Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book received in exchange for an honest review.

The Future is Yours centers around two friends who launch a start up to create technology that can pull news reports, emails, social media, etc. one year into the future.  The book itself is written as a series of emails, text messages, and news articles. The author's use of this epistolary style makes this an extremely quick and easy read.  Don't be fooled though, this book addresses all of the implications this type of technology could impose.  I really liked the dichotomy between pushing forward and the concern for the implications of the technology on society and the future.  Overall, there was a nice flow and progression to the climax.  I had no issues connecting with the characters even though the style was limited to emails and texts.  This style helped wrap up the story very nicely and I loved how it end.

The Future is Yours by Dan Frey caught my attention right away. Told in epistolary style using mixed media format, it follows two friends that have developed a unique way to look in to the future. Using quantum computing, computer genius Adhi discovers a new technology that allows a computer to see forward in to time by communicating with its future self. Mind blown yet?

When Adhi’s college roommate and best friend, Ben urges him to follow through with his college dissertation, it starts a chain of events that will lead to mass mayhem, greed and, yep, pending apocalypse. Imagine if all one had to do is search the internet to find out what happens a year in the future? The stock markets? Current crisis and elections? It’s insane to imagine! But as I said earlier, the mayhem that would ensue would be just that, insane and if it was only available to the wealthiest? Well, imagine that as well. Needless to say, my mind went all over the place while I was reading this. Obituaries? Yikes! Email yourself or a loved one? This is in fact, how the creators verified its authenticity. Sending myself an email today to be read a year prior is mind blowing to say the least. Anyway, I digress! It’s not just the science and all its implications but there’s also a very personal story at heart, here.  There is a friendship, there is love, there is jealousy. I’d like to add that the ending literally blew me away! Bravo!

This is a solid read, strong in sci-fi but at its core, a suspenseful and satisfying story of friendship, love and personal ethics. Highly recommend this to any fan of the genre.

Teddy Chaudry is a tech genius on a scale so high that he doesn't fit in even with other tech geniuses. Ben Boyce is Teddy's best friend, who has rescued him periodically and helped pave the way Teddy to navigate the tech world (including helping him get a job with an industry giant). When Chaudry tells Ben that he's developed software that allows a user to access information one year in the future.

Knowing that Teddy is not one for hyperbole, Ben forms a company, begins fund-raising for the device, and convinces Teddy to quit his job at a tech giant to focus on what Teddy is calling a Time Machine.  And as with any tech, Teddy begins work on the next upgrade before they are even live with the one-year-in-the-future tech. Peeking two years in the future seems possible, and Teddy even hints that it might be possible to use the same process to actually send a person forward in time, but that's got a lot more research to look into.

It all seems pretty golden, but there are some problems.  When someone searches their own name and reads an obituary, depression can set in and more than one person commits suicide based on what the see in the future. And when there are deaths related to new, high-profile technology, the government steps in, and Chaudry and Boyce are called before Congress for investigation.  Except no one knows where Teddy is.

Books about time travel are nothing new - there will be a lot of them in the future! - and I've read some of the best of them, and they all have a huge challenge of making this credible and dealing with some of the conundrums of meeting a future or past self.  This gets around some of that by having the time travel be digital rather than physical.

The story is told through multiple sources - congressional hearing transcripts, emails, news clippings.  There is no narrator other than Boyce's testimony to congress.

For me, the problem with this kind of story-telling is that it's hard to really build excitement and energy this way.  Just as we maybe start to get interested in what we're reading, we change formats and point of view.  It makes for chopping reading.  While author Dan Frey writes in this style about as well as anyone could, it still just lacks energy.  

Noting at the end that Frey is a screenwriter suddenly makes sense.  There are very few screenwriters who are also successful novelists (there are some, but they are few and far between) because the formats of story-telling are so different.  

Overall, this was a decent read, but there's nothing too new or exciting here to make it a 'must read.'

Looking for a good book? The Future is Yours by Dan Frey is a decent by not overly exciting novel of time travel via software.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I thought The Future is Yours was a creative plot that was entertaining to read. The story is relatively fast paced once it gets going and I finished it in a few hours. 

This is an epistolary novel and while I think this makes for a unique reading experience and helps make it a quick read, it doesn’t allow for much character development or depth. The characters are exactly who they started out as and the reader does not gain much insight into why choices are made. This also made it a bit difficult to connect to any of the characters, there is only so much you can connect to over text, email, meeting note or memos. The author did do a great job of creating a unique voice for each character - even without name labels, I would know exactly who was talking.  I also liked that while this is a science fiction book, there was also a lot of focus around human relationships and interactions. 

There were some interesting moral questions raised and discussed. I also appreciated that for the most part they keep things to a lay person level of understanding regarding what they build and how it worked. I did find myself skimming the sections that did contain the science heavy documents and data. With several timelines involved, you did have to pay attention to the dates on the media to understand when events were taking place but I didn’t find the plot overly complex or hard to follow.

I did have some suspicions on the way the plot would wrap up, but the ending was still a bit of a surprise. I was definitely entertained by this book and would read another book by the author. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for providing me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.  3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4.

This is a difficult book to review.   Do I review it from my personal point of view (not a fan) or from a potential sci-fi fan (you will love it)?  Let's try both.. 

My personal thoughts.  I thought the premise was really cool and I love time travel books.   However, I think I can only comprehend going back in the past I think.   When I read this (which might be one of my one future travel books) my mind spun.  I got confused.   (I assume thats part of the fun for sci-fi fans??)   Also, I like to get absorbed in a book and see it as a movie in my head.     This book was told as articles, tweets, letters, etc.   This made it difficult for me to escape into the book.  

Taking my personal bias out of it.   I thought the story was really interesting, and the method of story telling was actually really interesting.  If you like time travel and the thought of going into the future doesn't make your head spin I think you will really like this.  

Thank you to the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the advance read.  It wasn't your fault I chose a book outside of my comfort zone.

QUICK TAKE: cool concept (tech bros invent essentially a time machine that allows them to see one year into the future) and I loved how creative the author is in telling the story through emails, transcripts, letters, etc. That being said, I had some problems with the story structure and character decisions, and have I mentioned time travel makes me go cross-eyed with confusion almost every single time. Fast read for fans of the genre, otherwise at your own risk.

Two friends from Stanford create a machine that can see one year into the future.  The story is about the political and social problems they had obtaining financing and production,  It is told through a collection of hearing transcripts, emails, texts and miscellaneous articles.  This technique worked very well and the narrative is fast paced and quite enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Future is Yours.

I'm not a fan of books in the sci-fan genre, usually, but the premise of The Future Is Yours was so intriguing, I had to request it.

I was disappointed to find the narrative was written in epistolary form; emails, texts, Twitter, Tumblr posts. As a reader, I find this form of writing not so much creative or original as lazy. An epistolary novel should be written sparingly; I've read a few and I can honestly say it's not my favorite form.

On the other hand, the premise is fascinating so I went into The Future Is Yours with an open mind.

Yet, again, the epistolary hampers the narrative in several ways:

1. There is little to no character development. The main characters and co-founders of this incredibly technology have been BFFs since college yet I don't feel the bromance.

Adhi, the programmer, is of Middle Eastern descent, and stereotypically portrayed as on the spectrum, lacking social graces and unable to meet and woo women. 

His BFF, Ben, is a charismatic African-American, the marketing guru who can't keep his zipper closed and causes turmoil for his long-suffering, hard working wife.

I'm always happy to see diversity in any creative form, whether it be a book, movie or play, but the stereotypes and cliches rubbed me the wrong way.

2. I skipped the techno babble and the epistolary writing meant the nuance and specific details of how this time machine worked is never fully fleshed out, not that I'd probably understand the description if it was given.

This meant very little was devoted to how the Prototype works. Readers are just told it does after a couple of failed attempts.

3. Little to no female representation in this book, which makes sense, I guess, since this story seems to portray the toxicity and rigid patriarchal hierarchy of the tech industry.

I didn't connect or sympathize with any of the characters, there was no emotional connection, though I did like the ending because it came back to what I felt the main theme of the story was really about: friendship.

I love this premise, anything with a time travel aspect, but the execution left much to be desired.

The Future is Yours is a novel about two friends who embark on creating technology that can connect to the internet a year into the future, 

The writing style was entirely from interviews, emails, texts etc. Reminiscent of “Sleeping Giants.”  It worked for me. It also helped the pace and made this a relatively quick read. 

The implications of knowing future events is the plot. How would society handle that? Socially, politically, military... All interesting points. 

The science fiction part reminded me a tad of “Dark Matter.”  Overall, I think it was good. Don’t think the author stuck the ending though. Left too many unanswered questions and I just didn’t like how it ended.  I still recommend reading it. 

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC.

LOVED this book! I finished it in one sitting! 
Very non traditional writing style - taken from court transcripts, congress hearings, emails, texts...but easy to follow. Great character development. "The Future" is a computer program that is quantum computing and able to see a year into the future on the web. What transpires after the initial protocol and invention roll out is a tale of betrayal, greed, power, relationships, business, security, government and passion or over reach - your opinion! 
So thankful for this ARC - highly recommend and maybe not too far off in our own future!

Anyone for a peek into the future?
Ben and Ahdi were varsity buddies where strange circumstances brought them closer together. Adhi had a quantum computing idea for his dissertation about having a computer talk to itself one year into the future, thus being able to allow the user to see into the future, and now that Ben has studied it, he is convinced he can market the idea. Things start to go a little wobbly when personal feelings interfere with their project and suddenly what was supposed to be a certainty in the future seems to be going off into tangents. What started off as a great idea has now become a contentious legal and potentially dangerous military issue. Is the idea worth protecting and if so, how far will they go to do it?
A computer that allows you to see exactly one year into the future. No thanks! I would hate to see the decisions that I had made, as the reasons for the decisions would not be clear in the present. You would never know what influenced the decision or what anomaly cropped up in that year.
What was interesting was the marketing and how people were buying into the product before it was even completed or was working correctly. Are people so desperate to know where they will be or are they too lazy or scared to make decisions now if they know the future is laid out for them?
I found the style of the book, having been written in the form of emails, transcripts, and social media postings, rather interesting to read but also difficult to get into deeply. You only get to see “published” words and not necessarily a person’s internal thoughts and feelings so connecting with the characters deeper than what was laid out in correspondence was not easy.
The ending was not that big a surprise as you could take a guess where it was headed and I felt the discrepancies and the changing/not changing the future was a little thin. I must admit that a lot of the sciency stuff I did gloss over (both times I read the book even though I tried harder the second time!)
Overall a very interesting concept, but there was something lacking for me to be able to fully invest in it. Perhaps it was the 2-D characters (due to the way we got to know them) or maybe it was the fact that the story was fed to you in chunks and it felt like the bits in between were missing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for an ARC of the book.

I enjoyed this book. Because it was the world we already exist in, there was no need for much world-building. The characters had a lot of growth and not necessarily in a positive way. We were allowed to watch them fall apart, and the ending really brought justice to this. However, excessive information on the science behind their programming felt overwhelming to me. As someone technical but not scientific, I understood some but not all of this. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and I liked the way it represented the dangers of knowing the future. It showed many sides of this danger and indicated that maybe we would be better off minding our own business.

I tried to give this book a chance, but realized I wasn't the right audience for this I ended up not finishing this book. Because I didn't finish the book, I don't think it would be fair of me to publish a review.

Intriguing tech thriller. Told through emails, blog posts, news articles, and transcripts; a tech genius creates a computer that can see exactly one year in the future. But can someone change the future? Or is it inevitable? The questions of the morality of knowing the future and how you use that knowledge is explored in this novel.

Have you ever wondered what the future holds for you? I have. During those moments where life seems the bleakest, I have often wondered, “Where is the light at the end of this tunnel?” In Dan Frey’s The Future is Yours, two best friends create a device, which has the ability to access information that will be published up to one year from the present moment. Empowered with knowledge of future events, the best friends then seek to answer the next logical question: can they change the future? 

Overall, I found Frey’s novel to be a fast-paced and enjoyable read. I would recommend The Future is Yours to all readers of science fiction. In particular, science fiction fans of unconventional narrative structures, such as Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s The Illuminae Files, will most likely find the novel to be a thrilling read. For The Future is Yours, Frey has compiled a manuscript of emails, text messages, transcripts, and published articles to detail the development of the best friends’ device as well as the creation of their Silicon Valley company. In the narrative, Frey also tackles the larger, ethical question of information access. Should the public have access to a device that can reveal one’s future? What consequences would arise from such a decision?

Many thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the e-ARC! All opinions are my own.

The Future Is Yours by Dan Frey is a brilliant book, i loved the plot, couldn't put it down, it was totally engrossing

The Future is Yours by Dan Frey, I really disliked the email and paper format the book took right away, and it turned me off the rest of the book. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book and I do think others will enjoy it.

The book is a very quick read of emails, texts, and transcripts. I don’t always feel like you can get to know a person by email or text, but the author did a wonderful job creating characters that you could figure out and understand.

The idea that learning the future could be addictive or too appealing not to peek into, was analyzed from several different personalities. Each is giving you a different view and part of the puzzle that the book puts together.

I did enjoy this first read from this author and will look for other books by them.

This book is a bit hard for me to review, as I found it to be a compelling read, but am not sure the format will be one that many will really love.  I am not a fan of science fiction, but admit this story was very original, compelling, and riveting to read.  It was put together in a way, that is sort of like the fake documentary movies, so many are fond of.  If you are a science fiction freak, don’t mind different formatting, then I do think this book will be a top read for you.  It has an intriguing premise, is well written, and quite unique.  Highly recommend to those looking for a sci fi, which is sure to capture your attention!

This book was a solidly enjoyable science fi trip, told in a mixed media epistolary format. I initially didn’t know if I would feel connected to the characters, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

Writing a book about two minority boys with several handicaps who not only excel at one of most prestigious universities but also endeavour to build a company that would change life and tech as we know it is a bold move.

I loved the way the characters all operated, and how easy it was to understand their motivations. Even in the longer segments of speech, I knew exactly who was speaking. The texts and emails all felt realistic and I had so much fun with the way the tone shifted--especially throughout their emails with investors.