Amazing, profound and riveting. This story makes you question everything. The writing is spectacular, and pulls you into this new world.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is ALOT. It starts with characters in a sort of utopia world, “Proseria” pursing the finer things in life. No sickness, no worry. As a reader- my suspicion is affirmed when cracks in this façade appear; the multitude of workers who commute in from the “annex” -the gardeners, sewer workers, the maids, the “lower class”, whose entire existence is to serve then go back home to the slums. The good life is not for them.
The Proserians have a lifecycle that is endless- as they become aged and infirm they board a ferry to a nearby island called the nursery, where they will be reborn into teenage bodies with none of their existing memories, and exit as 16 year olds to live their whole life again.
Our main character Proctor Bennet suspects that something is wrong, something is missing, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. At this point as more and more is revealed, the book drags a bit. The enslaved from the annex begin a rebellion, and much of the first 2/3 is dedicated to their efforts of infiltrating the hierarchy and wrestle for control.
Its the last 1/3 of the book however, is where we learn what is actually going on, and kept me up late reading. Its not at all what I expected.
Everything ties together neatly, with lots of big topics- ala what is life? to think about after. Satisfying ending.
Could use some editing to speed up the plot a bit, but Recommend

Not a typical Cronin subject, but as perfect as his previous novels. A master at world building, Justin Cronin has made a completely believable future possibility that keeps you guessing. The Ferryman is utter genius.

MY REVIEW: 4.5 Stars

I’m not even sure what I just read!



Proctor is a Ferryman which is a creepy job! He takes people to the ferry that takes them to the Nursery island! Yeah…..

There is some stuff with his father that is really sad.

AND…

Then this book goes right off the rails! The twists in this book are beyond what I could have imagined! I’m still not sure I understand some of it but it’s not in a bad way. I definitely recommend the book!

*Thank you to the publisher for the offer to read this book and Netgalley for the digital copy!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Justin Cronin’s other series -- It kept me reading. This book is the same. Proctor is a Ferryman, he escorts those who have outlived their lives to the Ferry- then come back as someone else – a child in an adult body to be nurtured to adulthood. These are the special people. Then there are the worker bees --
Proctor is sent to escort his father and is told by him that there is something going on.
The story slowly unfolds but keeps you reading far into the night. Just like all this other books. It drags you in. I highly recommend this book – giving it five stars which is rare for me

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Tina Culbertson
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Tina Culbertson's Reviews > The Ferryman
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
The Ferryman
by Justin Cronin (Goodreads Author)
13328947
Tina Culbertson's reviewDec 17, 2022 · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: fantasy, netgalley

I finished The Ferryman by Justin Cronin and it was ....interesting. Think of the movies The Island with a bit of Inception and a dash of The Matrix. It's post apocalyptic and dystopian, very engaging in most parts. I will say I prefered Cronin's trilogy The Passage. The Ferryman has a publication date of May 2, 2023 and I was given an advanced readers copy from Netgalley.

Proctor Bennett is the main narrator of this story. He's a Ferryman which means he's one of many in that profession to to ensure an individual is "retired" from a long life on Prospera. The people on Prospera have a monitor embedded in their arms and when the level reaches below 20% they board a ferry and are sent to The Nursery. They 'start over" with a younger body and are reestablished back in Prospera as teenagers. Residents in Prospera are generally wealthy enough to have a very nice life.

The Annex is another part of the equation where residents there travel to Prospera to do work such as child minding, maids, sewer workers, bus drivers, etc. People who live in the Annex know real life such as hunger, crime, they are not sterile and babies are born the old fashioned way. Life is real.

But (and this is a huge but) as engaging as the story is you will be in for a huge twist/surprise at about the 85% point of the novel. A whoa moment as the entire story fits together.

I have been eagerly awaiting for the next Justin Cronin book ever since I finished the Passage trilogy so I was glad to get my hands on this ARC.

Happy to say that the author does not disappoint. The writing and the world building is as beautiful as ever. Complex plot but the payback is there if you hang in till the end

“The Ferryman,” by Justin Cronin, has a lot going on in it. I’m not the best person to read science fiction as it’s something I want to like, but don’t always (I keep giving it the old college try, though!). For the most part, Mr. Cronin’s science bits held my attention - so that’s a positive! I couldn’t help making comparisons, at the beginning, between this book and a combo of “Logan’s Run” and “Stranger in a Strange Land.” This book has the background of a dystopian world, but the main character lives (and works) in the utopian part of the world - think Lego(R) Movie’s “Everything is Awesome” plus early 1984). But over time, the main character (and reader) are slowly made aware that, well, not everything is awesome for everybody. I thought Mr. Cronin did a great job introducing these parts, even early on in the book, so that the reader sees the main character start questioning things, trying to both grok and figure out what is going on. I did like the world building. This is a long book and it took me a while to finish. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

I’m not usually a fan of dystopian or sci-fi novels but this story intrigued me. I was sucked in immediately and flew through the first half. However, I found myself getting a bit lost in the second half. I was still interested in the outcome so I completed the book. The message of global warming and the dangers we all face with climate change came through clearly but the author didn’t hit you over the head with it. The story alone conveyed it well. It’s thought provoking and entertaining. In spite of the length I would recommend it. Thank you to @NetGalley for the ARC.

I don’t really like to review books by comparing them to other books, but since it’s hard to say what I think without spoiling your experience, here goes: The Ferryman starts like Brave New World or 1984, with one of those utopias that we all know by now are really dystopias, and a protagonist who, for no fault of his own, runs afoul of the powers that be. There is also a young girl that reminded me a lot of the fireman’s companion from Fahrenheit 451. But towards the end it felt more like Mulholland Drive or Shutter Island. Which is to say, there are many ways in which things may not be what they seem. The eventual answers are satisfying in a way both plausible and that imparts deeper meaning.

If all these comparisons got you confused or turned off, please don’t be. The Ferryman is it’s own book, and a wonderful one. It has a dreamy feel, a somewhat disturbing, can’t look away quality. The writing is precise but thoughtful. And the characters are quite wonderful, with many layers.

Many thanks to NetGalley for a free early copy.

This is brilliant science fiction!! It is at the top of my books for ... next year.!

It is complex and mind-boggling with necessary information - revealed at perfect increments. It took me awhile to read it and I felt that only enhanced the book as the chapters need to be absorbed. Perfect for my patrons that love a bit of mystery with their science fiction.

Disclaimer: Received this as an advance reader copy via Netgalley and Ballantine Books (Thank you!!!)

It took me a bit to get into this book, I'd pick it up and read some, then put it down to read some other books. It wasn't until I was about a third of the way into the story that I stopped picking up other books and focused solely on this one.

In this story Proctor Bennet is a Ferryman and life is good, until it isn't. When things start heading south is when the book gets interesting. The book itself is a dystopian sci-fi action mishmash that keeps you guessing about what is going on. I think my difficulty getting into the story was due to the slow pace at which information was revealed and the point at which the book hooked me took longer because it was difficult to make sense of the world being presented.

It's hard to provide more detail without spoiling the story's twists and turns, and it wasn't until I was three quarters of the way done that I was able to connect the dots and anticipate where things were headed. The author does a good job of stringing the reader along without giving anything away.

If you are a fan of The Strain trilogy or Blake Crouch you'll likely enjoy this book.

I Couldn’t Stop Reading This Book

Proctor is a Ferryman, a head Ferryman. The position requires a special type of person, one who can be warm and kind but at the same time firm and regimented. He helps people leave this life to be reborn into someone new. To leave everything and everyone they know and start all over as someone else. When we meet Proctor he is being summoned to pick up someone special and escort him to the ferry for the last voyage in this life. That person is his father.

There are another group of people in this story, people who are not Aristocracy, the people who are transported to the island each day to serve the chosen. They are mostly good people living mostly good lives, but there are some who are getting ready to rebel.

It was a long, slow read for me but I never thought of quitting. The characters had such depth and their stories were so well crafted that I looked forward to the next sequence of events even though I didn’t thoroughly understand a few of the changes at first. The author created a whole new world and made it so real I could picture the people and surroundings in my mind as I read. This is an unforgettable book, not a quick story to read in one sitting but a book to get lost in when the opportunity presents itself.

Thank you Net Galley, Justin Cronin, and Random House for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Ferryman. This is my honest review.

OVERALL:
If Blake Crouch and Christopher Nolan wrote a book together. Which is just saying that Justin Cronin is that amazing. This book blends speculative fiction with utopia and sci-fi, and then to top it off, throws in relationships in the form of partners, children, and friends. It’s well layered, and seriously kept me wondering almost through the end.

20 SECOND “WHAT’S THIS ABOUT”:
Director Proctor Bennett ferries people at the end of their life, or when they are running less than 10%, per their monitor, to The Nursery. When he gets the notification that his father has requested to retire, this sets off a complex journey that includes his own rapidly decreasing percentage, revolts from the laborers, and the constant question of what is real.

My favorite part:
Unfortunately, I cannot talk about my favorite part without spoiling, but

ARC provided by Netgalley. Definitely grab this as soon as it comes out on May 2nd!

This was a thick, dense book that was a great world building novel.
I loved the story, but got lost in the details.
I felt that the author tried to put too much into the book and then some parts were left lagging.
The author makes it so you are just as confused as the main character and as he starts putting the pieces together, so do you.

Like other Justin Cronin books, I think of this as dystopian fiction. I have been IMPATIENTLY waiting for another book from him. This one involves an island where people go to retire and basically get new lives. Of course, everything isn't as it seems. Fast paced and I had a hard time putting it down to attend to "real life"! Definitely recommend along with his others books, such as The Passage and the other books in that trilogy!

Wow! Amazing! Although I did figure out one of the main twists early on <spoiler>that the characters were in some sort of simulation</spoiler>, there were so many layers of who did what and who knew what that the end was full of surprises. Very well outlined as I feel the reader was given new information at just the right time. I received an ARC of this work for my honest review.

What a different adventure this was! I have heard about Justin Cronin and The Passage series but have never read it. And, to be honest science fiction is usually not my go to when it comes to genres. But, there was something about the description of this one that grabbed me.

This author has an extremely unique ability to provide you with a wave of emotions for each character he rights. It was like a roller coaster following the characters and Proctor on his journey. And Prospera...not sure how I feel about it. Would I want to live there for an extended lifetime only to have my memories and body rebooted and start over? To be honest, I don't think so. But, it certainly was unique.

Justin Cronin always has great stories full of vivid imagery and vast character interpretations. The Ferryman had so much going on, and it was a bit difficult to read at times because there are so many things happening at the same time.

This book was a slow read because of all of the minute details that Cronin gives throughout the book. I felt like I had to re-read a lot of paragraphs to make sure I was understanding the story correctly. That being said, this is a sci-fi lover's dream. There is so many things to like about this, from the real science to the made up science. It reminded me a lot of the TV show Lost in the fact it is very "meta" and has a lot of back and forth between time (or is it reality?).

Great read, but not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for those who aren't big into sci-fi.

Wow. This novel blew my mind. So much going on here. Lots of set up
But a very satisfying ending. Reminiscent of Blake Crouch and also a bit of a Cloud Atlas vibe here.