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  • The Subtle Art of Folding Space

The Subtle Art of Folding Space Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

John Chu (Author), Katharine Chin (Narrator), Macmillan Audio (Publisher)
4.0 out of 5 stars (7)
#1 New Release in Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature

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.

Most Ancipated Books of 2026—Esquire
Best New Science Fiction of 2026— New Scientist
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Look Forward To In 2026—Literary Hub
 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2026—Book Riot

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

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  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 24 minutes
  2. Author
    John Chu
  3. Narrator
    Katharine Chin
  4. Publication date
    April 7, 2026
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Macmillan Audio
  7. ASIN
    B0F6G1Q9WS
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 24 minutes
Author John Chu
Narrator Katharine Chin
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date April 07, 2026
Publisher Macmillan Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0F6G1Q9WS
Best Sellers Rank

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Joseph Claesgens
    4.0 out of 5 stars Amazon Book 1
    Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2026
    Format: AudiobookVerified Purchase
    Good book
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  • BookishKB
    5.0 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2026
    Format: Kindle
    🪐✨ The Subtle Art of Folding Space ✨🪐

    I really enjoyed this sci fi multiverse story. There was a lot packed into this book. It explores generational trauma, family dynamics, and how food can be an act of love and connection. The sister relationship is a huge part of the story and it definitely drove a lot of the emotional dilema.

    I liked Ellie as our main character, but she was very naive and forgiving for a good portion of the book. Honestly, I wanted her to punch Chris for almost the entire book. I understand Ellie trying to hold onto that relationship with her sister, but it was still frustrating. I was very happy she had her cousin Daniel though. He was such a supportive presence and one of my favorite characters.

    There were definitely moments with the science where I just went with the flow. Multiverse books tend to be like that anyway. The science and worldbuilding never felt overwhelming though. It stayed easy to follow and I really enjoyed the audiobook.

    🔭 What to Expect
    • Multiverse sci fi
    • Generational trauma
    • Sister drama
    • Good food
    • Family secrets
    _ _ _
    🎧 Audio Score: 5 stars
    🎙️ Narration Style: Solo
    📅 Pub Date: April 7, 2026
    📝 Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy. All thoughts are my own.
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  • Chelsey (@a_novel_idea11)
    3.0 out of 5 stars Missed the mark for me
    Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2026
    Format: Hardcover
    I am choosy about my sci-fi but I'm always on the lookout for what might be the next "it" book within the genre. I had high hopes for The Subtle Art of Folding Space - it sounds fascinating, unique, and thrilling. And while it is those things in a sense, it was also just...weird. I had an incredibly hard time visualizing pretty much everything and while the concepts were clever, the implementation didn't quite work.

    Some aspects of "maintaining" the universe were overly explained (while still being out of grasp) and others were completely overlooked. The characters were also incredibly odd. I couldn't quite tell if anyone was actually human and so much was left unsaid or unanswered, while other aspects of the novel were hammered over and over and over again. The relationship between Ellie and her sister Chris--while potentially a strong plot point, the regurgitation of the toxic relationship, emotional and physical abuse, and utter horrendousness of Chris just got tiring. The constant food references also got to be a bit tedious though how food was woven in was also quite a unique plot point.

    I listened to the audio and was grateful I did because some of the names were definitely challenging. The narrator--Katherine Chin--was strong and she added a great theatrical element.

    While this one wasn't quite for me, I am open to exploring more by Chu. Thank you to Tor and Macmillan Audio for the copy.
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  • LaffingKat
    4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky characters in hard situations
    Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2026
    Format: Audiobook
    I thought the speculative fiction aspects of this story were fun, and I really loved the characters. I found Ellie easy to root for, and her cousin Daniel was fantastic, as were some of the secondary characters. The heart of the story is really Ellie’s abusive relationship with her sister, which was painful to read about. But there’s enough humor and wacky fun in Ellie & Daniel’s efforts to solve the mystery of who is tampering with the skunkworks to lighten the overall tone.

    I would happily read more stories set in this world and featuring these characters.

    The audiobook production was excellent, and I enjoyed Katharine Chin’s narration. Her narration suited the story, with good pacing, clear pronunciation, distinctive voices to suit each character, and the ability to convey mood and emotion effectively. She brought the characters to life, and the story works very well in audio.

    Thanks to Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free advanced review copy of the audiobook through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.
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  • Ernest Lilley
    5.0 out of 5 stars John Chu Takes You Behind the Walls To Check the Plumbing of the Universe.
    Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2026
    Format: Kindle
    Review: The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu
    By Ernest Lilley

    "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." — Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

    John Chu’s debut novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space, takes us behind the walls of perceived reality to do the hard work of keeping the convoluted Eschermaze of pipes and valves of the “skunkworks” doing their thing. You know: maintaining universal constants, deciding probabilistic outcomes, and—oh yes—sorting quantum futures.

    It’s a tough job, and someone’s got to do it. Ellie’s mom was the chief builder, able to pop between our perceived reality and the ungodly mess of pipes and valves the structure of the universe appears to be to a human mind. Now Ellie is on the front lines herself, confronted with the ultimate ethical dilemma by her cousin Daniel, a "verifier" (who is essentially a QC inspector for the skunkworks). The glitch she’s looking at is also the very illegal patch keeping her mother alive—or barely alive, or not quite dead yet.

    Ellie does what her mother would do and pays the price.

    The Pipeworks Behind the Curtain of Reality
    Chu has created a universe within a universe within another universe that eventually loops around, with the pipeworks that handle all the quantum bits that make up our perceived reality hosted by the next universe over. Ellie is one of a cadre of “builders” who keep things working according to the engineering specs, and her cousin Daniel is the one who holds the specs. Just so you know.

    Something is rotten in the Skunkworks, and Ellie—now on the outs with the builder community for letting her mother, the revered chief builder, pass on rather than suffer in limbo—is tasked by the Chief Architect herself to find out what it is. What it is, is that someone is loading the quantum dice in their favor, and that’s just not done. Fortunately, she’s got Daniel at her side as she navigates universes and archives to uncover the depth of the problem and find out if it's a single bad actor or a secret cabal. This leads her to realize that she, Daniel, and his mentor Ahdi, who gives them the clues they need to pursue the investigation, actually are a secret cabal.

    Along the way, there are numerous attempts on Ellie’s life—probably Daniel’s as well, but maybe he’s just collateral damage. Ellie is used to this, though, because her older sister Chris has been trying to kill her since she was an infant. Chris maintains that it’s just to sharpen Ellie’s survival skills, and our hero desperately wants to believe that her sister isn’t constantly gaslighting her, but in her heart, she knows better. So does Daniel, but the rest of the world sees Chris as the facade she’s built up: the dutiful Taiwanese daughter who only lives for her mother’s care—unlike Ellie, who won’t even quit grad school to come live with her in DC. The fact that Chris won’t even let Ellie see her mother notwithstanding.

    One of the most charming things about this story is that in order to perceive the Skunkworks, each of the characters has their own meta-constructs to make sense of it all. Ellie materializes a cuckoo clock she can take apart to see how it’s working, while Daniel creates food. Wonderful, interesting food that makes you want to take the book to an authentic Chinese restaurant where you can eat and read at the same time.

    Look, the settings are bizarre, fun, tasty, and weirdly compelling in a quantum physics sort of way—if you look at them from the right angle. The characters are equally compelling in that they are fighting the good fight while dealing with family drama; it's a great confection of conflicts. Go read The Subtle Art of Folding Space and see for yourself. I can only hope there’s a second course in the wings.
    One person found this helpful
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