for preserving the delicate infrastructure that enforces the rules of her universe. Unfortunately, rival forces are at work, her mother is dying, and her sister is...a complicated individual. When her cousin Daniel finds a particularly unusual discrepancy, Ellie's issues with her family take on a new danger, and all that's at stake is the structure of the universe.
It's always been a little weird to me how often fiction glorifies sibling relationships, particularly between sisters, so I find myself drawn to the few books that feature siblings at their most ruthless (Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake comes to mind). Chris being super messed up makes their dynamic more interesting, because yes Chris is the person who knows Ellie best but that also enables her to hurt Ellie the worst. Daniel, Belt, and Adhi were all delightful, super colorful characters as well. It's basically impossible to review to book without specifically shouting out the world-building, most of which definitely went over my head but it's just gorgeous and really unique feeling.
I'm all for books just boldly doing something wildly different, but it's a big plus that this book happens to also be really good and succeeds in what it's doing (though what exactly that is, I couldn't tell you)!
Thank you to John Chu and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Pre-review: Another gift from Tor, you guys are the loml <3333
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is the exhilarating science fiction debut from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning short fiction author John Chu, blending quantum physics, multiverse mechanics, and family drama into a singular, quirky narrative. The novel follows Ellie, a maintainer in charge of the Skunkworks, the hidden machinery that upholds the physics of her universe and others, as destabilizing forces threaten cosmic stability. At the same time she navigates the heartbreak of her comatose mother and a toxic, complicated relationship with her sister Chris, and teams up with her cousin Daniel to confront secrets that could determine both the fate of reality and her own fractured family ties. The book is known for imaginative worldbuilding and vibrant, mouth-watering food imagery woven with generational trauma and cosmic stakes.
What struck me was how human and tangible the emotional core felt even amid dizzying multiverse physics: Ellie’s guilt, grief, and longing for belonging made every strange quantum twist feel deeply personal, and the playful moments, especially the vivid Chinese food scenes and Daniel’s warmth grounded the vast science fiction in memorable, sensory detail. At times, the complex mechanics and sprawling concepts pulled me slightly out of the moment, but the novel’s tender exploration of family, identity, and what keeps worlds (literal and emotional) intact stayed with me long after I finished.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Because it is a boldly imaginative multiverse adventure rooted in emotional depth and unforgettable character moments.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is the exhilarating science fiction debut from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning short fiction author John Chu, blending quantum physics, multiverse mechanics, and family drama into a singular, quirky narrative. The novel follows Ellie, a maintainer in charge of the Skunkworks, the hidden machinery that upholds the physics of her universe and others, as destabilizing forces threaten cosmic stability. At the same time she navigates the heartbreak of her comatose mother and a toxic, complicated relationship with her sister Chris, and teams up with her cousin Daniel to confront secrets that could determine both the fate of reality and her own fractured family ties. The book is known for imaginative worldbuilding and vibrant, mouth-watering food imagery woven with generational trauma and cosmic stakes.
What struck me was how human and tangible the emotional core felt even amid dizzying multiverse physics: Ellie’s guilt, grief, and longing for belonging made every strange quantum twist feel deeply personal, and the playful moments, especially the vivid Chinese food scenes and Daniel’s warmth grounded the vast science fiction in memorable, sensory detail. At times, the complex mechanics and sprawling concepts pulled me slightly out of the moment, but the novel’s tender exploration of family, identity, and what keeps worlds (literal and emotional) intact stayed with me long after I finished.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Because it is a boldly imaginative multiverse adventure rooted in emotional depth and unforgettable character moments.
October 30, 2025
This is more like a 3.5 rounded up for the fun I had with it. This is a messy book though, so please know that before diving in sight unseen. My husband asked me what this book was about when we were standing in line for something, so I took a crack at summarizing it for him. Here's my best attempt:
So, there's an underlying system behind everything called the Skunkworks. And when I mean everything, I mean really everything, for this universe. It also connects with other universes, to further complicate things. Ellie is one of the people tasked with keeping the Skunkworks going, along with her cousin Daniel. Ellie's mother is dying though, and Daniel's keen sense of the Skunkworks obligates him to show Ellie that a strange setup was created to keep her mother alive (barely, in pain). This setup is also impacting the Skunkworks in other, less obvious ways, creating bugs and glitches in the system that manifest themselves as issues with universal physics. Ellie chooses to dismantle this system, alienating her from her sister Chris, her family, and other maintainers of the Skunkworks in the process. Ellie wants to make things right with Daniel's help, but it involves digging around to discover who set up the system in the first place and uncovering uncomfortable family truths in the process.
So, right off the bat, I want to say that I had a lot of fun with this book. Ellie and Daniel are great together (as cousins, weirdos), and their interplay made up most of my enjoyment of this book. Alongside their antics is the rest of the book though, and I had problems with it. I couldn't figure out if I'm too dumb for whatever science the author was presenting here, or if that's what the author was counting on so I wouldn't ask too many questions. Because there's a lot of at least science-adjacent terminology and situations here, and I came out the other side not entirely sure if I grasped what I had just read.
I also found Ellie and Chris's relationship problematic at best, but maybe that was the point. Ellie's blinders regarding Chris are astronomically large, and I was frustrated at several points of the book where Daniel and others would try and get her to confront the fact that Chris was not a good person, and Ellie would refuse. By the end of the book I think a resolution was supposed to happen, but even that felt unfinished, leaving me unsatisfied with things as they stood.
But in spite of the glaring flaws above, I really did enjoy reading this book. I'm not sure I can point to why, but I did. There's a lot of familial guilt to unpack here, and Daniel makes a good foil to Ellie, and I enjoyed them together.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eCopy in exchange for an honest review.
So, there's an underlying system behind everything called the Skunkworks. And when I mean everything, I mean really everything, for this universe. It also connects with other universes, to further complicate things. Ellie is one of the people tasked with keeping the Skunkworks going, along with her cousin Daniel. Ellie's mother is dying though, and Daniel's keen sense of the Skunkworks obligates him to show Ellie that a strange setup was created to keep her mother alive (barely, in pain). This setup is also impacting the Skunkworks in other, less obvious ways, creating bugs and glitches in the system that manifest themselves as issues with universal physics. Ellie chooses to dismantle this system, alienating her from her sister Chris, her family, and other maintainers of the Skunkworks in the process. Ellie wants to make things right with Daniel's help, but it involves digging around to discover who set up the system in the first place and uncovering uncomfortable family truths in the process.
So, right off the bat, I want to say that I had a lot of fun with this book. Ellie and Daniel are great together (as cousins, weirdos), and their interplay made up most of my enjoyment of this book. Alongside their antics is the rest of the book though, and I had problems with it. I couldn't figure out if I'm too dumb for whatever science the author was presenting here, or if that's what the author was counting on so I wouldn't ask too many questions. Because there's a lot of at least science-adjacent terminology and situations here, and I came out the other side not entirely sure if I grasped what I had just read.
I also found Ellie and Chris's relationship problematic at best, but maybe that was the point. Ellie's blinders regarding Chris are astronomically large, and I was frustrated at several points of the book where Daniel and others would try and get her to confront the fact that Chris was not a good person, and Ellie would refuse. By the end of the book I think a resolution was supposed to happen, but even that felt unfinished, leaving me unsatisfied with things as they stood.
But in spite of the glaring flaws above, I really did enjoy reading this book. I'm not sure I can point to why, but I did. There's a lot of familial guilt to unpack here, and Daniel makes a good foil to Ellie, and I enjoyed them together.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eCopy in exchange for an honest review.
February 18, 2026
3.5 stars
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is one of those big-idea sci-fi novels that feels both wildly imaginative and slightly unruly at the same time.
If you’re the kind of reader who can let complex fictional science and multiverse mechanics wash over you without needing to fully diagram them, this could be a really fun ride. If you need the physics to lock cleanly into place in your mind, you may find yourself fighting the current.
The premise is genuinely compelling — fractured universes, a shadowy engineering cabal, a device that keeps a comatose mother alive while destabilizing reality itself. But beneath the unhinged physics is a much more grounded story about grief, generational trauma, cultural identity, sibling strain, sacrifice, and the complicated inheritance of family. Those emotional undercurrents are where the novel feels most confident.
At times, though, the execution felt chaotic and imbalanced. The vision is there — ambitious, multi-faceted, thoughtful — but the structure could have used tightening. Some of the jagged corners might have benefited from a steadier editorial hand, smoothing the pacing and clarifying the mechanics so the emotional stakes could shine more consistently.
Messy? Yes. But also earnest and imaginative. I didn’t love it, but I’m glad I read it — and I’m curious to see what Chu does next.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is one of those big-idea sci-fi novels that feels both wildly imaginative and slightly unruly at the same time.
If you’re the kind of reader who can let complex fictional science and multiverse mechanics wash over you without needing to fully diagram them, this could be a really fun ride. If you need the physics to lock cleanly into place in your mind, you may find yourself fighting the current.
The premise is genuinely compelling — fractured universes, a shadowy engineering cabal, a device that keeps a comatose mother alive while destabilizing reality itself. But beneath the unhinged physics is a much more grounded story about grief, generational trauma, cultural identity, sibling strain, sacrifice, and the complicated inheritance of family. Those emotional undercurrents are where the novel feels most confident.
At times, though, the execution felt chaotic and imbalanced. The vision is there — ambitious, multi-faceted, thoughtful — but the structure could have used tightening. Some of the jagged corners might have benefited from a steadier editorial hand, smoothing the pacing and clarifying the mechanics so the emotional stakes could shine more consistently.
Messy? Yes. But also earnest and imaginative. I didn’t love it, but I’m glad I read it — and I’m curious to see what Chu does next.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
February 22, 2026
The Subtle Art of Folding is, at its heart, a fun character story.
Note: My review is based on the audiobook ARC/ALC, so please excuse any character names that may be spelled incorrectly.
Meet Ellie, a sweetheart of an engineer. Ellie has the spunk and competence of Constance Verity, and the ability to understand other people's true nature of a potato. Don't you worry, Ellie, you can change them! She will use the power of delusion to make things better.
Ellie's main source of drama, outside the big conspiracies and plots in the story, which are surprisingly good, is the heaping pile of garbage that is her sister, Chris. This sister would make a great personal assistant at a large company, given her constant scheming and backstabbing.
Alongside Ellie is her mountain-of-a-cousin, Daniel, who is as brilliant as he is intimidating. And then Daniel's boyfriend, who pops in as the voice of reason.
The multiverse aspect changes from unexplained science (e.g., fantasy) to science through the book. Instead of front-loading the system, the author sprinkles details in. Right up until the end, a piece that I had been pondering got explained. At first, I suspected we had hand-wavium going on, where the theoretical science is waved away like magic. But, in this book's defense, much more was explained as it went along.
The book has a solid amount of plotting to keep an epic fantasy lover engaged, with enough time travel/multiverse elements to draw in many more readers.
An enjoyable read.
4 stars. Was it perfect? No. Was it worth reading? Absolutely.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of The Subtle Art of Folding Space in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Note: My review is based on the audiobook ARC/ALC, so please excuse any character names that may be spelled incorrectly.
Meet Ellie, a sweetheart of an engineer. Ellie has the spunk and competence of Constance Verity, and the ability to understand other people's true nature of a potato. Don't you worry, Ellie, you can change them! She will use the power of delusion to make things better.
Ellie's main source of drama, outside the big conspiracies and plots in the story, which are surprisingly good, is the heaping pile of garbage that is her sister, Chris. This sister would make a great personal assistant at a large company, given her constant scheming and backstabbing.
Alongside Ellie is her mountain-of-a-cousin, Daniel, who is as brilliant as he is intimidating. And then Daniel's boyfriend, who pops in as the voice of reason.
The multiverse aspect changes from unexplained science (e.g., fantasy) to science through the book. Instead of front-loading the system, the author sprinkles details in. Right up until the end, a piece that I had been pondering got explained. At first, I suspected we had hand-wavium going on, where the theoretical science is waved away like magic. But, in this book's defense, much more was explained as it went along.
The book has a solid amount of plotting to keep an epic fantasy lover engaged, with enough time travel/multiverse elements to draw in many more readers.
An enjoyable read.
4 stars. Was it perfect? No. Was it worth reading? Absolutely.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of The Subtle Art of Folding Space in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
•𝐀𝐋𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝘄•
[The Subtle Art of Folding Space]
🔥 Release Date: April 7th, 2026 🔥
Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!
The multiverse, skunkworks, and universe folding science are clever, and the absurd moments mostly work.
That said, I found myself zoning out. Even with all the ideas flying around, it felt slow, and a few parts were a little confusing. I really wanted to love it, but I was mostly just trying to keep up.
Katharine Chin’s narration is a saving grace. She brings every character to life and makes even the messy sections easier to follow.
Chaotic and creative, but ultimately more frustrating than fun for me.
[The Subtle Art of Folding Space]
🔥 Release Date: April 7th, 2026 🔥
Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!
The multiverse, skunkworks, and universe folding science are clever, and the absurd moments mostly work.
That said, I found myself zoning out. Even with all the ideas flying around, it felt slow, and a few parts were a little confusing. I really wanted to love it, but I was mostly just trying to keep up.
Katharine Chin’s narration is a saving grace. She brings every character to life and makes even the messy sections easier to follow.
Chaotic and creative, but ultimately more frustrating than fun for me.
Want to read
June 19, 2025Jo Walton gives this TBP April 2026 book pretty high marks here. I've liked his shorts along these lines, so I'll plan to read this one when the library gets a copy, about a year from now.
Her review is at https://reactormag.com/jo-waltons-rea...
Her review is at https://reactormag.com/jo-waltons-rea...
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
this was so good. while I didn't like the writing style (it was a little dry), the concept was so good. I loved the idea of people who can travel to alternative dimensions and repairing the universe while also navigating family dynamics. and that's the heart of this story. it's sacrifices and grief and learning to let go. *3.5
November 5, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for sending me a free copy for review.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu is a science fiction adventure featuring a nasty sibling rivalry and the best descriptions of food I’ve read this year.
The skunkworks are a system of data and pipes that maintain the physics of every possible universe. Ellie and her are trained to keep the skunkworks operating correctly. Daniel, Ellie’s cousin, discovers a major inconsistency in the skunkworks. They work together to repair the irregularity that may be the work of covert skunkworks engineers. At the same time Ellie is dealing with her mom being in a coma and the fractured relationship with her sister Chris.
The character work in Chu’s story is strong. Ellie’s sister Chris is unhinged. The sisters’ relationship is toxic and complex. My favorite scenes in the novel feature both of them. The complex family dynamics blended with a fantastical adventure reminds me of the fantastic film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.
Chu includes many mouth-watering descriptions of Chinese food. This is easily the best food writing I’ve come across this year. Food plays a major role in Daniel’s verifying work in the skunkworks. The way Daniel’s culture merges with his work is charming.
I did struggle to follow the mechanics of the skunkworks. The science fiction portion of the book was hard to follow and at times it felt like the skunkworks plot didn’t connect to the strong themes of the story.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu is a science fiction adventure featuring a nasty sibling rivalry and the best descriptions of food I’ve read this year.
The skunkworks are a system of data and pipes that maintain the physics of every possible universe. Ellie and her are trained to keep the skunkworks operating correctly. Daniel, Ellie’s cousin, discovers a major inconsistency in the skunkworks. They work together to repair the irregularity that may be the work of covert skunkworks engineers. At the same time Ellie is dealing with her mom being in a coma and the fractured relationship with her sister Chris.
The character work in Chu’s story is strong. Ellie’s sister Chris is unhinged. The sisters’ relationship is toxic and complex. My favorite scenes in the novel feature both of them. The complex family dynamics blended with a fantastical adventure reminds me of the fantastic film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.
Chu includes many mouth-watering descriptions of Chinese food. This is easily the best food writing I’ve come across this year. Food plays a major role in Daniel’s verifying work in the skunkworks. The way Daniel’s culture merges with his work is charming.
I did struggle to follow the mechanics of the skunkworks. The science fiction portion of the book was hard to follow and at times it felt like the skunkworks plot didn’t connect to the strong themes of the story.
Want to read
May 7, 2025science fiction on unhinged physics and generational trauma… yes
Read
January 6, 2026This was unfortunately a DNF for me, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief and get into the story.
I loved the concept of a group of people having to maintain the laws of the universe, but it feels like the worldbuilding is lacking. Each universe is part of a nested chain of universes, with the underlying machinery (or "skunkworks" - a term that's a bit overused here) of that universe present in the adjacent one.
It's a trippy concept, but the ramifications of the premise seem to be unexplored. It's mentioned that these parallel universes, and their underlying mechanisms, are common knowledge. However, the world the characters live in seems not too different from our own. Parallel worlds are confirmed here! Our universe has a definitive structure and even a blueprint-how does this affect how people see the world?
The main characters, Ellie and Daniel, work for an organization that maintains the universe, but this is also treated rather casually. Ellie's coworkers know, as does Daniel's boyfriend. If people know that the universe can be altered, wouldn't there constantly be attempts to change things for personal or political gain?
The focus of the story seems to be more on the family drama than the fantastic premise, which is fine, but I couldn't stop thinking about my problems with the science-fiction portions.
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
I loved the concept of a group of people having to maintain the laws of the universe, but it feels like the worldbuilding is lacking. Each universe is part of a nested chain of universes, with the underlying machinery (or "skunkworks" - a term that's a bit overused here) of that universe present in the adjacent one.
It's a trippy concept, but the ramifications of the premise seem to be unexplored. It's mentioned that these parallel universes, and their underlying mechanisms, are common knowledge. However, the world the characters live in seems not too different from our own. Parallel worlds are confirmed here! Our universe has a definitive structure and even a blueprint-how does this affect how people see the world?
The main characters, Ellie and Daniel, work for an organization that maintains the universe, but this is also treated rather casually. Ellie's coworkers know, as does Daniel's boyfriend. If people know that the universe can be altered, wouldn't there constantly be attempts to change things for personal or political gain?
The focus of the story seems to be more on the family drama than the fantastic premise, which is fine, but I couldn't stop thinking about my problems with the science-fiction portions.
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I've always thought most good science fiction has at least some mystery in it. That's the case here, and while the science fiction concepts are intriguing, there's also mystery about what's really happening and why Ellie has such an odd family dynamic.
Ellie doesn't even get the correct information about her mother's service when she dies and nobody believes her that her sister keeps trying to kill her. What is really holding the world together and how much influence can people have?
This was a quick audiobook and the narration set the right tone to keep things interesting. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook
Ellie doesn't even get the correct information about her mother's service when she dies and nobody believes her that her sister keeps trying to kill her. What is really holding the world together and how much influence can people have?
This was a quick audiobook and the narration set the right tone to keep things interesting. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook
November 8, 2025
3.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC!
I’ll be honest, parts of this book were difficult for me to read. The writing was dry & some of the world building was difficult for me to understand. I was also having a hard time with the POV but once I finally adjusted, I started to enjoy the story. I thought the relationship between Ellie & Chris was very realistic, & the author did a good job showcasing what it’s like to care for an ailing parent. I felt myself relating to Ellie & how she felt desperate to help to take some of the weight off her sister’s shoulders. I also really liked Daniel & the brotherly role he played for Ellie.
Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC!
I’ll be honest, parts of this book were difficult for me to read. The writing was dry & some of the world building was difficult for me to understand. I was also having a hard time with the POV but once I finally adjusted, I started to enjoy the story. I thought the relationship between Ellie & Chris was very realistic, & the author did a good job showcasing what it’s like to care for an ailing parent. I felt myself relating to Ellie & how she felt desperate to help to take some of the weight off her sister’s shoulders. I also really liked Daniel & the brotherly role he played for Ellie.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Inspired by Everything Everywhere All at Once, John Chu’s The Subtle Art of Folding Space tries to juggle a family drama across a multiversal setting filled with a secret society of caretakers that maintain the integrity of each universe. Ambitious in its premise, this novel struggles to bring together the laws of its own multiverse with the central character drama and plot, miring itself in the bureaucracy of its own rules and authority.
Chu attempts to bring order to the naturally entropic nature of the universe by creating strict guidelines for its builders, maintainers, and verifiers to follow; likening each universe to a mechanical creation that under the hood contains deep and complex skunkworks that maintain the physics and stability of each universe. While unique in its premise, very little time is spent actually exploring and having characters interact with the skunkworks of the different universes and their laws of physics, instead focusing on a family drama that at its heart is a story about grief, filial piety, and expectation.
It would be unfair to compare this work to EEAAO, but I couldn’t help but notice the similarities of the conflict between Ellie and her sister Chris to Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn Quan, and Stephanie’s Hsu’s Joy Wang. Although I could feel the tension between Ellie and Chris, the limited interactions between the two are written with such an impersonal nature that the payoff and climax at the end of the novel felt forced and rushed. I’m scratching my head wondering why so little time in the novel was spent with Chris and Ellie actually interacting with one another - with the emotional backstory being on grief and unreciprocated love of a mother to a daughter being compelling enough - this plot was woefully underdeveloped.
I felt that Chu struggled with ensuring that both his sci-fi setting and emotional plot were served equally by his writing, but in the process of trying to accommodate both neither really gets a chance to be developed and shine. Details on how the skunkworks operates and the different universes and the impact of tampering with the physics of each are sparse and are exposition dumped by one-off characters. There doesn’t seem to be a payoff or a resolution to addressing the main conflict because as a reader, I wasn’t entirely sure what the consequences even were if the rules of a universe were re-written by rogue agents.
While I did like Daniel as a character, I think Chu went overboard with the amount of times he mentioned via joke or metaphor how big and awkward he is. I get it, it’s a running gag, but after the 10th different permutation of the same joke, the writing gets trite and tired really quickly. There’s unfortunately very little plot action in this novel and instead our duo protagonists just bounce between different authority figures where they explain things and point them to the next character who then explains things to them. This deprives the novel of its momentum and also deprives Daniel and Ellie of their agency as characters. Instead of forging their own path, they’re instead put on guide rails to follow for the majority of the novel.
While the cover art of the book is gorgeous and initially drew me to the book, very little explanation or relevance is spent on the ability to fold matter, information and space into other objects which primarily are dim sum dishes. While they are beautifully and mouthwateringly described, they are mostly sideshows and distractions to what’s actually going on in the novel.
It’s frustrating to me because the bones of this book are quite good. Chu has some interesting concepts of speculative science fiction but ultimately couldn’t decide what type of story he wanted to write.
Thank you Macmillan Audio for providing this Audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Chu attempts to bring order to the naturally entropic nature of the universe by creating strict guidelines for its builders, maintainers, and verifiers to follow; likening each universe to a mechanical creation that under the hood contains deep and complex skunkworks that maintain the physics and stability of each universe. While unique in its premise, very little time is spent actually exploring and having characters interact with the skunkworks of the different universes and their laws of physics, instead focusing on a family drama that at its heart is a story about grief, filial piety, and expectation.
It would be unfair to compare this work to EEAAO, but I couldn’t help but notice the similarities of the conflict between Ellie and her sister Chris to Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn Quan, and Stephanie’s Hsu’s Joy Wang. Although I could feel the tension between Ellie and Chris, the limited interactions between the two are written with such an impersonal nature that the payoff and climax at the end of the novel felt forced and rushed. I’m scratching my head wondering why so little time in the novel was spent with Chris and Ellie actually interacting with one another - with the emotional backstory being on grief and unreciprocated love of a mother to a daughter being compelling enough - this plot was woefully underdeveloped.
I felt that Chu struggled with ensuring that both his sci-fi setting and emotional plot were served equally by his writing, but in the process of trying to accommodate both neither really gets a chance to be developed and shine. Details on how the skunkworks operates and the different universes and the impact of tampering with the physics of each are sparse and are exposition dumped by one-off characters. There doesn’t seem to be a payoff or a resolution to addressing the main conflict because as a reader, I wasn’t entirely sure what the consequences even were if the rules of a universe were re-written by rogue agents.
While I did like Daniel as a character, I think Chu went overboard with the amount of times he mentioned via joke or metaphor how big and awkward he is. I get it, it’s a running gag, but after the 10th different permutation of the same joke, the writing gets trite and tired really quickly. There’s unfortunately very little plot action in this novel and instead our duo protagonists just bounce between different authority figures where they explain things and point them to the next character who then explains things to them. This deprives the novel of its momentum and also deprives Daniel and Ellie of their agency as characters. Instead of forging their own path, they’re instead put on guide rails to follow for the majority of the novel.
While the cover art of the book is gorgeous and initially drew me to the book, very little explanation or relevance is spent on the ability to fold matter, information and space into other objects which primarily are dim sum dishes. While they are beautifully and mouthwateringly described, they are mostly sideshows and distractions to what’s actually going on in the novel.
It’s frustrating to me because the bones of this book are quite good. Chu has some interesting concepts of speculative science fiction but ultimately couldn’t decide what type of story he wanted to write.
Thank you Macmillan Audio for providing this Audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
2.5 stars, and DNFed @ 47%. A confusing amalgam of a speculative fiction novel whose many threads did not integrate well together, leading to an unsatisfying read.
I was very much up for the SUBTLE ART’s premise: that of our world being made up of nested “universes,” each of which is controlled by convoluted “backstage” mechanics that require the expertise of a select group of workers to maintain, and which can affect one another if something goes wrong or is altered in one universe. Ellie and Daniel are two such workers, whose everyday maintenance job gets upended when Ellie’s mother’s death reveals a secret cabal bent on altering their universe’s “skunkworks.”
That said, this book desperately needed more thorough worldbuilding. Chu never thoroughly explains how the universes and the skunkworks work; as a result, we stumble through increasingly more confusing scenes of new “magical” elements related to skunkwork maintenance that we are just supposed to accept at face value.
For instance, the maintenance workers regularly make itty bitty intricate models of the skunkworks appear out of thin air, which they can manipulate in order to find out what the problem is… but how are they able to conjure up such a model without being able to fully see or ascertain the extent of the actual skunkworks?
Elsewhere, Daniel can take literal mental pictures of the skunkworks problem, and somehow transform that data into food that materializes out of nowhere, and he somehow diagnoses the problem by eating the food data. HUH? Meanwhile, Ellie has the ability to, um, shrink herself down and to magick her way into the literal pipes of the skunkworks, and in doing so (without ever getting lost or dirty, mind you) understands or clears up the problem. I don’t understand how any of it works, and thus I am unable to suspend my disbelief to fall into the magic of the story.
Then there’s the “generational family trauma” storyline. In short, it’s also underdeveloped. Ellie’s older sister, Chris, apparently holds a deadly grudge against Ellie for unclear reasons related to the way in which they were brought up, and as a result arranges assassination attempts on Ellie about once a week/month. Again: HUH?? It’s an outrageous premise, but that would have been okay had we slowly been given more of Chris’ presence on-page, as well as their familial backstory… but I read until almost the halfway point and Chris has barely appeared in any scenes, let alone had any meaningful lines of dialogue. Again, it left me wanting, unable to understand the characters’ motivations for their actions, and thus unable to feel moved by them.
Lastly, the narration paints an increasingly odd dynamic between Daniel and Ellie that bothered me the more it appeared. Ellie and Daniel are cousins, and Ellie is the close third-person narrator. And yet, for some reason, Daniel’s physical appearance, clothing, and movements are described with the type of language more commonly found in romances. I couldn’t understand why the narration spent so much time describing Daniel’s broad shoulders and anime-like bigness while not giving the same attention to Ellie, essentially rendering her an NPC.
Unfortunately, THE SUBTLE ART OF FOLDING SPACE didn’t end up working for me. Better editing to untangle the interwoven storylines, flesh out the worldbuilding and backstory, and pare down the odd hyperfixation on Daniel’s appearance would have made this a tighter tale.
2.5 stars, and DNFed @ 47%. A confusing amalgam of a speculative fiction novel whose many threads did not integrate well together, leading to an unsatisfying read.
I was very much up for the SUBTLE ART’s premise: that of our world being made up of nested “universes,” each of which is controlled by convoluted “backstage” mechanics that require the expertise of a select group of workers to maintain, and which can affect one another if something goes wrong or is altered in one universe. Ellie and Daniel are two such workers, whose everyday maintenance job gets upended when Ellie’s mother’s death reveals a secret cabal bent on altering their universe’s “skunkworks.”
That said, this book desperately needed more thorough worldbuilding. Chu never thoroughly explains how the universes and the skunkworks work; as a result, we stumble through increasingly more confusing scenes of new “magical” elements related to skunkwork maintenance that we are just supposed to accept at face value.
For instance, the maintenance workers regularly make itty bitty intricate models of the skunkworks appear out of thin air, which they can manipulate in order to find out what the problem is… but how are they able to conjure up such a model without being able to fully see or ascertain the extent of the actual skunkworks?
Elsewhere, Daniel can take literal mental pictures of the skunkworks problem, and somehow transform that data into food that materializes out of nowhere, and he somehow diagnoses the problem by eating the food data. HUH? Meanwhile, Ellie has the ability to, um, shrink herself down and to magick her way into the literal pipes of the skunkworks, and in doing so (without ever getting lost or dirty, mind you) understands or clears up the problem. I don’t understand how any of it works, and thus I am unable to suspend my disbelief to fall into the magic of the story.
Then there’s the “generational family trauma” storyline. In short, it’s also underdeveloped. Ellie’s older sister, Chris, apparently holds a deadly grudge against Ellie for unclear reasons related to the way in which they were brought up, and as a result arranges assassination attempts on Ellie about once a week/month. Again: HUH?? It’s an outrageous premise, but that would have been okay had we slowly been given more of Chris’ presence on-page, as well as their familial backstory… but I read until almost the halfway point and Chris has barely appeared in any scenes, let alone had any meaningful lines of dialogue. Again, it left me wanting, unable to understand the characters’ motivations for their actions, and thus unable to feel moved by them.
Lastly, the narration paints an increasingly odd dynamic between Daniel and Ellie that bothered me the more it appeared. Ellie and Daniel are cousins, and Ellie is the close third-person narrator. And yet, for some reason, Daniel’s physical appearance, clothing, and movements are described with the type of language more commonly found in romances. I couldn’t understand why the narration spent so much time describing Daniel’s broad shoulders and anime-like bigness while not giving the same attention to Ellie, essentially rendering her an NPC.
Unfortunately, THE SUBTLE ART OF FOLDING SPACE didn’t end up working for me. Better editing to untangle the interwoven storylines, flesh out the worldbuilding and backstory, and pare down the odd hyperfixation on Daniel’s appearance would have made this a tighter tale.
February 24, 2026
This book was....a lot for me. I would say I spent about 77% of this book confused and maybe the last 20% following along, albeit reluctantly because, again, confusion. That last 3% I actually understood what was happening, which is a win!
In summary: Ellie and Daniel are cousins with a close relationship. They both work in the skunkworks. Ellie's sister Chris is a psychopathic gaslighter and abuser. Daniel's gay and in a relationship with a Broadway-type performer named Belt. Daniel's mentor Ahdi is super smart and clever and understands basically everything that's going wrong and how to fix it. The end.
To me, TSAoFS began in media res, which normally isn't an issue. I enjoy jumping right into some action! However, the story began in media res....and it never caught us readers up. No terms were ever explained, and maybe it's completely irrational of me, but I didn't get why the behind-the-scene machinery and physics controlling the universe were called skunkworks and that really pissed me off. SKUNKworks? What an awful name. Aside from considering the obvious (were there skunks present? was the space black and white? did it smell?) I had no idea why this name came to be. This did in fact make me irrationally angry. I was also never entirely clear on what verifiers and maintainers did, aside from the self-explanatory nature of the names.
To me, Daniel was the most interesting character. He was large and apparently intimidating to everyone but Ellie, and he was also extremely intelligent. I also definitely got some autistic vibes from him, although I hate to ascribe any sort of diagnoses to a character when it's not perfectly clear that they are in fact neurotypical. Honestly, and this will probably sound really weird but it's how I felt, I thought that the book would've worked a little better if Daniel and Ellie were in a romantic relationship. Obviously this could not happen (and thank god) because they're cousins....not to mention Daniel's into men. But these two characters spend the majority of the book together, and they have such a close, intimate relationship where they understand each other really well, to the point where a simple look or gesture will inform the other what they're thinking. There were also some moments throughout the book where I thought, "Aw...this would've hit harder if they were romantically involved." I just got those vibes occasionally, although, again, they were cousins, so....ew.
The main issue with this book is that it causes boundless confusion. Sometimes that's okay because a book can still be enjoyable due to characters, relationships, setting elements, subplots. For me, the confusion meant that my enjoyment was dead on arrival. I can't enjoy a story when I'm spending most of it going "huh????" I considered DNF-ing a few times, but at that point I was pretty far into the book, and I also held a vague curiosity for how things would end with Ellie's sister, so I persevered.
In summary: Ellie and Daniel are cousins with a close relationship. They both work in the skunkworks. Ellie's sister Chris is a psychopathic gaslighter and abuser. Daniel's gay and in a relationship with a Broadway-type performer named Belt. Daniel's mentor Ahdi is super smart and clever and understands basically everything that's going wrong and how to fix it. The end.
To me, TSAoFS began in media res, which normally isn't an issue. I enjoy jumping right into some action! However, the story began in media res....and it never caught us readers up. No terms were ever explained, and maybe it's completely irrational of me, but I didn't get why the behind-the-scene machinery and physics controlling the universe were called skunkworks and that really pissed me off. SKUNKworks? What an awful name. Aside from considering the obvious (were there skunks present? was the space black and white? did it smell?) I had no idea why this name came to be. This did in fact make me irrationally angry. I was also never entirely clear on what verifiers and maintainers did, aside from the self-explanatory nature of the names.
To me, Daniel was the most interesting character. He was large and apparently intimidating to everyone but Ellie, and he was also extremely intelligent. I also definitely got some autistic vibes from him, although I hate to ascribe any sort of diagnoses to a character when it's not perfectly clear that they are in fact neurotypical. Honestly, and this will probably sound really weird but it's how I felt, I thought that the book would've worked a little better if Daniel and Ellie were in a romantic relationship. Obviously this could not happen (and thank god) because they're cousins....not to mention Daniel's into men. But these two characters spend the majority of the book together, and they have such a close, intimate relationship where they understand each other really well, to the point where a simple look or gesture will inform the other what they're thinking. There were also some moments throughout the book where I thought, "Aw...this would've hit harder if they were romantically involved." I just got those vibes occasionally, although, again, they were cousins, so....ew.
The main issue with this book is that it causes boundless confusion. Sometimes that's okay because a book can still be enjoyable due to characters, relationships, setting elements, subplots. For me, the confusion meant that my enjoyment was dead on arrival. I can't enjoy a story when I'm spending most of it going "huh????" I considered DNF-ing a few times, but at that point I was pretty far into the book, and I also held a vague curiosity for how things would end with Ellie's sister, so I persevered.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Disclosure Statement: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. My thoughts and opinions are entirely my own and have not been influenced by the publisher or the author in any way.
Don't be fooled by this novel's descriptor: this book isn't really about physics in any meaningful capacity.
I mean, yes, the main characters deal a lot with the fabric of physics in constructing a universe, but it's not a real estimation of physics any more than it is about cause and effect, multiple universes via different dimensions, probability and quantum mechanics, but it's all done in a way that feels less and less like literal science and more and more like fantastical escapism. The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a whole lot quieter than folding dimensions and moving around in them.
And for a book that bosts a lot of plot around the inner workings of a universe, its best beats aren't about big stakes at all. It's about how we confront and handle interpersonal conflict, how we take root in grief, and about what millions or billions of permutations might lead to being the very people we are.
And understanding the inner workings of the universe through its elaborate pipe system (called skunkworks) that feeds through data and shapes it into reality is relatively easy, understanding the whole scope of a human life, of love and loss and self-image and envy and relationships, is really, really fucking hard.
That's what I take away from The Subtle Art of Folding Space. The book features body-hopping assassins and space-folding physicists, bodybuilding nerds and car bomb dismantling, but these are the least consequential parts of the book. Because in the end, the book is really about coming to terms with the fact that things are the way they are and you don't have a right to change the fabric of the universe to fit your prerogative. And learning to live in a world that is fundamentally, unchangeably unfair, and that it isn't your job to make it less unfair just for you is the entire point of grace and growth.
I'll be honest, I sometimes had a very hard time sourcing through the shape of this book's argument, its central metaphor, but I think it is very fancifully saying something essentially simple: stop trying to cheat your path to self-benefit. The only way we can truly prosper is by building a system together and agreeing to its function.
Don't be fooled by this novel's descriptor: this book isn't really about physics in any meaningful capacity.
I mean, yes, the main characters deal a lot with the fabric of physics in constructing a universe, but it's not a real estimation of physics any more than it is about cause and effect, multiple universes via different dimensions, probability and quantum mechanics, but it's all done in a way that feels less and less like literal science and more and more like fantastical escapism. The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a whole lot quieter than folding dimensions and moving around in them.
And for a book that bosts a lot of plot around the inner workings of a universe, its best beats aren't about big stakes at all. It's about how we confront and handle interpersonal conflict, how we take root in grief, and about what millions or billions of permutations might lead to being the very people we are.
And understanding the inner workings of the universe through its elaborate pipe system (called skunkworks) that feeds through data and shapes it into reality is relatively easy, understanding the whole scope of a human life, of love and loss and self-image and envy and relationships, is really, really fucking hard.
That's what I take away from The Subtle Art of Folding Space. The book features body-hopping assassins and space-folding physicists, bodybuilding nerds and car bomb dismantling, but these are the least consequential parts of the book. Because in the end, the book is really about coming to terms with the fact that things are the way they are and you don't have a right to change the fabric of the universe to fit your prerogative. And learning to live in a world that is fundamentally, unchangeably unfair, and that it isn't your job to make it less unfair just for you is the entire point of grace and growth.
I'll be honest, I sometimes had a very hard time sourcing through the shape of this book's argument, its central metaphor, but I think it is very fancifully saying something essentially simple: stop trying to cheat your path to self-benefit. The only way we can truly prosper is by building a system together and agreeing to its function.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Ellie may step onto the red line in Cambridge, but she steps off into a multiverse, governed by different laws of physics. The skunkworks--which keeps the laws of physics running smoothly--is under threat, Ellie's sister Chris keeps trying to kill her, and their mother has recently died, and Ellie honestly can't figure out which needs her attention first. After all, what happens when the multiverse is steeped in generational trauma and filial piety, not to mention rogue factions trying to tear things apart?
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a short novel packed with fun physics and excellent character development. At the outset, Ellie seems like any normal MIT grad student, except her work takes her to worlds that normal people cannot grasp. No one will notice her work unless something goes wrong. According to her sister, everything is wrong though. Their mother always insisted that Ellie work to mend the bridges with her sister, and yet Chris gaslights Ellie, accuses her of not being Chinese enough, causing their mother's death, and regularly making attempts on her life "in order to train her for disasters she'll face in the skunkworks." Ellie brushes off her older sister's threats and chooses to focus her energy on solving other problems, and yet she never gives up hope that her sister will return her love someday. Rather than finding this depressing, I found Ellie's no nonsense demeanor and doggedness relatable and refreshing.
I love a multiverse novel, and Subtle Art does a good job of introducing its worldbuilding without tying the reader in too many details. For a reader less used to science fiction worldbuilding, I suggest not trying to wrap your head around too many details, because Chu does a good job of giving you the information you need for his story. For those familiar with SF multiverses, Chu will satisfy your worldbuilding itch. We get a realistic Cambridge and of the Maryland DC suburbs, which folds seamlessly into a realistic experience in the skunkworks and the library.
Subtle Art of Folding Space is narrated by Katharine Chin. If you like to listen to worldbuilding unwind (I do), I recommend the audiobook as Chin brings additional character to Ellie, toeing the line between genius tinkerer and daughter and sister navigating familial disappointment.
Thank you to Tor for an eARC and MacMillan for an ALC. The Subtle Art of Folding Space is out 4/7/2026.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a short novel packed with fun physics and excellent character development. At the outset, Ellie seems like any normal MIT grad student, except her work takes her to worlds that normal people cannot grasp. No one will notice her work unless something goes wrong. According to her sister, everything is wrong though. Their mother always insisted that Ellie work to mend the bridges with her sister, and yet Chris gaslights Ellie, accuses her of not being Chinese enough, causing their mother's death, and regularly making attempts on her life "in order to train her for disasters she'll face in the skunkworks." Ellie brushes off her older sister's threats and chooses to focus her energy on solving other problems, and yet she never gives up hope that her sister will return her love someday. Rather than finding this depressing, I found Ellie's no nonsense demeanor and doggedness relatable and refreshing.
I love a multiverse novel, and Subtle Art does a good job of introducing its worldbuilding without tying the reader in too many details. For a reader less used to science fiction worldbuilding, I suggest not trying to wrap your head around too many details, because Chu does a good job of giving you the information you need for his story. For those familiar with SF multiverses, Chu will satisfy your worldbuilding itch. We get a realistic Cambridge and of the Maryland DC suburbs, which folds seamlessly into a realistic experience in the skunkworks and the library.
Subtle Art of Folding Space is narrated by Katharine Chin. If you like to listen to worldbuilding unwind (I do), I recommend the audiobook as Chin brings additional character to Ellie, toeing the line between genius tinkerer and daughter and sister navigating familial disappointment.
Thank you to Tor for an eARC and MacMillan for an ALC. The Subtle Art of Folding Space is out 4/7/2026.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I just might not have been in the mood for this. But what looks like a science fiction story about engineering techs and architects who maintain multiverses is really a study about abusive family members and what it takes to see them clearly.
I liked the tongue in cheek feel of a lot of the book. I loved that Daniel, the cousin and guy who's ride-or-die for Ellie the main character, manifested food to diagnose problems with the skunkworks (bowels of the multiverse where you go to fix things that go wrong). The book definitely made me hungry with its descriptions of fish in ginger and garlic sauce, plump dumplings and bao, and other enticing Chinese/Taiwanese foods.
But I just couldn't deal with the relationship between Ellie and her sister Chris. Chris keeps trying to kill Ellie "for her own good, to keep her on her toes". She endlessly diminishes Ellie to all their relatives and to Ellie herself. She basically imprisoned and abused their mother when their mother was ill because Chris's need for control meant that she "knew better than the doctors" what their mother needed so she basically starved and isolated this ill person. Basically, Chris is a raging psycho who never got the amount of love she wanted from their mother, blamed Ellie for it, and abused their mother to try to prove somehow that she was "the good one".
And Ellie never questions it. She even sneaks their mother out of Chris's house at night to feed her but never thinks "hey, my sister has totally lost it and maybe I shouldn't allow my ill mother to be imprisoned and abused." No, it's more like "I feel so guilty that I'm going against Chris's wishes by sneaking my mother out of her house like we are both teenagers and Chris is the parent".
And everyone who knows bothe Ellie and Chris seems to understand the score except Ellie herself. But no one actually talks to Ellie about this because... they are being sensitive or something I guess? I don't know but this hideously dysfunctional dynamic was so extreme and it was no fun to read about.
I liked the tongue in cheek feel of a lot of the book. I loved that Daniel, the cousin and guy who's ride-or-die for Ellie the main character, manifested food to diagnose problems with the skunkworks (bowels of the multiverse where you go to fix things that go wrong). The book definitely made me hungry with its descriptions of fish in ginger and garlic sauce, plump dumplings and bao, and other enticing Chinese/Taiwanese foods.
But I just couldn't deal with the relationship between Ellie and her sister Chris. Chris keeps trying to kill Ellie "for her own good, to keep her on her toes". She endlessly diminishes Ellie to all their relatives and to Ellie herself. She basically imprisoned and abused their mother when their mother was ill because Chris's need for control meant that she "knew better than the doctors" what their mother needed so she basically starved and isolated this ill person. Basically, Chris is a raging psycho who never got the amount of love she wanted from their mother, blamed Ellie for it, and abused their mother to try to prove somehow that she was "the good one".
And Ellie never questions it. She even sneaks their mother out of Chris's house at night to feed her but never thinks "hey, my sister has totally lost it and maybe I shouldn't allow my ill mother to be imprisoned and abused." No, it's more like "I feel so guilty that I'm going against Chris's wishes by sneaking my mother out of her house like we are both teenagers and Chris is the parent".
And everyone who knows bothe Ellie and Chris seems to understand the score except Ellie herself. But no one actually talks to Ellie about this because... they are being sensitive or something I guess? I don't know but this hideously dysfunctional dynamic was so extreme and it was no fun to read about.
February 23, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for early access in exchange for an honest review.
Up front: this novel didn’t do it for me. On principle, I finish any NetGalley preview I get to give an honest review, but if this were a novel I’d picked up in any other way, I would have added it to the “did not finish” shelf multiple times. Only after the halfway mark did the novel pick up momentum and even then only slightly and not toward any sort of satisfying conclusion.
This is a very idea-forward novel. There is a place (the skunkworks) where the physics of an adjacent world are held/managed/run. They need to be maintained. But they can also be manipulated. There is a group for each in this novel, and there is a conflict between maintaining the skunkworks and using the skunkworks to manipulate the reality of the nearby world to meet that group’s own ends.
Against that idea is a family drama. Family trauma. The whole family is involved in the skunkworks, involved in maintaining (or manipulating) the system in some way. But then the dying matriarch ignites a conflict between the siblings, with other family members (notably the cousin) taking sides.
The novel vacillates between these two poles, idea exploration and character growth, with neither getting enough in-depth page time to flesh either out satisfactorily. Interesting idea meagerly explored.
By the end, things are resolved swiftly and neatly and blandly, and one main character asks the other, when it’s clear there’s a sequel being primed in the final pages: will there be more?
For me, I hope not.
There was, unfortunately, little beyond “the sentence-level writing is quite polished” and “hmm…this could be a neat idea” to recommend here.
Up front: this novel didn’t do it for me. On principle, I finish any NetGalley preview I get to give an honest review, but if this were a novel I’d picked up in any other way, I would have added it to the “did not finish” shelf multiple times. Only after the halfway mark did the novel pick up momentum and even then only slightly and not toward any sort of satisfying conclusion.
This is a very idea-forward novel. There is a place (the skunkworks) where the physics of an adjacent world are held/managed/run. They need to be maintained. But they can also be manipulated. There is a group for each in this novel, and there is a conflict between maintaining the skunkworks and using the skunkworks to manipulate the reality of the nearby world to meet that group’s own ends.
Against that idea is a family drama. Family trauma. The whole family is involved in the skunkworks, involved in maintaining (or manipulating) the system in some way. But then the dying matriarch ignites a conflict between the siblings, with other family members (notably the cousin) taking sides.
The novel vacillates between these two poles, idea exploration and character growth, with neither getting enough in-depth page time to flesh either out satisfactorily. Interesting idea meagerly explored.
By the end, things are resolved swiftly and neatly and blandly, and one main character asks the other, when it’s clear there’s a sequel being primed in the final pages: will there be more?
For me, I hope not.
There was, unfortunately, little beyond “the sentence-level writing is quite polished” and “hmm…this could be a neat idea” to recommend here.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is one of those “what did I just read?” novels. I enjoyed parts of it, but I didn’t understand most of it.
Very science-y physics-y things are happening. Are they real science? Borderline real science? Completely fake science? I have no idea. In and around the complicated science stuff, we meet Ellie, who has the worst sister of all times. Her sister Chris has been trying to kill Ellie her entire life. (To help her survive and be prepared, wink wink.) Their mother has just died, and was dying for many years, and Chris both refused to let Ellie help and criticized Ellie for not helping. Toxic toxic toxic.
Their mother was a super intelligent scientist doing inexplicable things, as are Chris and Ellie and Ellie’s adopted cousin Daniel. There’s a lot of narrative about food (possibly the best part of the book). People can do mysterious things. The big climax in which Chris really tried to kill Ellie for the final time…didn’t end the way I expected it to and wasn’t very climactic.
As I said, I enjoyed a lot of this novel, but I really had no idea what was going on for at least half of the plot. The author has some imagination, I’ll give him that. I would read a second book by the author. (However, dude, no: “Ellie lets go of the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.” (ch. 2) No no no. Delete this trite, overused phrase from your writing vocabulary.)
I saw a comparison to This Is How You Lose the Time War, which I intensely disliked, and the comparison is legit but I liked this a lot more.
I read an advance reader copy of The Subtle Art of Folding Space from Netgalley.
Very science-y physics-y things are happening. Are they real science? Borderline real science? Completely fake science? I have no idea. In and around the complicated science stuff, we meet Ellie, who has the worst sister of all times. Her sister Chris has been trying to kill Ellie her entire life. (To help her survive and be prepared, wink wink.) Their mother has just died, and was dying for many years, and Chris both refused to let Ellie help and criticized Ellie for not helping. Toxic toxic toxic.
Their mother was a super intelligent scientist doing inexplicable things, as are Chris and Ellie and Ellie’s adopted cousin Daniel. There’s a lot of narrative about food (possibly the best part of the book). People can do mysterious things. The big climax in which Chris really tried to kill Ellie for the final time…didn’t end the way I expected it to and wasn’t very climactic.
As I said, I enjoyed a lot of this novel, but I really had no idea what was going on for at least half of the plot. The author has some imagination, I’ll give him that. I would read a second book by the author. (However, dude, no: “Ellie lets go of the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.” (ch. 2) No no no. Delete this trite, overused phrase from your writing vocabulary.)
I saw a comparison to This Is How You Lose the Time War, which I intensely disliked, and the comparison is legit but I liked this a lot more.
I read an advance reader copy of The Subtle Art of Folding Space from Netgalley.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Ellie is a builder, responsible for maintaining the skunkworks that create her universe as well as others. When she finds a problem in the timing of the skunkworks that cannot be explained by normal troubleshooting methods, she discovers a illicit system that will change her life forever. The system seems to be keeping her comatose mother in limbo between life and death, but for what purpose? Her sister Chris, the ever dutiful daughter, seems to be involved in some way, but Ellie has to work out what is true, what is gaslighting, and what is outright impossible based on the physics of the universe. And if that weren't enough, someone keeps setting car bombs for her. Ellie and her cousin Daniel set out to unravel the mystery, and hopefully live to see the solution and fix their universe.
This was a great book start to finish. I have ZERO expertise in physics, so I will not comment on the accuracy or plausibility of the science, but it was explained well enough that I could follow the threads of the storyline and alternate universe discussions. Ellie is an incredibly compelling character, sometimes you want to cheer her on, sometimes you want to shake her until she sees what's real. The relationship between Ellie and Chris has the potential to be problematic for some, particularly if exceptionally thorough and insidious gaslighting is triggering. For me, it was validating of my own experiences in a similar relationship.
The narrator did a great job differentiating characters and pacing the story.
I received an ARC of this audiobook from #NetGalley.
This was a great book start to finish. I have ZERO expertise in physics, so I will not comment on the accuracy or plausibility of the science, but it was explained well enough that I could follow the threads of the storyline and alternate universe discussions. Ellie is an incredibly compelling character, sometimes you want to cheer her on, sometimes you want to shake her until she sees what's real. The relationship between Ellie and Chris has the potential to be problematic for some, particularly if exceptionally thorough and insidious gaslighting is triggering. For me, it was validating of my own experiences in a similar relationship.
The narrator did a great job differentiating characters and pacing the story.
I received an ARC of this audiobook from #NetGalley.
November 20, 2025
Not for me, I'm afraid.
The prose was flat - definitely no subtlety folded anywhere in here - which made the characters incredibly one-dimensional, and not at all credible. Show me, don't tell me, is a basic tenet of fiction, and neither the relationships, nor most of the interactions, were very logical or empathetic. This lack covered the world-building too - I've read my share of "high-brow" science fiction, and - not a physicist by trade - I'm generally able to get some gist, and discover some interest, of the often-over-my-head intricacies of alien concepts. But this was just plain boring. Very boring.
It did not surprise me to learn, on finishing, that Chu works in IT as a day-job, and that this was expanded from a short story. It reads as such, and should have been left there. Sometimes, less is more.
So, with implausible characters, and don't-even-get-me-started family dynamics, tedious explanations of alternate time line structures, a very slight plot, and underwhelming climax, it took only the food descriptions to sink the boat completely. I understand that it may seem as if the world is imploding, and nothing is under our control, but as readers - worse still, as writers - is our solution to this to prioritise food porn in our fiction? Maybe just read a recipe book instead?
My thanks to Edelweiss for the DRC, all opinions are my own.
The prose was flat - definitely no subtlety folded anywhere in here - which made the characters incredibly one-dimensional, and not at all credible. Show me, don't tell me, is a basic tenet of fiction, and neither the relationships, nor most of the interactions, were very logical or empathetic. This lack covered the world-building too - I've read my share of "high-brow" science fiction, and - not a physicist by trade - I'm generally able to get some gist, and discover some interest, of the often-over-my-head intricacies of alien concepts. But this was just plain boring. Very boring.
It did not surprise me to learn, on finishing, that Chu works in IT as a day-job, and that this was expanded from a short story. It reads as such, and should have been left there. Sometimes, less is more.
So, with implausible characters, and don't-even-get-me-started family dynamics, tedious explanations of alternate time line structures, a very slight plot, and underwhelming climax, it took only the food descriptions to sink the boat completely. I understand that it may seem as if the world is imploding, and nothing is under our control, but as readers - worse still, as writers - is our solution to this to prioritise food porn in our fiction? Maybe just read a recipe book instead?
My thanks to Edelweiss for the DRC, all opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book’s cover is wow! It is layered and beautiful and gives a cozy vibe before you even engage with the novel. It feels textured and cultural and lets you lead with your senses; but the title hints at multiverses and possible reality manipulation and reminds you that this will be worldbuilding and magical realism, but like in a soft way.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a sci-fi adventure for readers who want character driven and emotional adventure stories. The narrator Katharine Chin uses her voice to wrap the story in a lyrical and engaging atmosphere that keeps listeners feeling engaged and comforted.
The novel uses description and emotions to carry the story far beyond its sci-fi tropes and makes it an engaging and manageable read. The worldbuilding is complex yet casual in a way that is funny and complete crack in moments. Entwined with the deadpan vibe of cousin Daniel, the messed up nature of Ellie and her sister’s relationship, Ellie’s mother’s illness and moments where the novel just makes you crave food, Chu crafts a story that is rich and full.
Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this free arc/copy of The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Narrated by Katharine Chin); all opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a sci-fi adventure for readers who want character driven and emotional adventure stories. The narrator Katharine Chin uses her voice to wrap the story in a lyrical and engaging atmosphere that keeps listeners feeling engaged and comforted.
The novel uses description and emotions to carry the story far beyond its sci-fi tropes and makes it an engaging and manageable read. The worldbuilding is complex yet casual in a way that is funny and complete crack in moments. Entwined with the deadpan vibe of cousin Daniel, the messed up nature of Ellie and her sister’s relationship, Ellie’s mother’s illness and moments where the novel just makes you crave food, Chu crafts a story that is rich and full.
Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this free arc/copy of The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Narrated by Katharine Chin); all opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 15, 2025
I had access to an uncorrected proof, so I ignored the proofreading errors as it hasn't finished being proofread yet.
The premise is incredibly interesting, and the characters are distinctive and well thought out. This apparently started as a short story, and it almost still felt like one to me. It's not about page count, but the feeling that it didn't finish telling the whole story. I still have a lot of questions about the characters' pasts that felt like they should have been resolved. The plot and bad people in the story didn't feel like an emotional payoff, but felt like it played out the way I expected it to. I guess I mean that it felt like there should have been a twist, but it didn't feel twisty. The plot also felt rushed. There's also the possibility that I just missed something as I did get a little confused at times.
The world created is so inventive and different from anything else I've seen. It's just full of so much possibility that I can see why they would want to make a larger story out of it. I just feel like there must be more to read somewhere. Of course, leaving the audience wanting more is not a bad thing.
The premise is incredibly interesting, and the characters are distinctive and well thought out. This apparently started as a short story, and it almost still felt like one to me. It's not about page count, but the feeling that it didn't finish telling the whole story. I still have a lot of questions about the characters' pasts that felt like they should have been resolved. The plot and bad people in the story didn't feel like an emotional payoff, but felt like it played out the way I expected it to. I guess I mean that it felt like there should have been a twist, but it didn't feel twisty. The plot also felt rushed. There's also the possibility that I just missed something as I did get a little confused at times.
The world created is so inventive and different from anything else I've seen. It's just full of so much possibility that I can see why they would want to make a larger story out of it. I just feel like there must be more to read somewhere. Of course, leaving the audience wanting more is not a bad thing.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was initially attracted to this book because of the cover—I mean, it’s layers of bao changing into space and gears. A sci-fi adventure that features generational trauma, technology, and physics? Sign me up!
In The Art of Folding Space, Ellie is a “maintainer” responsible for Skunkworks, which upholds the universe’s physics while also keeping her comatose mother alive. But things get complicated fast: her cousin finds a "bug" agitating the physics of the universe, and Ellie is stuck dealing with shady engineers and a sister trying to assassinate her.
It’s a messy novel in the best way, with Ellie navigating grief, complicated family dynamics, and wild sci-fi elements. The writing felt a bit dry at times, but I really enjoyed the ride of Ellie balancing all these issues at once.
I listened to the audiobook, and Katharine Chin’s narration was clear and well-paced. Katharine captured the voices of all the different characters perfectly, though the accent for the sister, Chris, threw me off a bit at times.
Huge thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook copy!
In The Art of Folding Space, Ellie is a “maintainer” responsible for Skunkworks, which upholds the universe’s physics while also keeping her comatose mother alive. But things get complicated fast: her cousin finds a "bug" agitating the physics of the universe, and Ellie is stuck dealing with shady engineers and a sister trying to assassinate her.
It’s a messy novel in the best way, with Ellie navigating grief, complicated family dynamics, and wild sci-fi elements. The writing felt a bit dry at times, but I really enjoyed the ride of Ellie balancing all these issues at once.
I listened to the audiobook, and Katharine Chin’s narration was clear and well-paced. Katharine captured the voices of all the different characters perfectly, though the accent for the sister, Chris, threw me off a bit at times.
Huge thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook copy!
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