The Subtle Art of Folding Space

by John Chu

The Subtle Art of Folding Space, is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo Award-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.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Asian Literature

Kindle Edition

Expected publication April 7, 2026

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Ricarda]

I'm not that much of an avid scifi reader, but OMG that cover. I love it.

[John Wiswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[AltLovesBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Peter Tillman]

Jo 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...

[Althea ☾]

science fiction on unhinged physics and generational trauma… yes

[Matthew Newport · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Mirela · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Kate Hyde · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Lamadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Mady · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one! This is definitely right up my alley and I was really impressed with the world and characters. I thought the relationship between Ellie and Chris was really compelling and realistic. I loved the world building, but I definitely had some moments of confusion early on trying to get my bearings and understand everything going on. I think it would be a bit harder for someone unfamiliar with the genre to get into. I personally loved how quickly we were thrown into the world though! Definitely recommend!

Thanks to TOR for this ARC on Edelweiss!

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv)]

this is so far out of my comfort zone but something about it is calling to me (probably the gorgeous cover, let's be real)

[Assa]

2026?!!!!