Oh boy, hold on tight because "The Future" by Naomi Alderman takes you on an exhilarating journey that'll leave you questioning everything you thought you knew! This book is a total winner, folks, with enough twists and turns to make your head spin, and it's all served up with Alderman's signature style that keeps you glued to the pages.

In this white-knuckle tour de force, we're thrown into a world on the brink of disaster. But forget about the average Joes and Janes, because this time it's the billionaires who are calling the shots. They're not exactly saving the day, though; they're too busy splurging on fancy bunkers to ensure their own survival. Talk about priorities, right?

But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom. We're introduced to a fantastic group of characters who are determined to make a difference. There's the daughter of a cult leader, a brilliant non-binary hacker, a Silicon Valley visionary who got the boot, a wife trying to rein in her dangerous CEO husband, and an internet-famous survivalist. Trust me, you'll be rooting for this motley crew as they hatch a daring plan that might just be the greatest heist ever or the end of civilization as we know it. No pressure!

What I absolutely loved about "The Future" is how it seamlessly blends boardroom discussions of impending doomsday with prepper talk. Alderman knows how to keep the tension high and the adrenaline pumping. And let's not forget that the women in this tale are front and center, making sure this isn't your run-of-the-mill spy thriller. It's refreshing to see strong, smart, and complex female characters taking charge and stealing the show.

If you're a fan of intelligent thrillers that make you ponder the future, or if you're intrigued by prophetic cli-fi stories, then this book is an absolute must-read. Alderman's writing is captivating, and her ability to create a near-future world that feels scarily plausible is downright impressive. And hey, even if prepping, dystopias, and tech dangers aren't your usual cup of tea, "The Future" will still have you hooked from start to finish.

I would have loved to see even more depth in exploring the consequences of the characters' actions. While the pacing was perfect and kept me on the edge of my seat, a bit more reflection on the aftermath would have added an extra layer of impact.

All in all, "The Future" is an electrifying read that demands your attention. Naomi Alderman has once again proven herself as a master storyteller who knows how to deliver a gripping tale. So, buckle up and get ready for an adrenaline-fueled ride into the unknown!

3.5/5

I was eager to get my hands on this book as a fan of Alderman's earlier work, "The Power." This new novel shares a similar structure: multiple characters across the globe whose fates intersect into a grand and explosive finale.

The story centers primarily on a group of elitist tech executives, Jeff Bezos types whose various technologies have expanded access (and thereby monitoring) of information. Their newest secretive technology, AUGR, is an advanced AI tool that will predict the end of the world early enough for its small group of users to get to safety. Implied, of course, is that the poor commonor will be destroyed in the apocalypse while the rich live out of the remainder of days in a palacial bunker. In this not too distant future (best guess is the 2050s, 2060s), survivalism is an object of fascination for religious zealots and content creators. One of these creators, Zhen, gets caught up in AUGR's web and embarks on an international chase to get to the bottom of its origins.

While the premise was fun and certainly felt relevant, the quality of the writing is what really stood out to me here. Is this the same author that racked up a slew of literary awards? The prose was so casual it almost felt comical. One line describes a character "scooching her butt" towards another. Another interesting choice: "it was like showing her his c*ck, but more more intense." The poor writing did not do this story justice and rendered it satirical and campy. Maybe that was the point?? I'll be curious to see if the TV rights get optioned for this because it read like one of those books written with the intent of becoming a movie, focusing more on quick plot advancements and not true character development (thinking of Blake Crouch here). The themes of wealth disparity were berated and on the nose. I wish Alderman had demosntrated more trust in her audience's capacity for comprehension.

As a standalone sci-fi novel, this is a fun commercial and summer popcorn read. The ending was surprising and even delightful. As the new work of an estimed and decorated novelist, much more of a disappointment.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this advanced reader copy. What an interesting premise this book offers.. I did not read the first book that everyone else is talking about called Power. Maybe I’ll add that to my list after this one.. . The tech comments in this book I totally agree with.. The book has so many things going on you really and truly have to take notes like I did too appreciate it.. Grab your copy! So informative.

Wow, this was such a lovely, innovative and thoughtful novel. Alderman has refined her writing from her previous novel "The Power" to an even finer point in "The Future." Grand ideas told through complex and real characters with an intriguing plot that keeps turning. One of the best I've read this year so far.

4.5 Really interesting book about how we influence and perceive the future. 3 companies owners are bent on maximizing profits while another person very close to them sees what could be done for good. How do you change the world? By changing someone’s future? I was guessing until the end and it was a very satisfying ending.

I read The Power in 2021 and really enjoyed it. I was excited when I saw a new book by Naomi Alderman was coming out.

I love the cover! It’s very simple but I think it matches perfectly to the story. Futuristic but old stories. I noticed the fox immediately but it took me a second glance to see the rabbit. The fox and rabbit is a common theme in the book.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t click for me. I was interested from the synopsis but it didn’t hook me in once I started reading. I also have a hard time with books where almost all the characters have sketchy personalities and few redeeming qualities.

50% in I still felt like nothing was really happening. And I kept putting off reading because I wasn’t interested. I pushed through but probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t an ARC.

But! If you enjoy books about technology and religious backgrounds you might enjoy this more than I did! It’s always worth a try.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Naomi Alderman and Simon & Schuster Publishing for the opportunity to read The Future. I have written this review voluntarily.

3.5/5 As a huge fan of The Power, I was really looking forward to reading Alderman's latest book, but it didn't really affect me like The Power. I liked parts of this book, but other parts were just confusing and I found that I wasn't really connecting with the characters or the plot.

The Future starts slowly and builds to an increasing intensity of hope for survival and a way forward in the world. Alderman takes issues plaguing us, including climate change, economic disparity, the use of technology and artificial intelligence ruling our lives, and creates a world on the verge of destruction. Three billionaire titans of the tech industry obsessed with money and power, aware of the impending doom, have been secretly building and supplying bunkers to wait out the apocalypse. They have no regard for what will happen to the rest of humanity.

People close to the powers that be recognize the imminent threat and need to find a solution. A Chinese immigrant survivalist becomes involved with one of the players and is trying to find out why some people are trying to kill her. We are taken on a clandestine trip to find answers.

Amid all of this, we are privy to a social media chat based on the teachings of a fanatic religious leader which discusses among other things, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his wife, and how many people would God allow to survive. Survival is a key driver propelling the novel forward. But, is the survival instinct enough? Can humanity be saved? How will Alderman handle theses challenges? It may be speculative fiction, but it sure feel real to me. Outstanding!

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Naomi Alderman has done it again. I read The Power years ago and have never forgotten the way that book made me feel. Thanks to NetGalley, I got to experience her newest speculative novel good and early! In The Future, Alderman's vision is vividly imagined as a tightly woven tapestry of ideas and connections, centered around a few billionaires and their inner circle. It is compulsively readable, and every new chapter reveals something about this barely futuristic world. The billionaires are thinly veiled allegories of real people, but the story is the same - the wealth disparity and unfettered access to resources drive unimaginable profit. This affects the imaginary world of Alderman's making just as it does our own. The globe is heating up, people are more captivated by their devices than ever, and the end feels close. Despite the impending apocalypse, the super-rich stay the course and continue to line their pockets, excusing themselves by funding small wildlife preserves and donating to charities. All the while, they are preparing for the end by stocking massive private bunkers and designing elaborate travel plans for the end of the world. They will spare no expense to save themselves and leave everyone else to their fate. Can their goodwill and huge fortunes be redirected to prevent the end of the world? Is it too late to turn the tide? Or when the time comes, will they retreat to their future-safe bunkers and give up everything they worked for? A wild ride from start to finish, with keen observations on the state of the world as we know it; Naomi Alderman knows what's up.

I enjoyed this novel, although not quite as much as I liked The Power. Recommended to readers of sci-fi and dystopian books.

What the heck did I just read? I realize that I am, by far, in the minority in my opinion of this book. Most reviews are glowing, giving the book, on average, more than 4.5 stars. I think it is closer to a 3-star book. There is nothing inherently wrong with it. However, I found the occasional. message board formatting is jarring. The rest of the book is fairly well done. The message that we must protect the world is timely and something we should heed. I am most likely the outlier, as I am sure that this LGBTQ-friendly book will be well-received by most.

I really loved this book. I tend to be fascinated by dystopian-esque stories that mirror our current world. The Future has three tech giants at its center: they are renamed, but pretty clearly Apple, Amazon and Facebook. The power and harm they do to the world in the book mirrors the harm they do in ours. Examining this in a fictional format makes for a really interesting (and at times ridiculous) story. I don’t want to give anything away, but I was genuinely surprised by a few twist and turns. I couldn't put it down.

It must be said that I definitely did not understand the majority of the tech talk, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. Overall, a great read with an engaging main character (Zhen).

Another page turner by Naomi Alderman a multi layered story that drew me right in.This is a book I will be recommending to lovers of sci-fi those who enjoy a unique story.#netgalley #simon&schuster

Much like The Power, though to a lesser degree, this one struck me as a hugely ambitious, engaging, and relevant idea, condensed down into too small a format. The Future is partly about the role this decade's technology is playing in hastening the end of humanity, from encouraging polarization and extremism on social media in order to drive clicks to hastening habitat breakdown in a race for certain resources. It's also about the billionaires behind the tech, and how they can afford to be blasé about the damage they're doing because they all have bunkers and escape plans. It's about people working closely with them and looking for ways to defray the damage, and people on the periphery of their influence who are just trying to survive. And it doesn't always strike a compelling balance between these elements.

Among other things, the three billionaires running significant worldwide corporations hastening the damage don't get enough characterization for us to really see them as people instead of forces, which would be fine if later parts of the book didn't require us to see them as people, and have some investment in them as individuals. And there's a queer love story in the middle of all of this that's compelling, but that the book keeps zipping away from for such long periods that it's hard to know (or at times, remember) what other participant is thinking about in the middle of all this. Big portions of the book are given over to length religious/metaphorical rants posted by one of the characters on an online board, and while they give the book a kind of topline conceptual framework, it just isn't as compelling as the actual characters.

There are a handful of observations and ruminations in all of this, about the exact ways tech makes us dumber and madder, why that's profitable, and what could be done about it, that are really bold and intriguing. At times, this book is reminiscent of something Michael Crichton might have done at his absolute best, when he wasn't leaning into xenophobia or denialism. And whenever it keeps the focus personal and specific, it's also enjoyable and gripping. It just has such a tendency to zoom out to the macro just when the personal story is most intriguing, and to obfuscate story elements in ways that I think were maybe meant to provoke intrigue and excitement, but instead just got a bit confusing.

Overall, still a strong and satisfying read, a stealth hopepunk book that strongly suggests it's possible to make a difference in the world, and that giving into despair accomplishes nothing. It's just that as with <I>The Power</i>, I kept seeing hints of an even stronger and more satisfying project that might have been built on the same bones.

So many twist and turns. Plot was intense and unthinkable. Fantastic follow up story. A must read story!

I liked The Power but I love this. Actually unputdownable! Already started recommending it to friends.

I barely know where to start with this.

The good: The storyline grabbed me from the very beginning. Intriguing, exciting, unexpected, the action is fantastic. The characters are diverse and so memorable. And many unusual. The descriptions are written in a way I could easily envision it all. Some really fabulous tech and science and engineering going on in this story. Some deep revelations, too.

The bad: every now and then, I thought, "What in the world are you talking about? I don't understand anything I just read in the past 3 paragraphs, and I'm not going back to reread your little train track you just veered onto." Also, multiple names of important characters starting with the same fiest letter, I absolutely hate that so much. Confused me for at least 100 pages.

And you know what? The good is so good, it overshadows the bad. And the twists are... unusual and so good. YET, this is only a thriller in parts. Twists and action are written so calmly. You're drawn in and enjoying it but not holding your breath, and that's ok.

This book was so good and also something else, I don't even know how to label it.

Can ordinary people fight against the inexorable tide of technology development and corporate power? Similar to her strategy in "The Power," Naomi Alderman weaves together many narrative threads to create a cautionary tale about our near future. Plausibly based on current advances in technology, such as artificial intelligence and social media, The Future follows the endless ambitions of three technology titans. However, these ambitions also connect other characters who are closely connected to the leaders. This group forms an unlikely friendship as they try to use technology and human creativity to undo the damage that is being done to our environment and our human societies and relationships.

The complex plot will keep the reader guessing and rooting not only for our group of friends, but also for our executives. I found myself wishing and hoping that they would see that they could use their wealth and power to work for redemption and a better future. While I felt that the resolution was not as elegantly written as the rest of the book, I was, indeed, surprised and engaged throughout the novel. It left me thinking about the direction of our technology and corporate development.

I enjoyed The Power and looked forward to this book.
I like it! It had some twists and turns!

I just reviewed The Future by Naomi Alderman. #NetGalley

Naomi Alderman’s The Power was one of my favorite reads of 2021. I knew, when I read the summary of her new novel, that this one would be right up my alley. A questioning of our relationship with tech, AI, hegemonic mega companies, and survivalism, all wrapped in Alderman’s fast paced plot and vivid characterizations? Yes please.

The novel doesn’t disappoint. Alderman’s prose seamlessly alternates between straightforward dialogue, lyrical descriptions, and philosophical speculation. Her treatment of current events (the barely controlled progression of AI tech, the omnipresence of and overdependence on a handful of tech companies (the parallels between the novel’s three fictional companies and Apple, Meta, Amazon were both fun and frightening to read), humanity’s headlong destruction of ecosystems and biodiversity, the rise of political polarization and staggering inequalities) will match many a reader’s preoccupations. The recurring motif of the future, our choice to witness it passively or change it actively, will also resonate. Alderman does a truly impressive job tackling all these topics in a well-thought-of and carefully plotted manner, while intermingling them with the personal story of a handful of characters the reader can’t help but root for: a small group of tech workers turned activists, a survival expert, and yes, even the founders and leaders of the very tech companies accused of doing a not insignificant part in the destruction of the planet. The diverse representation is the cherry on the cake that is this very exciting novel: non binary characters, gays and lesbians, Asian and Black ladies, all of whom kick some serious ass. A very exciting and enjoyable read that asks (and occasionally answers) some important questions.

In conclusion: I’m in love with Naomi Alderman’s brain and I will keep reading everything she ever wants to put out in the world.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!**