#john chu

[torpublishinggroup]

If I had a nickel for every time a cover had chopsticks, food, and sci-fi elements, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice🤔

[writingwhilecaffeinated]

OKAY BUT WAIT

WAIT WAIT

SO I’ve now watched the Wicked trailer several times like a crazy person. And it’s CLEAR Glinda is singing and dancing with Elphaba WITH THE WIZARDX THIS WOULD BE THE SOMG, “Wonderful.”

If you’ve seen the show, you know it’s basically the Wizard’s second act attempt to seduce Elphaba with the promise of power and acceptance and change. You’ll also know, it’s only him who does this. Glinda does not appear upon the scene until after Elphaba shakes off the rose colored glasses and Fiyero enters to save Elphaba.

The addition of Glinda helping the Wizard to lure Elphaba back into complacency? It’s INTENSE, because it makes Elphaba’s sense of betrayal worse.

It will also make Glinda’s feeling of betrayal when Elphaba leaves WITH FIYERO, worse as well. Not only does Fiyero choose her best friend, Elphaba willingly leaves Glinda… again.

On top of that, I think this happens during Glinda’s wedding to Fiyero.

But I think Glinda and Elphaba are far more heartbroken over feeling like they lost each other again as they try to pull each other to their side.

Point, OMG JOHN CHU YOU GENIUS, ADDING SUCH LAYERSSSSS

[karioke13]

Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Upland fanart made by me! 💚🩷

[wearethekat]

October Book Reviews: The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu

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.

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Subtle Art of Folding Space

By John Chu.

[abigailspinach]

[yorit1]

[askarsjustsoswedish]

Pillion Q&A with Alexander Skarsgård, Harry Melling, and Harry Lighton - LA, 16 November 2025. Y/T z01QssrksDI - John Chu, 23 Nov '25. Thanks Swedish Delish