Although this story was not my usual genre, it was highly recommended by a friend and I am so glad I read this book. What a fascinating story with a Matrix-like twist. I loved the way the author explained the "science" behind the story within the story. I don't want to give to much away but this is science fiction at its best.

I just loved this book. But it’s so hard to leave a review without giving out major spoilers and plot twists. If you’ve read Cronin’s <i>The Passage</i>, you may be familiar with his work. His novels are highly detailed and <i>The Ferryman</i> is no exception.

Set in the land of Prospera, where everything is beautiful and life is grand. Days are filled with work and nights are filled with parties. You can choose a spouse for a 5, 10, or 15 year contract. Where your life is monitored by a device implanted in your arm. When that device gets below 10%, its Procter Gamble's job as The Ferryman to get your affairs in order and send you out to the Nursery, an island where you'll be reborn and come back as a teenager - to become a couple's ward/child.

But there's truly no such thing as paradise and soon Procter gets embroiled in a mission to find the truth about Prospera — and the surrounding players in this idyllic world.

This one was an interesting read. Started off really well, then hit a point of total confusion and finished strong. Hard to explain what it's about, so just read the GR description and go from there. The twists, once better explained, are rather intriguing, save for Cronin's use of a well-worn woke boogeyman to explain one of the core concepts behind the revelations (you'll figure it out). Beyond that, I found the story complex and highly character-driven with a dense plot that only sometimes feels the weight of its plot. In the end, it's pretty satisfying, if not on the level of The Passage trilogy. 3.75 stars bumped to 4 for the quality of writing. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was thrilled when I heard Justin Cronin had a new book in the works. Doubly thrilled to be given the opportunity of an early read!

Like his previous works, it's so easy to get lost in the world he creates.... Lyrical and vibrant, I could see Prospera and the Annex! And I think I changed how I felt about nearly every character at least twice from start to finish.

And the tragedy hiding at the heart of the story was elegantly wrought and colored everything that happened in such a way that I was left wanting to just crawl in and have a cry with them.

I loved The Passage series and was so excited to see that Justin Cronin had a new book coming out. This book was hard to put down and fans of Cronin's should definitely pick it up.

4.5 Sci-Fi Emotions Stars
* * * * 1/2 Spoiler Free
Recently, sci-fi hasn't been my thing, but when I was invited to read this and the main quote promoting it came from Stephen King, well that made it a hard yes. Many years ago I was a King fiend, reading his books, cover to cover...getting lost in his worlds.

The Ferryman has that type of feel. You start it and right away you are sucked in and willing to follow Justin Cronin's lead. This ride has many levels and insights into current issues for today and then shows how today's actions impact tomorrow.

There is so much to this tale...and to share really anything might take away from your reading experience. What I will share is that I had moments where my emotions surprised me, the deep intense feelings that came unexpectedly. The perspective of Protector and his journey held me interested until the end.

As a big fan of Justin Cronin's Passage series, I was eager to see what kind of dystopian sci-fi world he could create in The Ferryman. This book told an interesting and at times beautiful story, with several truly astonishing "what is going on" moments that had me unable to put the book down for hours at a time. A few of these moments were, unfortunately, not quite to my liking after finishing the book. One specific plot twist which throws much of what you've read into a new light made me feel as if a good portion of the book had been completely undercut (which stung a bit as the opening of the story actually felt quite slow), and I was left wanting more development in the back-end of the story than there was.

Fans of Cronin will definitely find some things to like here, but the specific twist and ensuing events just weren't up my alley unfortunately.

What a whirlwind! Thank you to Ballantine Books for the invite to read this epic.

Reminiscent of Blake Crouch - The Ferryman by Justin Cronin is a sci-fi thriller that will keep you guessing until the last page. I was truly surprised up until the very end.

I think Cronin does a great job of confronting the millionaire's march to finding other habitable places in our solar system. His handling of the greed and autocracy that seems to be prevalent in an industry hell bent on doing anything BUT fixing the actual planet we live on was on point and I can only hope that should this ever need to be an option - someone will step up in this way.

This was my first Justin Cronin but I am really excited to dig into his backlist.

Justin Cronin has done it again, another Sci-Fi hit. I really enjoyed the world, Prospera, that Cronin has built, told through multiple viewpoints, it’s beautiful. The imagery is vivid and the world feels somehow vast and yet understandable. This utopic world has no worries and citizens live amazingly fulfilling lives, and when its your time, when your number is up, The Ferryman will take you to be refreshed. You get to try again as a new person, a whole another life to learn, to love, to live. But of course Utopia doesn’t really exist, there are secrets and power hungry motivations behind Prospera’s perfect facade.

Another reviewer summarized the book as Westward meets Inception and I think that is the most apt characterization. I really liked this book and don’t want to give anything away, but the book is very much worth the read.

Please note I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. NetGalley, the Publisher, nor the Author have any influence on the content of my reviews.

Just WOW!!! Could not put this book & again, Justin Cronin does not disappoint!!

What a wild ride this book was & I won't do it any justice to try to break it down, but be prepared for a journey!!

What you think it is when you start reading, well that will change several times over the course of the story.

To quote Bruce Springsteen- “Is a dream a lie if it don't come true? Or is it something worse?”

I am so thrilled that I had the opportunity to have an advance copy of this book-thank you Random House, Ballantine Books & Net Galley & of course the author!!

Thank you for the opportunity to preview the Ferryman. Very different and surreal.
At first I was not sure what was going on but I kept with it.
The author takes you in the head of Proctor who holds the title of Ferryman. He does his job on a small island that is far from everything and he does his job well. But Proctor questions so many things in his existence and he has visions that make him believe he may be on to something.
And what can he do but he knows if he doesn’t the truth will never be told.
Mysterious and surreal writing. 4 stars

I loved The Passage and the first half or so of this was amazing - I found it engaging and thought-provoking. Unfortunately it started to go downhill and I just didn't enjoy the end. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This post-apocalyptic/sci-fi/morality tale mash-up will keep you guessing even after you "figure it out."

The initial idyllic caste-system setting definitely leaves you wondering about what it is that's not-quite-right. Cronin deftly assembles his characters and setting in a beautiful post-modern utopia but don't think you know whom to trust. There's lots of foreshadowing sprinkled in; and, hold onto your seat, because Cronin does an excellent job of tying things together - much preferred to a novel where you're constantly following white rabbits that disappear down the hole never to resurface.

Cronin's characters are real and flawed and not exactly who you think they are, but that's OK. There's redemption and a few surprises in the end!

Although I often hesitate to recommend post-apocolyptic fiction to just anyone (there is a certain group of us that LOVE it, but it's not everyone's cup of tea); this novel has broad appeal without dire hopelessness so I think it will definitely be one I recommend to draw others to the dark side.

Kudos, Mr. Cronin - an all-around satisfying read!

The Passage trilogy is one of my all-time favorite series, so I was thrilled to get to read The Ferryman. This new book solidifies Justin Cronin's status as a Master Storyteller. The story is so incredibly creative, layered, human and deeply emotional. When characters from other books have long faded from my memory, Cronin's stay deeply rooted in my mind and my heart. I do not want to spoil ANYTHING about the plot because experiencing this tale's unfolding is an incredible journey you should take yourself on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for access to this arc.

Wow! I thoroughly enjoyed the “The Ferryman” by Justin Cronin. It’s a stand alone for him and the less you know going in, the better. I loved the characters and the plot twists. I was truly shocked by the twists at the end. Bravo!

I want to preface this review by saying I am a huge fan of Cronin’s Passage Trilogy. His ability to create stories that are horrific yet hopeful, tender yet terrifying is unmatched. Unfortunately, The Ferryman is not one of those stories. In fact, it’s difficult to determine exactly what type of story The Ferryman is—a dystopian thriller? A meditation on what it means to love and to be loved? A tale of family, both blood and choice? The twists and turns of The Ferryman are, at first, unexpected and move the plot forward quickly, but are also very reminiscent of The Truman Show and Never Let Me Go. As the novel develops, the connections between these are almost too strong, but also grow to include elements of Neal Shusterman’s YA novels, Scythe and Unwind. In other words, while the first half of The Ferryman is interesting, it’s noticeably derivative, especially for a reader that is familiar with many of the tropes found in these types of novels/movies. Where the story really goes off the rails, though, is the almost laughable second half—for readers of a certain age, all I need to say is, “who killed Bobby Ewing” and The Bob Newhart Show series finale. As the kids say, iykyk. There are shades of Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves and even Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary…in other words, nothing about this story is fresh, interesting, or even original.

SciFi at its absolute best! The Ferryman is my first book by Justin Cronin, but it certainly won’t be my last. Think Upload meets Inception meets Snowpiercer. The ultimate dystopian fantasy, this book will make you question your reality with its brilliant world building and relatable characters. An addictive and unpredictable read from start to finish. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine a place, part of our world, but separate. A place behind the veil. An island named Prospero where people live their lives in close-to-ideal circumstances, with just enough imperfection to make their lives interesting. Now imagine that those people, once they begin to reach the end of their lives, start to feel the aches and pains and heartaches of the elderly, can choose to “retire”. But instead of death, they are regenerated and get to begin life again as a teenager and, once again, live a full life. They won’t have any memories of a previous life but will be secure in the knowledge that they will always have a new life after this one.

Proctor Bennet is a ferryman. It is his job to ferry those ready to “retire” to another island for the beginning of the rejuvenation process. But when he finds himself in the unenviable position of having to ferry his own father to the next life, his will falters. He pushes on with the task but not all goes according to plan, launching Proctor into a rapidly spiraling out of control series of events that makes it clear that not everything is at it seems.

This novel by Justin Cronin, slated for publication in May of 2023, begins almost like a fantasy novel filled with a marvelously wonder-filled environment. But it’s a genre bending story written in a superb fashion. There are elements of fantasy, certainly, but also a deep mystery, some excellent action-adventure, all wrapped up in some very realistic science fiction. From the very beginning, the reader gets the impression that we are merely cruising along the surface of what the real story is. The feeling of wanting to know just what is actually going on here is like the proverbial siren call; we need to keep reading to uncover just a little more of this deep mystery. Much of the time, in the first half of the novel, I was reminded of that same feeling I got when I first watched episodes of “The Prisoner” TV series starring Patrick McGoohan. The protagonist, as well as the reader, knows we don’t have the full story and we are compelled to learn the truth.

It’s difficult to divulge more of the plot, particularly of the second half without giving away spoilers, so I won’t. But it’s incredibly thought provoking, on many fronts. There are some references to what our planet is going through today regarding climate change, and some logical extrapolations as to where that may lead, but this is handled matter-of-factly, and is in no way preachy or political. It’s just part of the setting against which the plot takes place. The characters are fully realized and complex, and fascinating to watch. This is “smart” speculative fiction, to be sure, but the author never stoops to trying to make us feel dumb. Rather, we are swept away in a torrent of compelling events, both emotional and gratifying.

A thoroughly satisfying read.

“The Ferryman” is set on an isolated archipelago, cut off from the rest of the world. It consists of three islands: “Prospera”, “the Annex” (connected to Prospera via a causeway) and “the Nursery,” reachable only by ferry. Prospera is an affluent island populated by the wealthy who reside in mansions overlooking the sea, where they are served by residents of the Annex, a poor working class who cross the Causeway each day to serve the Prosperans.

The residents of Prospera don’t bear children, but instead foster “wards” that come from the Nursery, where they have been “reiterated” (reborn) from previous existences. When they arrive the wards are not children but adolescents, and are taught in an academy until they reach adulthood. All residents of Prospera wear a monitor that keeps track of their health. Once it falls below a certain level, they are “retired” to the Nursery, where they will be reiterated as wards. The main character, Proctor Bennett, is a “Ferryman,” whose job is to pick up the “retirees” and take them to the ferry, which carries them to the Nursery for their reiteration.

Proctor’s world is shaken when he is tasked with picking up his own “father” who took Proctor in when he was a ward. At the ferry, his father becomes agitated and has to be chased down. His final words to Proctor are: “the world is not the world. You’re not you…” and the cryptic word “Oranios.” With these words, Proctor and the reader realize that things on the three islands are not what they seem.

“The Ferryman” is an intricately plotted and meticulously crafted novel that will grab the reader and won’t let go. Cronin mesmerizes with his beautiful prose style, drawing the reader in to the wildly imaginative world he has created. This is the first Justin Cronin book I have read but it certainly won’t be my last. I highly recommend this exquisitely written, visionary book.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for providing me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.)

The Ferryman is a unique and engaging story with an interesting premise. Though the story started a little slow, once things ramp up…I could not put it down. I really enjoyed this one!