Mood: You want a cocktail of dystopian, fantasy, and sci-fi, distilled in a complex story told through POV. Mood: You want to make your brain WORK and ask deep questions. What is a perfect life?

Because this story sounds so familiar, a utopia island people are removed from and memories wiped, it seems as if you'll know where this story will end. There's more twists than I expected and I enjoyed my ride! This is definitely a book to read more than once to catch all the mastery of the writing and plotting.

This very confusing and dragged out story-within-a-story(-within-a-story) left me so frustrated there were multiple times I wanted to chuck it and move on. I eventually finished, but I can't say it was worth the effort.

I love speculative and science fiction, but this. I'm not even sure what *this* was. What is was, was not for me.

There's so little to say without spoiling it, so I won't make the attempt. All I will say is that I spent 20 hours listening to an audiobook that annoyed me for the first 15 hours with its obvious unreality world building, then went off the deep end for the final five.

Kudos to Scott Brick and Suzanne Freeman for their expert narration. Their collaboration here was easily the best part of this book.

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin is an emotional science fiction ride. The Novel feels like two stories in one. The world-building is well thought out and creatively developed. I love how dreams work in the story and how they are analyzed. The story goes places that I couldn't predict, it is a wild ride. The story at the beginning reminded me a lot of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and the way it was set up then the novel shifts and it reminded me of a couple of films, none that I could list because it would give the twist away. I think this story works better not knowing too much going in. This novel joins Recursion and Dark Matter both by Blake Crotch in stories that I had no idea where they were going. The pace was sometimes a bit too slow. The story is a bit long and has far too many endings than needed. The climax was pretty exciting and brought an emotional impact to the story. The story is complex but at its heart, it is a very simple idea of love, loss, and hope. This is my first Justin Cronin novel I have been recommended the Passage trilogy by more than a few people. I was given The Ferryman from Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine to read and review. The Ferryman was published on May 2, 2023

Plot Summary: Proctor was brought to his parents on a ferry from an island called Nursery. No one on the island is born. He was 16 when delivered to his parents. He now works as a Ferryman that delivers people who fall below 10% in either physical or mental decline. These people are brought to the island of Nursery to get reprogrammed. Proctor gets to be the director of the organization and is in charge of getting people peacefully to the ferry. The day he gets assigned a new partner is the day he has to bring his father to the ferry. He is coherent until he is about to arrive on the ferry where his father starts talking in what he thinks is gibberish but it seems to unlock something in Proctor who starts dreaming which is believed to be impossible.

What I Liked: I found the world-building to be clever especially when all is revealed and we see how truly thought out everything was. I liked how dreams worked in the story and how they worked. The ending and how mind-blowing it all is. I liked that I guessed a little bit of the twist but there are so many layers to the twist that it would be hard to guess all, and it kept me intrigued. The heart in this story is big and it made me emotional. I loved how much psychology played a role in the story by way of dream analysis.

What I Disliked: Some slow moments drag down this good book. I thought the story could have been tighter dropping about 60 pages for this 538-page book. The ending was way too drawn out. This book has more endings than Return of the King, it could have dropped 2 of them and I would have been fine.

Recommendation and Rating: The Ferryman is a solid read with an interesting story. I will recommend this book. What I liked was a lot more than I disliked. I will read another Justin Cronin novel. I rated The Ferryman by Justin Cronin 4 out of 5 stars.

I enjoyed the twists, well woven story - just wasn't for me.
Prospera has a very defined hierarchy - those on the island with monitors tracking health vs the support staff living a single life, removed from the elite; in poverty, without basic rights or necessities.
A woman named Mother. A woman who crosses between both the elite and the staff. A man who remembers.
Very intriguing look at dystopia.

Definitely one of my favorite reads this year! Who would have known what tragedies, what hopes buried in this story? Does the Ferryman help others to cross the waters or does he help himself to come out on the other side of the darkness?

Proctor was living on Prospera as a successful Ferryman. He came from "Nursery" to meet his parents at the age of 16. He lived a happy life until his mom committed suicide. He eventually got married and continued to make progress in his career, until one day his job brought him to his dad's door. After that Pandora's box was opened and we walked into a journey I never thought we would.

It was such a well crafted story of a case of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" turned "I cannot and will not forget any of this". While it is touching upon various current crises, it is more of a love story than anything else. Forget about rich, Forget about finding life somewhere else. Forget about Earth becoming inhabitable. None of those mean anything when there is nothing else to look forward to.

This is a book that defies a simple review. It does not go from Point A to Point B to Point C with a conclusion that pulls it all together. Nuh uh. It is a masterpiece of storytelling with twists you will not see. It draws you in before you know what’s happening and if you could, you would sit down for the next couple of days and do nothing but read this novel.

James Cronin takes you on a journey into a mind-bending future with intelligence and thoughtfulness. His characters are well-developed, believable, and enticing. The premise is fascinating, frightening, and futuristic. Nothing prepares you for it. I highly recommend this book for SciFi fiends, and anyone else who reads. It is well worth the time spent.

After enjoying Cronin's The Passage Trilogy, I was thrilled to be invited to review an advance copy of this newest standalone novel!

It did not disappoint...Cronin has an incredible way of developing dystopian worlds and the characters within! Proctor Bennett, the main character, has a great deal to unpack and discover as things on his island begin to change his reality.

While a lengthy read, it does not read as such. Highly recommend, and appreciate the publisher and NetGalley offering me a review copy!

This started out so well, but went off the rails in a spectacular fashion. I loved Cronin’s “The Passage” trilogy and was hoping for more of the same, but alas. The first half of the book was very promising with some captivating world-building and suspense, but the second half devolved into silly metaphysical nonsense I could hardly follow. In short, “The Ferryman” went from being a book I could scarcely put down to one I was reluctant to pick up and finish.

Four stars for the first half, two for the second half.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for an ARC of this novel. My review is based in the hard copy version.

Before you start The Ferryman, I encourage you to buckle up. Justin Cronin's sci-fi dystopian novel has many twists and turns. Just when you think you might know what's going on, everything changes. There are so many levels of storytelling that I am still wondering how it all happened. So, if you like letting your mind wonder into another world, I encourage you to read this book. If you need to know what is happening at all times, it may not be the book for you. I rarely reread a book, but I may have to reread this one to catch everything I missed the first time.

I know it took a hot minute for me to finish, but WOW! I was not disappointed with Cronin’s latest. He once again managed to transport me effortlessly into this new world.
The world building in The Ferryman is just *chefs kiss*, let me start by saying. The world of Prospera is all at once beautiful, but in a way, slightly dark. It’s a darkness that ebbs and flows throughout the story, until you find yourself racing it to the end at breakneck speeds.
Cronin has crafted ( and I do mean crafted ) a brilliant story that is as gorgeous as it is terrifying. I’m really not a huge fan of dystopian novels in general, but the way he writes them is so brilliant.The fact that the story sucks you into Prospera and keeps you tethered there for 550+ pages without breaking is marvelous. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
**Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read the ARC of this novel**

3.5 stars

This is the kind of book I had to read slowly so I could understand what was happening and even then there were times I was confused. I'm pretty sure the confusion was deliberate, as you're supposed to question what's going on just like Proctor does. I didn't hate not knowing what was going on, but it made it a long read.

Proctor is an interesting main character. Sometimes he did things I didn't agree with, but I could also see his reasoning. He's a flawed person and it makes him more relatable. Thea was a little harder to get into, mostly because we just knew less about her overall. It was nice seeing the world from another point of view, since she's not as involved with the leadership of the community.

The ending wasn't what I expected or really wanted after all that Proctor went through. I'm also not great with open endings and like to see everything resolved. It was an intriguing read that kept me guessing for a while about what was real or not.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the copy.

I received an eARC of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. The Ferryman by Justin Cronin is a marvelous dystopian sci-fi novel. On the island in Prospera residents live out their days unfettered by the concerns of the outside world until it is time to be retired and reborn to a new life. The support staff living on the neighboring island known as The Annex are not so lucky. I don’t want to say much more about the plot for fear of spoilers, but I found Cronin’s writing majestic, plot compelling, and characters fascinating. There was some info dumping and I got a little confused during the final couple hours of the audiobook, but overall this book was stupendous. A dystopian work worthy of standing alongside 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, The Fireman, etc. I throughly enjoyed this book and plan to listen to Cronin’s The Passage trilogy in the future.

•Proctor Bennett works as a ferryman whose job is to accompany retiring individuals to the Nursery, an island, where rebirth takes place. But Proctor finds himself questioning Prospera, the world in which he lives.

•Unrest between the various classes of humans begins to takes shape and soon Proctor discovers the truth about the world he calls home.

•Cronin’s latest epic novel is set in a distant future where the planet is plagued by climate change and depleted resources. This one is perfect for fans of Blake Crouch.

I enjoyed this very much but it did feel it could perhaps have been... tighter? There's a feeling throughout the book (**spoiler** which is totally borne out, although not in quite the way I expected) that a lot of what is happening matters emotionally but not, you know, in reality, which makes it hard to really invest. The payoff is satisfying and the whole thing hung together in the end, but this would have been a five star read for me had it been snappier.

I purposely went into this book blind because I wanted to fully experience without prejudice, and I'm glad because it was such an interesting ride

Story was emotional and grabbed your attention. The twist was well delivered and unexpected. This book is more dystopian/sci-fi rather than thriller.

The us was such a fun and imaginative book! I definitely did not see the major twist coming, and even if I had, I couldn’t have accurately predicted how wild it would get once it got going.

The concept of this book is so creative and unique and, even though it was a long book, I was sad when it finally ended. I felt such a deep connection to the characters. I’ll miss them and I wish them happy dreams!

My only complaint is that it got really hard to follow the plot toward the end. I found myself getting so confused as to what was real and what was a dream that I ended up skimming a lot of the last 10% of the book because I just could not keep up. I wish there would have been a way to make it more obvious what was real vs. a simulation.

Part dystopian, part science fiction in a world named Prospera where everything seems naturally balanced… Or is it really? Really enjoyed reading this book and felt the first 75% of the book is the strongest and had me hooked. The last 25% I felt like the book over explained itself a bit.

I’m not really sure what I just read, but I do know that I really enjoyed it!

This is a very sci-fi-esque story in which we follow a group of people living on Prospera. In this land, people live for quite a long time and once they being to either degenerate or if they choose to, the head to what is called the nursery where they’re regenerated and come back with no memories as a teen to live another full life. We follow Proctor Bennett through this utopia until one day he starts having issues with his mind. This is when the story really picks up.

I have found that I find sci-fi books to be harder to predict because they could really go any which way. This one I honestly had no idea where it was going to go from one chapter to the next. It was a ride. I really enjoyed it though!

4⭐️

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!

I have consistently enjoyed Justin Cronin's work, and The Ferryman is no different. Set in a futuristic society very similar to that of The Giver, the main character must grapple with what happens when his life goes off trajectory. I was highly engrossed in this text, and my only complaint was that the ending felt a bit rushed.