I really had high hopes for this book – I think I let my love of this authors previous book set my expectations for new books too high. I love a good dystopian novel, but this one was a miss for me. I really couldn’t connect with the main character at all. I found her whiny and horrible, but the way it was written I was supposed to like her. I also felt that the pacing was off with this book. It was like stop and go. Too slow then too fast on repeat. I also got lost with some of the mixed media format. Some of it felt really out of place for me and I just didn’t get it.

I do think that this book tackles some big themes in our world, I just had high hopes, and expected more.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for providing Naomi Alderman’s upcoming book. It didn’t make as much of an impression on me as The Power. It was very dark and pessimistic and I found the resolution to be surprising, but perhaps not credible to me. I didn’t enjoy the interspersed internet history sections and would have preferred a different approach to revealing that information.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC. On the surface, this book is a thought provoking exploit into our current sociopolitical landscape: just the thing a dystopian novel ought to provide. The focus on monopolistic billionaires and the havoc they wreak, including a pursuit to abandon the world during an apocalypse for their own self-preservation, seems all too apt.

But for me, this is where the allure ends. I'm all for novels with various timelines and perspectives, yet Alderman's structure of the plot made following these a bit too difficult. At times, it seemed like she bit off more than she could chew. Meditations on the story of Lot and exploring a doomsday cult were interesting, but sometimes felt like they were thrown in haphazardly. Plot holes regarding the technology and human relations made it difficult to take much seriously as well.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read, but not as strong as her debut, The Power. Solid 3/5 stars.

The Future by Naomi Alderman seems like an all too real version of what could be in our future. It is not quite science fiction because all of the technology employed in the telling is most probably available to us now (at whatever cost).

The narrative centers around a survivalist who writes blogs and gives speeches on how to navigate a future full of possible pitfalls and emergencies. Her name is Lai Zhen and she is followed by lots of people on social media, including members of an apocalyptic cult called the Enochites. She is a lesbian and finds herself at a social event with a woman who happens to be the daughter of Enoch, which In a way, makes her as much of a survivalist as Lai Zhen. Her name is Martha and she is the right hand of a Tech magnate who is also into surviving. He has plans for when the world ends which Martha helps him set up. Lai Zhen becomes enthralled with Martha, and is seems to go both ways. As an aside, I do not think this story would have worked with a heterosexual couple.

Later, Lai Zhen finds herself in a mall where there is an active shooter. She wonders whether the shooter is after her but the doubt is erased at one point. The story becomes thicker and enticingly more complicated from there.

This can be a future in store for us, it isn’t really a cautionary tale but it could be. It is well written and with a cast of characters I had no problem remembering. Well worth reading and thought provoking.

This is an Armageddon story with the 3 most powerful tech CEOs at the center. It is interwoven with the story of Sodom and Lot as an apropos parallel. The CEOs learned nothing from the Old Testament. They predict the end of the world and make arrangements to save themselves in bunkers that are outfitted in the style to which they have grown accustomed. These villains aren't the only main characters. There is also Martha, an assistant to one of the tech giants who is not overrun by greed and a survivalist blogger named Lai Zhen. The characters are good or evil. I miss the nuanced characters of Disobedience. The plot has lots of twists and turns but I do feel the book's pacing was off. At times it is propulsive and at times I wanted to give up. Martha and Lai have interesting back stories that were very enjoyable. This is a futuristic, dystopian version of Who Shot JR (no longer a mainstream reference, I know but spot on.). All in 3.5 stars.

I am a huge Naomi Alderman fan and had very high hopes for this one. I will still read whatever Naomi wants to write. Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced readers copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for sending me an ARC of The Future in exchange for an honest review.

The description for The Future is somehow both weirdly vague and yet, if you’ve read the book, actually reveals a huge amount of the plot. Imagine if the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, and Facebook were all so insanely rich (they are) that they had secret bunkers around the world (they might) where they could isolate from the rest of the world if the shit ever hits the fan again. Now imagine if people close to those CEOs wondered if being so immune from the problems facing the rest of the world actually made it more likely that those CEOs would allow the very conditions that would cause the shit to hit the fan. Finally, imagine what will happen when the shit hits the fan, and those CEOs flee to their bunkers.

Personally, I absolutely believe the premise that Amazon and especially Facebook—and rampant wealth inequality—have created situations over the years that have made life in many countries (especially America) objectively worse (note: I believe this less about Apple, but I’m writing this review on an iPad so maybe I’m biased 😄). But that’s non-fiction. The grafting of a fictional plot line to explore that worldview must have been challenging and the final result made The Future an odd reading experience.

The first half of the book is largely character introduction and backstory, and some interesting philosophical discussions and stories of biblical and historical survival (which explain why the cover art is a combination of a fox and a rabbit). There are explorations of cities v. rural, farming v. hunter-gatherers, and which way of living enhances society’s survival. Still, it’s more than midway through the book before we reach the point teased in the opening where things are happening. From that point, the pace of the story dramatically accelerates and things get much more interesting. There are some plot twists late (not entirely unpredictable but solid) that nicely complete the story being told, especially because they fill in the earlier gaps where I had questioned the believability of what was happening.

I imagine few people will come to this book without having read The Power, a book about gender dynamics that I considered one of the best books of the last decade, this generation’s The Handmaid’s Tale. This book is swinging for the fences just like that book, taking on the nexus between corporate greed, income inequality, and the fate of our planet. No, it doesn’t work quite as well, there’s really only two characters who are fully developed, and I wish it could have been more evenly paced, but it’s certainly an interesting story. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4, but still recommended.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and #NetGalley for the ARC! An excellent follow up to The Power in which Alderman grapples with control dynamics and technology in a (just nearly) pre-apocalyptic world. It tackles themes of financial hierarchies in the tech world, what humans can and cannot control, religious ideologies, and separating our past from the inevitable. Martha and Zhen are interesting characters but Alderman’s unique plot structure is what will sell this one.

The deal: It’s the end(ish) of the world, and three tech CEOs, a survivalist content creator, and a few key folks in the tech CEOs’ inner circle come together and stay apart in various plots. Vague description? Intentionally! Basically, it’s a revolving POV (surprisingly twisty) tale of power, greed, tech, existentialism, etc.
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Is it worth it?: Kind of? I think a solid 100 pages of this could have been cut without anyone missing anything. I particularly struggled through the extended Book of Genesis analysis happening in the form of a Reddit-style forum thread every few chapters, even if I did begrudgingly learn a lot about Abraham and Lot. Can’t wait to see who options this for a limited series, though. The world-building is solid.
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Pairs well with: Made For Love by Alissa Nutting, Exhalation by Ted Chiang, Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter, ALONE on Netflix/The History Channel
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C+

Interesting book. Especially if you already think about big businesses taking over the future and what that will look like. Page turner, with some unexpected scenarios. Likable main character. Easy to imagine this on the big screen as one your new fave sci-fi type movies.

I was really eager to read this after previously reading Alderman's other book, The Power, and I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. In fact, I think I liked this book even more. The characters were great, the story was delightfully twisty in a way that you can almost but not quite predict, and the themes felt especially relevant now with the rise of AI tech. This is one of my favorite books read so far this year.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

One of the most prescient and thought-provoking books I've read in a long time. Alderman creates a dystopian-utopian dichotomy that revolves around the world coming to the brink of disaster where humankind is on the verge of extinction unless drastic changes are made. It features billionaires who create fancy-schmancy bunkers on private islands to ensure their own survival instead of addressing issues that'd help save the masses, and has doomsday preppers talking End of Days strategy in online forums.

The split the author makes between the end feeling imminent and a better way forward being possible
is understated yet powerful in that it underscores bigger issues for readers to examine. Like that of technology and the ever-evolving role AI. Like the disparity between rich and poor and how that gap can lead to a select few having unfettered access to the world's resources. Like the corruptive nature of power and status. Like the elimination of a few for the greater good of all.

It begs readers to ask the question: What would you do? Or, perhaps more compellingly, what WILL you do? Because the future is closer to arriving than we realize.

The story itself makes for delicious - albeit distressing - allegories about our world and where we could be headed if we're not careful, and I found that to be its main propulsive force. There was also something thrilling about being able to predict where some plot points would end yet then being completely gobsmacked by others. The alternating perspectives, too, which brought characters from different backgrounds and parts of the world on a collision course with each other, kept me on the edge of my seat, with me dying to know how they'd either influence, react, clash, or destroy one another.

So yeah, this one definitely left me musing. Lots to think about. A smart and electrifying speculative thriller all around!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Alderman's novel had me guessing and thinking I could figure out the twists, but really didn't until the very end. I liked her narrative structure that always kept the book moving forward but giving insights into specific moments and clues to pick up on later.

Lai Zhen is a great, well-rounded character and honestly I could have read a whole book about her and her "life." She is incredibly interesting and layered and I liked the survival aspects that she brought to the narrative.

The end was a little much and best-case scenario that felt right on the edge of being preachy. I feel like Alderman could have pared it down slightly; however, it didn't not work and I was still satisfied with how it all wrapped up.

This would be an interesting book for the classroom because of the social issues discussed, the current ethical trends (and AI), and the narrative structure Alderman chose to drive the plot.

Thank you to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy to review.
Much like Naomi Alderman's The Power, this book brings up interesting thing to contemplate about human nature. Things like the slow isolation of people in the modern age, the point of survival without community, and the birth and manipulation of religion/cults. She does this all surrounding the fascinating phenomenon of Survivalist internet culture and secret bunkers for the ultra rich. However I did feel it dragged a bit in the middle, and without spoiling it, I don't know if I ever fully bought one of the central plot points. But that is just my own skepticism about the ability of human nature to change.

I'll admit it. This book was over my head. I wanted to get into it but I don't love this genre and I did find it difficult to keep up with the writing. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Three stars. The concept is fab but it just wasn't a book to my liking.

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this novel in order to provide an honest review. The thoughts that follow are genuine reflections of my experience, and are not a mere consequence of this fact.

I knew, when the pandemic occurred, that we were living in a dystopian novel. I wasn't sure which one, but now that I've read Alderman's latest, it's clear: It's this one. It's "The Future." I inhaled this novel. I started it and finished it in the span of 36 hours. I told my daughter and my husband to fend for themselves and to leave me be as I read it, sustenance be damned. I'll try not to give too much away, here, but be wary...

To say Alderman is prescient is an understatement. Of course, I attached real people to this fiction's characters. I reveled in the allegory. It had twists that I saw coming, some that I didn't, and ultimately left me with a very grim outlook for our society's future. You can call it conspiracy, but I have spoken to people who have actually been enmeshed in the economic failure of certain countries; countries with resources that should be protected, but are instead leveraged to make some very wealthy people even wealthier. Alderman's novel proposes a potential solution to that, and makes it seem very feasible and highly attractive. Is it really? Power never really dies out... it just gets transferred. It does in the real world, and it does in this novel. It was still a very intriguing, very engaging, plot that will not leave me for some time. As we move into a world where AI writes just about everything, I really appreciated some of the perspective presented here. I learned a lot, and the novel gave me some fodder for future research that I can't help but pursue. Immediately.

Read it. Read it like your life depends on it. Then message me so we can talk about it, because I'm dying to actually talk about it.

The author of the POWER - a cutting book and mesmerizing tv series is back!

The novel revolves around the world coming close to disaster. The very powerful and wealthy are much more consumed with creating bunkers than taking steps to stave off disaster. Several characters emerge to root for including a Chinese refugee and an ex-cult member - both extremely intelligent and resourceful.

Peppered with board discussions of the end -of-days and prepper talk, the novel takes us through what could happen and honestly, very well might. In typical style, Alderman has created a perfectly paced thriller that has enough twists to entertain even those of us not interested in prepping, dystopia and tech danger. Best yet, women are still at the center of the tale, this isn't a dry spy/international doomsday story.

If you love an intelligent thriller, a prophetic cli-fi story or just want to read what's next from the author of The Power - The Future is for you!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review "The Future" by Naomi Alderman. If I'm not mistaken, this is Alderman's 2nd work, with "The Power" being their first. I was generally a fan of The Power, with a compelling (if rather ugly at times) plotline and it was a quick read. The Future goes basically along those lines- not a challenging read to get through in a weekend, though the thought points will likely stay with you for a long time after that weekend wraps up. It's easy enough to see where Alderman's IRL influences are here, and as long as you're good with the commentary on tech, billionaires, power, and the ugly ways they combine, you'll enjoy The Future.

This book was a difficult read for me. It started out fun, but required very deep thinking and included moral issues. The technology it described was difficult to conceptualize. The time line moved around, and the characters were difficult to follow and like. Sacrafice a few for the greater good is a difficult theme. Still, the ending was interesting. I won't read this book a second time; it took me a month to read it.

I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of THE FUTURE by Naomi Alderman in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a safe and happy summer!

The best I can say about this book is if you enjoy eclectic writing that wanders, is difficult to follow and boring then this is the book for you.Many other reviewers commented that the author’s first book was way better than this one. Wish I had read that one instead of this one.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.