This was incredibly wordy with bizarre pacing. I had a hard time caring about any of these characters, although the setting was great. I think the author was a bit too ambitious and good have edited this one immensely.

I really enjoyed The Passage from this author and was excited to pick up The Ferryman. This one is slower paced and at times felt like it was too slow placed. I also had to reread a few sections because they didn't seem to "flow" for my understanding.
With that said, I did enjoy this book. I just went in expecting a faster paced edge of your seat book like the authors previous work, which was my mistake not the authors.

This book is incredibly readable. Cronin weaves a high impact story that keeps you guessing about what is going on and how these people are intertwined. I fully understand what made him so popular in the early 2000s. The thriller mixed with sci-fi was wonderfully done. I also enjoyed the way he wrote the novel, a mix of first person versus third person perspective that let us in the mind of one man and the actions of those surrounding him.

That said, a lot of this book felt a bit dated and undercooked. There were sections that seemed to jump in ways that left me confused more than covered in the mystery. I also felt like the female characters were one note and lacked the complexities that they could have with the situations they were in. Overall, it felt like a book that was meant for the early 2000s. It was fun to read, but I wasn't fully on board by the end.

The end also let me down in various ways. The surprise felt like the premise was stronger than the why it was happening. It was like Cronin had to backtrack the twist. It didn't work for me.

I became emersed in the story from the very beginning. I was immediately intrigued by the concept of a society that allows its inhabitants to be regenerated into 16 year olds with no memory of their past lives. Justin Cronin gradually reveals that there is something very wrong with the seemingly perfect society. I found this tale disturbing and memorable. The Ferryman is a worthy successor to Cronin's previous trilogy which I thoroughly enjoyed. Fans will find the author takes the same care to craft memorable and believable characters that the reader will care about throughout the story.

This book was a MONSTER. It's over 500 pages and took me a while to read because it's pretty dense, I feel like it's a bit of a slow read. You know something is wrong in Prospera, but I didn't consider what it might be. The ending wasn't what I thought it would be at all, but I got into it. The monitors were an exceptional kind of creepy - if they fall below 10%, you have to be sent away, and you restart life. In a way, that seems comforting, but somehow isn't. It's just disconcerting. There is a theme running through the book that something is wrong, so it's very tense but builds slowly. I enjoyed this one and will read other books by this author (I know, he's super famous and amazing but there are so many books out there to read!).

Justin Cronin's "The Ferryman" hooked me from the very first page. Set in a seemingly idyllic island utopia called Prospera, the story follows Proctor Bennett, a man tasked with transporting citizens to be "reborn." This supposedly peaceful existence begins to unravel when Proctor receives a cryptic message hinting at a dark reality.

The novel excels at building suspense. Cronin masterfully crafts a world that feels both familiar and unsettling, raising questions about memory, identity, and the true cost of paradise. Proctor's journey of discovery is both thrilling and thought-provoking, as he uncovers the secrets Prospera desperately tries to hide.

While the beginning moved at a fast pace, I found the middle section to be a tad slow at times. However, the mysteries continued to simmer, and the payoff in the final act was well worth it. The ending left me wanting more, but in a satisfying, pondering kind of way.

Overall, "The Ferryman" is a captivating blend of science fiction, mystery, and literary fiction. Fans of Justin Cronin's previous work and readers who enjoy mind-bending stories with a touch of social commentary will definitely enjoy this book.

Who is a man when he has to challenge everything he thought he knew. Is he a cog in the machine or the pivot in social upheaval?

This apocalyptic novel kept me wondering about protagonist Proctor Bennett and Prospera, the crumbling utopia where he lives. Bennett is the titular ferryman, whose job it is to shepherd his fellow citizens in their latter days to the Ferry that will transport them to the Nursery, where they will be "reiterated". So ritualized euthanasia with a promise of reincarnation. The first half of the book kept me guessing about how this utopia would fall and what would happen to Bennett, whose repressed memories and general psyche is starting to revolt, as are the citizens of the Annex, a neighboring island where the service industry for Prospera lives. When Bennett is tasked with escorting his own father to the Ferry to be reiterated, and his father big-time glitches in a very public display, shit hits the utopian fan. It gets even more complicated and way, way more melodramatic from there. Like telenovela-level melodrama. Author Justin Cronin knows how to draw out a scene, milking it hard. Milking it, milking it, milking it. The book intrigued me, but I was annoyed by many instances when a concept was described with six similar images or phrases, rather than one or two arresting ones.
[Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

Yes, Cronin's books are long, but rightly so--every page is necessary. The Ferryman brings to mind other dystopian stories, but it never feels derivative.

4 stars!

I was a little scared of this because it's definitely chunky and science fiction isn't always my go to genre but I was really interested in this. I felt like the world the author created was super interesting, and I liked the dystopian element as well. I also liked how the author completely wrecked my expectations of what I thought was happening in this novel in such a fun way!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

There's no doubt that Cronin has a way with words, however... I felt like the author tried to do too much with this story as it was entirely too long and although I resisted the urge to start skimming, it was hard for me to want to stay connected. I also didn't particularly like that I saw that ending coming way before I would have liked, which left me feeling rather unsatisfied.

I’ve been a fan of Justin Cronin since The Passage, so I knew this would be good. His writing never disappoints. The story was engaging from the start and had me guessing until the big twist was revealed. My favorite part about his books is that he writes action sequences like movies where you can visualize everything perfectly. His characters are always unique. Very much enjoyed this one

Justin Cronin is worth the wait. His books are large and daunting but they are worth every page. The Ferryman is a story you will not soon forget.

This had a really good combo of sinister mystery government, a divided society where one group shoulders the labor, and a beautiful Shutter Island like setting where no one really knows what happens once you get on "the ferry," but it seems fine.
This had great characters, was absorbing, but the ending just ripped it all away and angered me.

This dystopian novel was full of twists and turns. Besides the compulsive plot I thought there was a good exploration of humanity (even if the characters weren’t exactly humans like us.) Themes of family and grief were handled beautifully. While I’m not a big sci fi reader I found myself drawn into the world Cronin created.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I read The Passage and enjoyed the writing, so I knew I wanted to grab this ASAP. Hidden truths with survivors is a no-brainer when it comes to entertainment and this kept me going to the last page.

THE FERRYMAN is the first book I have read by Cronin. And if this is any judge of his writing, I will be diving into others by the author. With a carefully crafted plot, uniquely intriguing characters, and a perfect pace, this dystopian novel shows how truly great science fiction can be. Loved this book!

<i>First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

I have intensely mixed feelings about this book.

To start, I want to say I was a HUGE fan of <i>The Passage</i> series, especially the second book, [book:The Twelve|13281368] - so when I found out there was a new book by Cronin coming out, I knew I had to read it.

I'll be completely honest - I put off reading this book because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype of <i>The Passage</i> series (and my memory), and that it would leave me not as excited about Cronin as an author.

So even though I got this book from Netgalley, originally, my signed, pre-ordered copy arrived and I ended up buying the ebook on sale before I got around to actually just reading the damn thing.

With that out of the way... I mean, yeah. The "twist" wasn't much of a twist at all when you're a person who's consumed even a modicum of media in the past few years (<spoiler>did anyone else binge the short-lived Netflix original <i>1899</i> in a Covid-induced haze, or was that just me?</spoiler>) and therefore was a bit of a let down. I see many reviews saying the same, that they saw the "twist" coming from a mile away.

Then the question becomes, is a story not worth telling if it is not wholly original? I think the answer to that is "No" - if it were true, the <i>Star Wars</i> franchise and [book:Dune|44767458] would have been in trouble.

So - the next question is, was the prose, the characters, the relationships between them, etc etc unique and compelling enough to make you not care as much about the plot and being willing to overlook its lack of originality?

I hate to say it, but I don't think I can objectively say that Cronin knocked these parts out of the park. Listen, Cronin has a way with words - he has a way with character relationships - hell, that was entirely the best part of <i>The Passage</i> series to me. And I gotta say, I don't think he really did better here than he did there... I am not entirely certain it was even necessarily on par (sorry Cronin!).

BUT... and this is a big BUT... I dunno y'all, this book made me <i>feel</i> things. Not that I am an especially unfeeling person (why yes I DO cry at all those sad animal commercials every time they're on TV), but I can't deny the connection I felt to these characters, even if I don't think the craft of their existence was particularly masterful.

Like, for crying out loud - I started this book <b>LAST NIGHT</b> and I finished it hella quick - so that has to count for <i>something</i>, doesn't it?

So with all of that being said, I'm not entirely sure I would recommend this book to someone else without all the caveats I listed above; clearly, lots of others didn't feel the connection I somehow did is I see a lot of my mutuals DNF'd this one.

But... I dunno. For me, it was worth it. And in the end, I don't regret reading this book.

I adore this authors work, and this book was no exception. It pulled you in from the beginning, and you really rooted for the main character and I was captivated by the tale and finding out what happened as it all unfolded. Would highly recommend.

The world created in The Ferryman was well crafted and immediately immersive for me. Cronin builds great characters and makes you care about their outcomes and who can ask for better than that from an author?