This book is so different from anything I would normally read, but every once in a while, I like to mix it up a bit.

I loved the idea of Futura. A Utopian society, in which AI take on the menial tasks in society, such as dish washing, sewing, and waitressing. Because of this, human emotions are something to be proud of because they can’t be artificially created. I did like the idea of a future society in which humans were stilled allowed to have human feelings. In so many novels based in the future, you see humans losing their ability to truly feel and “be human.” However, that being said, it felt almost too perfect, and I found more realness with the Basics and the Holdouts who still embraced things in the past.

The other thing that held me back from falling completely in love with this novella was our main character, Ruby. She fell super flat for me, and I just didn’t find her to be nearly as intriguing as I had hoped. I wasn’t able to relate to any of her friends either, and to be honest, I was a bit horrified by Blaire’s almost hate for Motherhood and it’s lack of awards aside from a few cuddles. She talks how it’s at most the most boring and most stressful job she’s ever had. I’ve always found being a mother to be an insanely rewarding job, and I’m not sure if it’s the society created, or just the character but it didn’t bode well with me.

As for writing, I thought it was a bit choppy and there were some parts that I felt didn’t fit. But the world building was extremely well done, and completely made up for the lows. While this book wasn’t exactly for me, at 90 pages, it’s definitely worth the read. For those that love futurist books, it might just be the perfect read!

Goodreads Synopsis:
By the year 2050, Paris is a stark contrast from other large cities, which had long ago morphed into ultramodern metropolises, where every new building was practically a city within a city. Even in France, humans cannot escape the fact that the Invisibles have taken over. Some come in the form of microscopic chips that are embedded practically everywhere, while others are more visible because they power robots. Humans were suddenly underutilized, and they would be forever.

Past futurists had cried that this would be disorienting and depressing, but it turned out to be quite liberating. Human qualities—good and bad—are tolerated because they are authentic, and not artificially created. To err is to be human, and these days, to be human is to be beautiful.

Futura follows a single American woman named Ruby as she figures out how to thrive in a dramatically different cultural landscape. This utopian novella pushes back on the cynical views many hold today. Instead, author Jordan Phillips has imagined a bright future for the entire human race.

My Review:
This book is very short, and I don't have much to say about the cover, but I really enjoyed reading it. Ruby didn't want kids, until one day she did. It destroyed her relationship, and thus begins the rest of her life. Everyone around her in this futuristic Paris has already had kids, or have chosen not to have kids permanently. She stayed in Paris while Yul, her partner, moved on to other things.

Clean air has become a luxury, and that's why five years ago Paris was enclosed in a climate controlled transparent done. It offers an excellent quality of live for those who choose to live there, and the trip of a lifetime for tourists. Although other cities couldn't function when their systems went down, Paris feels peaceful when unplugged. No one cares about gender or skin colour or style anymore, just human and non human, meaning AI. They're called the invisible, because they mostly don't have bodies. They can't think, but they can sense and process, which is almost the same thing, right?

I really liked this book, and I finished it in one sitting. It took less than an hour to read, and I don't regret it at all. I feel like deep down, this book is about finding happiness and fulfilling your goals no matter what your age or what problems you may come across. Also that it doesn't matter if your last relationships weren't going so well, you'll find one that's good for you eventually. It's a lot different than others I've read lately, and I'm glad I got the chance to read it. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon, and another link to the authors twitter.

https://www.amazon.ca/Futura-Novella-Jordan-Phillips-ebook/dp/B078WWBBDB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522089314&sr=8-1&keywords=Futura+jordan+phillips

https://twitter.com/jphillipsny?lang=en

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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**A copy of this novella was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Futura was brought to my attention and while it was outside my normal realm of reading, I was intrigued by it's premise and what it may offer.

The novella follows the story of a girl living in 2050 Paris. She has aspirations that are unlike what most have during these futuristic times in a world where everything is perfect, the human is, for the most part, unneeded but quite enjoyed at the same time. Life seems ideal. However Ruby, the girl, dreams of things that are not typical for humans anymore and that leads to issues in her life and can have repercussions into the future.

While the premise of this story was good, and I'd love to read this as a full novel, I feel like it was too much in too little time. The story moved very fast to the point of confusion. I would expect a novella to be a snippet of someone's life or a portion of a bigger story, even if you don't know the bigger story. Futura took place over an extended period of time and was multiple portions of a Ruby's life. It was very hard to follow at times. The story is definitely interesting, and like I said, I would really enjoy reading this as a longer story with more of the filler information that would smooth out the confusion and missing tidbits.

This is definitely for those who like sci-fi and fast pace stories. It's also for the lovers of dystopian stories, but this is almost a reversal on the typical story, with a more happy future. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think. I give three stars because I did enjoy the story, I just wish there was more cohesion and information to fill the gaps.

I had a rather complex experience with this particular novella. First of all, the actual e-book edition that I received was very messed up and extremely hard to comprehend—the paragraphs were not at all in order. A few paragraphs would fit together, but all of a sudden, the last sentence would stop in the middle, and the next paragraph would be a completely different part of the story. Then, later on, I would find the continuation of those previously unfinished paragraphs mixed in with an entirely new part of the plot. Understandably, this was quite confusing and very difficult to follow since I had to piece together random parts until I had the whole story.

Keeping that in mind, I will try to summarize and review this novella as well as I can. This story takes place in Paris, starting during the year 2050. Society has completely evolved into a highly futuristic, technology-ruled world where artificial intelligence is in charge of most of the goings on from day to day. With the “Invisibles” running things, humans have become very underutilized—but this might not be an entirely awful thing. Instead of the typical pessimistic view of a future run by computers, this novella paints a picture of a world in which people have ample time to spend their lives doing whatever they love.

Every last aspect of the world and its economy is run so flawlessly that everyone is taken care of whether they are employed or not. And employment is simply a choice, not a necessity. Amid all the modernizations, major technological advances, and the microchips that hide everywhere, smoothly running the world, lies a surprisingly utopic human existence. They have enormous amounts of free time, but never lack something to do. Being human is seen as being utterly beautiful—every human quality is accepted. Against all odds, this future is incredibly bright.

It’s been very tricky getting my thoughts straight about this novella. The one thing that I can say is that Jordan Phillips is definitely a talented writer. She did a wonderful job of building the world, using vivid details to capture just how technology takes the pressure off humans without rendering them pointless—without erasing everything that we need to build a life. This is a unique take on life in the future, seemingly far removed from the many horror stories featuring the elimination of our existence. Every element of the plot showed her creativity and inventiveness, and her writing itself was very easy to understand.

Excluding the incomprehensibility due to the formatting of the actual e-book itself, I’m not sure how I feel about the story as a whole. I enjoyed imagining this vision of the future and thinking about all of Phillips’ genre-bending ideas. However, I was left wondering if this was actually as much of a utopian society as it claims to be.

In a world like this, people are much more trapped—things run smoothly so no one steps outside the boundaries or looks to shake things up. It could be looked at as a comfortable and free existence, but would we really be free if we handed absolutely everything over to systems of artificial intelligence? I’m not sure if this story is intentionally posing that question or if I am just overthinking things.

We do loosely follow various characters throughout this story, particularly an American woman named Ruby. She is a single woman looking for love and feeling a strong urge to have a child. It is hard to connect with Ruby, or any of the other characters for that matter, since we spend such a short time with them, and there really is not much in the way of character development happening. I originally liked Ruby, but by the end she was starting to get on my nerves.

About halfway through, she begins making some absolutely terrible decisions, mainly due to the fact that she is so fixated on having a baby. Many of her friends have children, and she sees this as one of the biggest pieces missing from her life. This is understandable—as I’m sure many people feel that way at some point—but Ruby is way too over-the-top about it.

By the end, Ruby makes what I feel is a completely inexcusable choice. It was a bit hard for me to connect with her in the beginning, but she had definitely lost me completely by the end. Along with this, it just seemed like everyone had an outrageously cynical and unhealthy view of many of the important and uniquely human parts of our existence.

So, overall, I got the message that this utopian society was in fact still in the same vein as many of the post-apocalyptic or negative depictions of the future; it just didn’t feel like that much changed for the better. Comparatively, it is better in some aspects, but it is also wholly stifling and still utterly dependent on technology—much more so than today. Again, I’m not sure if this is the intended view the reader is supposed to have or if it’s just how the story came across to me.

In the end, I think this story was unique and well-written, but it simply fell a bit flat for me. This wasn’t really my cup of tea, but it is a quick read and I definitely still recommend giving it a try.

Had the potential to be a 4 star read.

On the one hand I really liked the plot and the idea of a future world where humans are superior and that the "Impossibles" i.e. AI do all the menial jobs such as cooking, waitressing etc. and a world that humans are genetically made rather than born. I also liked the idea that no matter what happens humans will always have human feelings, human instincts and human desires. My favourite parts of the book were when we got to see how other people live i.e. the "Basics" or the "Holdouts" and felt that could have been focused on a bit more.

Unfortunately I just don't think the book was executed particularly well with it sometimes going off on a tangent that had no real relevance and which didn't add much to the storyline which was a shame as I do believe this could have been a great novella. I also really didn't like the protagonist at all!

I will say definitely give it go as you can easily finish it in under an hour.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Futura follows the story of Ruby- an ex-pat living in 2050 Paris. Paris is under a dome to preserve its Nouveau Nouveau architecture, Invisibles (AI) are the framework for society and are the “blue collar’ workers. Humans have a Universal Basic Income so work is no longer a priority but just a means to pay for indulgences, genetically engineered babies are the norm as are air taxis and virtual reality experiences.

We follow Ruby as she yearns to have a baby- to create a human life that is the stark contrast of Paris- imperfect and unpredictable. We can use Ruby’s journey in wanting to conceive as a protest against the perfection and the obsession to be authentic. In 2050 Paris where everything is acceptable and AI is the pillar of society- human emotions become the determining factor between what is real and what is fantasy. Every emotion is accepted and people are free to express them in public without judgement. As one of the characters in the book proclaims “it’s as though every human emotion is rewarded.”

Throughout the book Ruby explores what it means to live in the present- to be mindful. Human life becomes meaningless as every emotion and act is accepted as a human liberty. For Ruby, conceiving a baby is a natural process-not from a virtual source but from the purest source, LOVE, which is something that can not be dehumanized.

Futura ponders some important existential questions. If in our current society we are encouraging the expression of emotions and authenticity, what will our future look like? Will everything become accepted to the point that no morals and values will be considered? If everything is created artificially, does creation even exist?

A short but powerful read that will leave you feeling both unnerved and mindful.