The prologue had me hooked. I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on! The world and system set up was well thought out and easy to imagine. I almost felt like this was The Giver meets The Matrix.
However, I found once I got into the story I just felt sort of lost. I needed more reveals. I struggled to connect to the characters and almost found myself bored in many places. I wanted to love this one after the prologue but found myself underwhelmed.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have no way to review this. So instead, I present my inner dialogue while reading:
What the heck is going on?
Okay, that’s weird, but you signed up to read an ARC, so you knew it would be weird.
Is this a good weird?
I think it is.
Hmm, that has the potential for abuse.
Oh yeah, I saw that coming.
What the heck is going on??!!
Whoa, I like her.
I did not see that coming.
Wait, so they do what? Why would people sign up to do this?
Proctor, what are you doing?
What the heck is going on?
Oh wow, this is so good, bizarre, but so good.
Why haven’t you read this author before?
This is stressful as heck.
I can’t stand the stress!
What is inside this author’s brain?
I’m 80% in, have no idea what’s happening, and I’ve loved every second of this.
Oh wow, that happened.
This author is brilliant; I don’t have the words.
All the stars!

Thank you, Random House-Ballantine, for sending along this gem of a read.

Fantastic! I might be biased because I loved the entire Passage trilogy and might have read some of the books more than once. I was a little worried because of my high expectations going in. Luckily, Justin Cronin did not fail me! Like The Passage trilogy, what I thought I was reading was in fact not what I thought. At first I thought this was going in the direction of so many other dystopian tales of utopian bliss on an island where everyone is cut off from the rest of the world. Oh no, I was wrong. It was soooo much more. It doesn’t seem like it, but there is a lot at play and not just twists and turns but concepts like love and loss and how that can affect a persons decisions. It did not go in the direction I thought and I didn’t see any of it coming. Then once you think you know everything, there’s more. This did not feel like a 500+ page book and I just flew through the pages. It certainly leaves you thinking about the decisions that were made and if you would do the same or not. This is worth a second or third read. Thanks to Penguin Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for an advance copy.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Ferryman when I began reading - I own a copy of The Passage but haven't read it yet, so this was my first experience with Cronin. I cannot wait to read more by him. This book left me confused, in awe, whiplashed...how else can I describe it? I absolutely love when a twist falls into place that you absolutely do not see coming, but can see in retrospect the signs and how everything ties together. It was pretty masterfully done.

I really enjoyed our characters, the setting and off-putting atmosphere, the social tensions. I don't really have a lot of complaints. This isn't a perfect five stars because I found the plot to drag slightly at times, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to someone if they feel up to reading a bigger book.

This took me a few tries to get into the first chapter, but once I did, it was off to the races and I found myself setting aside more and more reading time to get through the rest of this. There's some fantastic worldbuilding, so much so that when a rugpull happens later in the book you really appreciate what's going on. There's enough of a mystery to what's really happening that I found myself engaged, and the characters are well thought out.

I have never read any of Justin Cronin’s books and whew what a ride. I am not a big science fiction fan but this did keep my attention and I was interested in finding out what was really happening. Proctor Bennett is the ferryman and he is the one that takes the individuals to an island to die once their monitors reach 10. It’s starts off with him taking his father on the ferry and his father was trying to tell him something!

This started out a little slow and then really ramped up and then it got just weird towards the end. But it was written very well and I did enjoy it for the most part.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wow. You can never turn away from Justin Cronin.
On the second page I was already perplexed and questioning what is going on? The sci-fi and philosophy already start to pull you in. Who or what is the Ferryman. Humans? Robots? Cocoons? Regeneration? Dreams? So many questions in trying to piece each chapter with the previous and what unfolds with each new page.
I don't want to even spoil this book. For 400 or 500 pages, it is worth the dive. Read it slow and let it live!
Thank you so much for this advance copy.
I just reviewed The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. #TheFerryman #NetGalley

I enjoyed one of Cronin’s earlier works, The Passage, a great deal, so I had pretty high hopes for The Ferryman. The premise is fascinating, and Cronin has proven himself more than capable with his prose. Literary speculative fiction is a sweet spot for me, so I jumped at the chance to read this prior to publication. Sadly, while all of the building blocks of a good story were there, I didn’t connect with this book at all.

I struggled through it over the course of three weeks, where in the past I’ve read books of similar length in closer to three days. As I said above, the premise was fantastic, and Cronin is a great writer. However, I think Cronin got too wrapped up in his own craft, and the story suffered for it. This would have been a far stronger book if it had been at least 200 pages shorter. The pace was soul-breakingly slow, and my experience with it was the epitome of a slog; I felt like I was trudging through a bog, searching desperately for a path out. The concepts were great, and the tone was suitably creepy for the plot, but the characters were insufferable as a whole, and I just wanted it to be over.

That said, I know there are going to be readers who love this, and I wish them every enjoyment with it. It’s unequivocally a book with merit. Unfortunately, those merits just couldn’t make up for the painfully slow pacing and the unlikable characters in my personal experience with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy of The Ferryman.

The story follows the life of Proctor Bennett who is a Ferryman in a world called Prospera. His job is to help guide people to The Nursery so they can be reborn essentially. One day he gets an assignment, and when he arrives, it is his father that he needs to retire. This day is the start of the end. Event after event follows as Proctor tries to figure out what is happening to his life and on this island.

Although the book was interesting enough to keep reading, I never got that invested or excited. I thought the pacing was a little weird, and some chapters read really confusing, although you figure out later what was going on. I thought the book should have ended with the last chapter. I get why the epilogue was written, but I think they viewers already expected that and didn't need to be told it.

This is a confusing book to read but does make more sense as it continues! Not always easy to figure what is reality and what isn’t. The reader just needs to go with the flow. This is basically an apocalypse story but done in a different way, kind of like a story within a story? Hard to comment on it without giving too much away. Although there are hints that the human race is hopelessly destined to doom itself no matter how hard we try not to, the actual ending of the book is quite pleasant. Would love to see the adventure continue in a sequel.

Several years ago I proclaimed Justin Cronin’s "The Passage" trilogy my favorite read of the year (and one of few 5 star reviews I gave on Goodreads). So, when I was offered an early ARC of "The Ferryman" I quite literally jumped out of my couch! You can probably guess that I was rather favorably predisposed towards the book before even cracking my Kindle open.

"The Ferryman" is a dystopian science fiction with strong overtones of "Inception" and "The Westworld." The setting is a several-thousand-small group of people who have survived some kind of cataclysmic event and have taken refuge on a hidden island of Prosperos that many would describe as an utopia.

Our protagonist is Director Proctor Bennett aka the titular ferryman. The Prosperans live a life of perfect leisure until their life monitor numbers reach low digits. At that time, Proctor assists these elderly citizens to "retire" to an island known as The Nursery, where their bodies and minds are renewed to then come back to Prosperos for another round at life.

Before long, the reader discovers a darker side to this perfection, and it starts with the island called the Annex, which houses all the laborers who serve the Prosperos' residents and make their leisure-filled life possible. Unsurprisingly, this underclass feels righfully exploited and resentment brews.

And all of this is just a tip of the iceberg - to say more would be to spoil. I will simply say that when you think you know what the story is about, Cronin will throw a wrench, and then another. And another. The author continues to keep the reader guessing; some of the twists moderately predictable, but only to lull you into a false sense of safety, as each heart-wrenching twist is bound to lead you down a completely unexpected road.

The novel is a non-stop action filled with a gamut of relatable characters who are fueled by emotions. Loss and grief play a huge part in why and how things play out, and the writing allows the reader to experience these emotions alongside the characters. In that, Cronin has proven himself a master once again.

You know when you see a blurb on a book from an author you love and they say "I couldn't put it down!" and the you buy the book and you can very easily put it down and wonder what the fuss was about. Well let me say you won't be able to put down The Ferryman once you pick it up. It should actually come with a warning label! It's that good. I don't think I've devoured a book like this in years!

It's a story about a Ferrryman. A ferryman is a person who lives in a world outside of the rest of the world who escorts people who have completed a life cycle to be reborn. People walk around with meteres on their arms and when your number goes below a certain number it's literally time to go. What happens to a particular ferryman sets the story moving at a breakneck pace. I really don't want to say much more because you truly have to allow yourself to dive into this created world and watch the events unfold. I will say it tackles many issues of today's world without choosing sides. I'm sure there will be second part of this series because I can't imagine it ending it where it ended.

A huge thank you to #Netgalley and #randomhouse for the read. I'm so excited to share this with my book group and followers

The Ferryman follows Proctor Bennett in a city called Prospera. There he works as a Ferryman bringing people who have reached the end of their life to the Ferry to cross over into a new iteration. The concept is fascinating and I really enjoyed the storyline after about 60%. Before that mark, I found myself not wanting to pick the book back up when I set it down. The last 40%, I did not want to stop reading because I needed to know how it would all end up. I felt the ending was very satisfying, but I would have loved to have known more about Thea and her group of people instead of Proctor and his next journey.

Similarly to how I felt about The Passage series, Justin Cronin's writing is easy to read yet also very dense at the same time. I enjoy his work and will probably pick up just about anything he writes going forward.

***ARC received from Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

I loved Justin Cronin’s The Passage trilogy so was really interested to see how he would manage to fit his vast world building into a single book, thankfully he had almost 600 hundred pages to create a multi layered book with interesting characters and a story that shows that even paradise is not free from corruption.

The story is told through a few different perspectives which allows it to explore the society of those that live in Prospera and those that keep Prospera running especially through Proctor and Thea. There are a few other characters around that expand on the story and show that people probably know more than they are letting on. I liked each of the characters, they have their own unique voice and they each drive the story forward in their own way. I do wish that we could have spent some time with Elise, I missed what her pov could have brought to the story. I understand probably why it was chosen to keep her as one of the few main characters we don’t get a pov from but it would have been nice particularly near the end of the book.

There are a few twists throughout the book that I won’t spoil and while the big one is mostly obvious if you are familiar enough with the trends of these types of stories I will admit that the other ones caught me off guard. None of them feel forced either, it feels like a natural result of human nature to respond the way that certain characters do. The book also does a great job of interweaving the hints which I think would be fun to start to pick up on a second read through. It uses the lore that society creates to foreshadow what could be happening later on in the book.

The writing is good, there are a few parts that should get cleaned up by the final release. I liked the world building and that it spent a little time in both parts of the world. Not just that but it followed both the older generation and the younger generation, all after the same thing but going about it in different ways. The exploration of the Nursery was probably the most creepy part of the book and it served as a good transition point for the story as like in the world its rebirth which also served the story flow well.

It is hard to write this review without giving anything away. It really is a book that should be read and then reread to pick up on all the hints that get dropped and I’m really looking forward to giving it another read at its release. I highly recommend this book for fans of Justin Cronin and science fiction fans.

a future uptopian paradise known as Oranios is nothing but a ship. The archipelago of Prospera is hidden from the horror of the outside world.. In this world its inhabitants live long lives until the sensors in their arms fall below ten percent where they are taken by the Ferryman who is known as Proctor on board a ferry to an island called the Nursery where their memories are wiped clean and they are readied to start life anew as teenagers of 16 years of age.

Prosperians are incapable of bearing children of their own, so the teenagers are adopted by Guardians.

Proctor has been having drea, questioning everything he has known. and begins a mission to uncover the truth.

Justin Cronin's THE FERRYMAN is an initially intriguing ball of yarn, wound tight, that slowly unspools over its chunky page length. On the whole, it's enjoyable enough - stitches are severed, threads are frayed - but ultimately the narrative is needlessly complex, overloading its head with plot, with worldbuilding, & leaving its heart far, far behind.

Review will go live on 5/7/23

This is my first Justin Cronin book, though I deeply loved the show version of The Passage and will definitely read it at some point. I really quite enjoyed his style of writing, so I have little doubt I’ll enjoy his earlier fare as well. The Ferryman definitely had my head spinning, but in a really great way. And I am having a terrible time figuring out how to tell you about this one without spoiling basically everything, so. We’ll keep this short and sweet, eh?

Basically, our main character, Proctor, is a Ferryman. This means his job is to escort people to the nursery where they are “retired” and begin life anew in a new body. It’s a lot- some people go willingly and happily, and others resist, hence the need for someone to accompany them. But it’s very clear that there are some shenanigans going on beyond what Proctor can see. He knows something is “off”, but doesn’t know what or why, not really. But he seems determined to uncover some secrets, and so we begin the journey.

No one is quite what they seem, and Proctor (and the reader) are unsure who they can trust. The twists are wild and fabulous, and while the book can feel a bit long at points, it is absolutely worth the ride.

Bottom Line: Mind-bendingly great, the twists and turns kept me guessing throughout.

A big thank you to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this wonderful book!

"The Ferryman" by Justin Cronin is a mind-bending and complex science fiction novel that will leave you feeling like your brain cells have run a marathon. The story takes place in a utopian paradise known as Prospera, where the residents are retired to another island called the Nursery when their bodies fail. The main character, Proctor Bennett, is the director of the Department of Social Contracts and is known as the "Ferryman," responsible for escorting those who need to make the transition to the Nursery. However, when he escorts his own father, he discovers a dark secret that sets him on a path to discover the truth about Prospera.

The novel is a blend of many dystopian and science fiction themes, including Logan's Run, The Matrix, 1984, and Lost, among others. The characters are well-drawn, and the moral dilemmas they face are believable, making the story more engaging. The twists and turns will keep you guessing until the end, and the story has a fast-paced and action-packed ending that will leave you breathless.

The setting of Prospera is captivating, and the storyline changes are slowly fed to the reader, making the world believable and the plot more immersive. The author's writing style is excellent, and the book is an easy read despite its length. "The Ferryman" is a standalone novel, and fans of dystopian and post-apocalyptic books will thoroughly enjoy it.

"The Ferryman" is another triumph from Justin Cronin. A dystopian, sci-fi/fantasy TRIP, this novel follow Proctor as he uncovers the realities that lie deep within the archipelago of Prospera. When the Support Staff begin to question their place in the island's caste, unrest begins among the people, who are nervous a revolution will begin with the Arrivalists. This novel is action-packed with an incredible plot that consistently keeps you on the edge of your seat. With deeply crafted characters, I was captivated and invested in the quest for truth and transparency in a system that denied its people for so long. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy for review!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, a person who escorts people to be "reiterated" when their life on Prospera is no longer viable. For on Prospera, no one dies, at least if you are one of the Prosperans, you only become a new person.. This is an island paradise, for the chosen, hidden from the "real world" and all its horrors. But there is trouble brewing.

First, Proctor dreams, which is not normal here, and he dreams a LOT, and sometimes even sleepwalks, and has since he was a child. Then one day he is assigned a special case - his own father. And his father does not go easily, but rants and raves - and gives Proctor a message, if only he can decode it.

And then there are the the Support Staff, who perform all the labor necessary to keep this paradise going, but live separately, on an adjacent island, the Annex, where life is not so ideal. But they live more normal lives, living and aging and dying, even having babies. But they are beginning to realize that they are being exploited and are becoming unhappy with the current system.

All of this comes to a head during an exceptionally strong storm. And Prospera will never be the same.