"The species is going to die. Just let it." Solid start when discussing the future! Loved the angle of rich folks building a bunker and caring only about themselves. Rang very true to what might actually happen (or is happening??) if the mega rich knew the world was going to end. Unfortunately, the pace was too slow for me to make it through to the end. That being said, I'm excited for the movie version of this story!

This was slow to start but I‘m glad I stuck with it. Terrible people, running the world into the ground in the near future and what happens when people fight back. I liked the juxtaposition of greed and evil, consumption and climate change with religion woven through it all. This one made me think.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this eARC.

Naomi Alderman is just fantastic. I love a good dystopian novel and this was certainly no different. What a great book.

(𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯.𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 #𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬) I absolutely loved 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 by Naomi Alderman, so 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗨𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 was one of my most highly anticipated books this year. That can often be a bit of a curse for a book and I’m afraid that was the case this time. It’s not that I disliked 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, but I never really cared much about anyone in the story and instead often felt like I was being “schooled” in what our own future might look like if we don’t get our collective acts together. The weird thing is I don’t disagree with those predictions, but something about the delivery just didn’t hit for me.⁣⁣⁣
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The story takes place in the near future and features three hotshot tech company owners whose wealth and power have created a vise grip over almost everything and everyone. I took their companies to be close facsimiles to Google, Amazon and Meta. The three have been working together to save themselves and their loved ones from the apocalypse that much of the population feels is bound to come. Others, including a popular online survivalist and people close to each of the owners, believe that these corporations, if run differently, could have the power to heal the world and save the future.⁣⁣⁣
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The world building was fantastic and the premise solid. Yet, some parts just didn’t work for me. There were biblical sections that I skimmed and didn’t feel like I missed much by doing so. I was also disappointed by was the ending. For all the effort put into the rest of the book, the ending felt neat and tidy, almost like Alderman ran out of steam. I just wish I was left feeling more enthusiastic about this book and I’m eager to hear other readers’ thoughts. ⁣⁣⁣
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Have you read 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦? What did you think?⁣⁣⁣
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🎧/📕 I started this on audio, but had a hard time keeping everyone straight, so I switched to print. Once I was solid on the characters, I alternated formats for the rest of this book.

Being a huge fan of Alderman’s work, I was very excited for her new novel. It took me a moment to get into it, but once I did, I struggled to put it down. It’s a hefty volume, but then again, no one’s ever said the future would be light.
In fact, in Alderman’s vision, it is quite dark, basically apocalyptic. And the three mega-moguls who more or less own the world, do nothing to improve it, but are quite interested in saving their own skins and surviving no matter what. While those closest to them have a very different idea about …well, the future.
And so it goes. The epic power struggle. Who will win, morals or money? Read the book and find out.
Here’s the thing with this novel for me: it read long but amazingly well. One of the best books I’ve read all year, easily. Stupendously clever. Alderman is definitely carving out a niche for herself in science fiction/dystopian genre, first with the power and now this. I love clever books. There are enough dumb ones out there to make you appreciate it. Alderman has terrific ideas, and her writing is superb. The worlds she writes come to life three-dimensionally and stunningly.
But then, after the book is done there’s some distance/perspective, you realize that the grand concept here is actually rather simplistic or at least reductive. It casts the general population as wildly dumb/gullible/malleable/manipulatable/etc. which …well, isn’t far from the truth. But the novel’s solution for it is … kind of basic. And the timeline for it isn’t all that realistic either.
It seems that for a novel so very clever with details and logic and rhetoric, it would come up with something a bit more sophisticated then “tweak the algorithm, tweak the people, save the world” sort of thing. And Alderman actually seems aware of it in the end, going by the very last chapter. It’s like a dark pessimistic/realistic cheery on top of a hugely optimistic, pro-environmental, pro-world message.
But the thing is, you are not really aware of any of that while you’re in the novel (and what you do notice, you don’t much mind), and that’s purely because of Alderman’s skill as a writer. So it is an enormously engaging, enjoyable reading experience. Albeit one with arguable logistics. As opposed to The Power, which was sense through and through. Either way, recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

From the award-winning, bestselling author of The Power comes a white-knuckle tour de force and dazzling exploration of the world we have made and where we are going.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.

The Power is one of my favorite books of all time, so when I found out Naomi Alderman was coming out with a new dystopian science fiction novel I was so unbelievably excited. While I don't think this one quite lived up to the hype of that book, I do this was a really powerful and thought-provoking story.

This book jumps perspectives and timelines but mainly follows a group of tech billionaire CEOs who are claiming to use technology to save the world while also secretly preparing for the end of it (seems depressingly familiar). The differing points of view jump to their friends and confidantes as well, as they also prepare for the imminent apocalypse. Alderman does a really interesting job of tying together these different timelines and formats but it was a little hard to follow at points. I think even if the chapters were labelled with dates/times it would've helped a little.

I do think this book was kind of slow for me, there was a lot of background information being thrown at the reader and with the jumping timelines it was hard for me to focus on the story itself. The last like 20% of the book though was INCREDIBLE. I couldn't put it down at that point and I absolutely loved the ending! I feel like the read was worth it for that alone.

The Future by Naomi Alderman (author of The Power) is a dystopian novel about a few tech billionaires leading the world. Well connected and smart, these richest people on the planet have safe guarded their future with secret end of the world bunkers to survive the coming end of civilization as we currently know it. It's powered by technology and secrets. There are also small groups of survivalists, hackers, and outsiders who want to save the rest of us.

The book is incredibly detailed and interesting. It's suspenseful and futuristic, but also feels real and possible which makes it a bit disturbing and scary.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the electronic advanced copy.

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Murder Your Local Tech Billionaire to Save the World” the Novel.

Okay, okay. So there’s no actual murder in this book. And a great deal of this novel focuses on differences in belief systems, rather than drastic plot actions. However, it’s catchy, and if I had to choose a brief description that would get me to read this novel, that’s what I’d use to describe this book.

This book is told through a few perspectives leading up to the end of the world. We follow a few of these aforementioned tech billionaires as they use a groundbreaking new technology to figure out when natural and manmade disasters reach the tipping point where they need to “get out of Dodge,” as it were. Their focus is on expanding their companies and making more money - regardless of the personal or environmental harm it will cause. It’s much easier to simply figure out when the end of the world would occur, and survive it so they can rule afterwards.

The other main perspectives follow a survivalist popular for showing others how to survive in extreme scenarios and prepping for disaster, and the assistant of one of the main companies in the novel. We also get excerpts from a forum of preppers discussing both survival - but also with a surprisingly large focus on religion (and mostly a cult started by one single man named Enoch).

Through individual perspectives, and this forum, we can see the connections to the current world, and the potentially unhinged ramblings of Enoch to his Enochnites. The main story told by Enoch focuses on two characters named Fox and Rabbit (hence, the cover art) where Fox is a hunter-gatherer who lives off the land but never fully settles or owns it, while Rabbit lives in cities and has become complacent and lost the ability to survive on his own. The novel focuses on whether one way of life is actually better than the other, and whether you should choose to leave and abandon - or stay and fix it.

In the Biblical context, this story of Fox and Rabbit is seen through many different characters, with focus in this novel on Lot and Abraham. Lot has settled in Sodom with his family, and eventually has to escape with his family before God destroys the entire city. Abraham, however, is blessed by God and travels from one place to another, teaching his gospel. The idea we focus on in this novel is whether the city of Sodom could have been saved vs destroyed. And we take this perspective to the world at large with the question - When do you leave? For how many people is it worth saving the world for?

The two differing perspectives in this novel then clash between these two ideologies. Is it better to simply continue on as we are and let the world eventually crash and burn, and climb out of the rubble to potentially make the changes we need to save it? Or should we incorporate some drastic changes now to avoid the end of the world altogether? Are we Fox or Rabbit? Do we let Sodom be destroyed?

I really enjoyed this book far more than I would have expected getting into it. Despite having a slow buildup, the narrative is engaging and really brings you into considering the larger picture - as well as the reflections to the world we currently live in. There are a few times where the timeline changes unexpectedly, and it can be hard to follow along, but it’s never so difficult that it takes you out of the story. I will also say that there were a few times near the end where it felt almost too hopeful and optimistic about the future (and reminded me of Tomorrowland 2023), but otherwise I would have liked to incorporate the solutions provided in this book. I was also unsure what the ending epilogue actually meant, but this book feels like one where you get more out of it on subsequent rereads (and despite really enjoying this novel, there were a few times it felt like I wasn’t smart enough to fully understand it - but once again, I expect to be rereading this novel more than once.)

“The Future” by Naomi Alderman - (5 Stars) (Pub Date:11/7/2023) was an incredibly smart, fast - paced, compulsive read, that took me from ‘interesting writing prompt’ to ‘omg, that’s probably happening right now not 40 years in the future’ to ‘if it can get this bad, maybe it COULD get better’. A story with a terrifying near - future prediction and a final sense of hopeful possibility, if and only if…

Good Things: The tech and the AI/LLM pieces are excellently researched and take everything we surface-level know about what is and what is probable today to an incredibly realistic next-step scenario. This technology-fueled near-future of spiraling doom paired with the three worst emblematic, megalomaniacs alive today makes for an excellent and terrifying world for our flawed, interesting, and likable main protagonists to try and save. Also, GREAT hold-out till the end. Lastly, great representation for a myriad of non-traditional character tropes.

Opportunities: There’s really nothing needed … this book is top of the 2023 pile for me. All I can think of is that the ah-ha was GREAT, but also, a little ‘ah-ha’ like —meaning I’d spent some time getting to know and care about the ‘who and what’, and I would have liked to see just a little more time spent walking through the ‘ah-ha. I wanted to really revel in it.

Final Thoughts: I needed to read a book about how the future is what I make of it, just really really needed that message. This was also exactly what I needed after a run of slow and/or atmospheric reads. The pace was great, the world-building and believability were spot-on, and the characters were excellently developed. And there was an email address at the end that I took a quick minute to email…make sure you do, to get a little extra food for thought and an ongoing “but…wha???” mental reflection.

I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read of this story by netgalley and Simon and Schuster. The opinions in this review are expressly those of ButIDigressBookClub and are intended for use by my followers and friends when choosing their next book. #butidigress #butidigressbookclub #thefuture #naomialderman #simonandschuster @naomi_alderman #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #arc #arcs #thefutureishere #thefuturebook #techthriller

Details
Review Shared on Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/leah_cyphert_butidigressbookclub
Publishing Review 11/19/2023

Martha is the right-hand to the CEO of one of the world's leading social media companies. In her role, she has played a key role in the growth of the company, which is now deeply enmeshed in the lives of people across the globe. Although she seems like a natural in this world, her childhood could not have been any more different and makes her question the power and impact of her company and other leading tech companies. When Martha crosses paths with Lai Zhen, famous on the internet for her survivalist tips, she believes she may have found the one person she has ever truly connected with. But soon both Martha and Lai's lives are blown apart for seemingly entirely different reasons. As Lai seeks to discover what really happened, she uncovers a web of events far beyond what she could have ever contemplated -- and realizes there is much more to Martha than she, or most anyone, ever realized.

This was a highly engaging and thoughtful story, full of strongly drawn characters, a propulsive narrative, and a perceptive exploration of some of the most important issues of the modern day.

Highly recommended.

I would highly recommended this book if you're filled with pessimism and anxiety about the future due to climate change and greed and corruption. Many thanks to the publisher and net galley for the ARC!
I understand and agree with the criticisms about the lack of depth in characterizations, that the story can feel pedantic at times, the occasionally muddling plot, etc. However, I thought this book was an engrossing and smart commentary about power and human connection. I didn't particularly enjoy the message board parts, and felt like there was too much going on for me to keep track of all of the moving parts, but I loved Lai Zhen and how the story was framed around and through her rather than solely focusing on the tech giants. I loved the multiple twists at the end, and did feel a bit less pessimistic about the future than usual--it's a good reminder that we as individuals have the power to resist the narrative that we will not survive the Future.

Thanks, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, for the digital review copy.

“The world was a boxer, unsteady on its feet, wavering, waiting for the final punch.”

“The bestselling, award-winning author of THE POWER delivers a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it.” (NetGalley)

Sadly, this one didn’t completely work for me. While the plot was compelling, the execution was too convoluted and complex. I was often so confused that it pulled me out of the story. In addition, Alderman kept bopping me on the head with her “MESSAGE.”

Even the characters’ names were complex. I felt like they were in some kind of code – I even put a couple of them through an anagram engine to check! (Zimri Nommik, Selah Nommik, Martha Einkorn, Lenk Sketlish, Albert Danrowski just to name a few.)

Once complete, I had to go back (using the Kindle Search feature) and re-read multiple sections just to wrap my head around what happened. I can’t imagine how lost I would have been in the audiobook.

I struggled through this novel. While I loved the themes that the author touches on (overreliance on tech, tech as a crutch, tech as the savior and doom of humanity, etc.), the execution was somewhat lackluster. It took me about 3 weeks to get through this arc when I'd usually breeze through a novel of this length.

I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style to the point where it distracted me at times from the actual story. There was so much grammatical tense shifting that it read like a first draft. It was written in past tense, but a lot of times, it would dip into present tense when it came to a scene where the author was explaining something that was either related or semi-related to what was happening on scene.

It was really strange, but maybe this is a recent trend that I need to get on board with because this isn't the only recently published book I've read that employs this back and forth tense shifting.

Anyway...

While I found the FMCs interesting (Zhen and Martha) and their narratives strong, they couldn't really carry the entire novel. There were a lot of characters and ideas that were varying degrees of interesting and boring, capable and incapable, but it didn't seem to mesh well enough to create a cohesive story.

The entire time I was reading the novel, I felt very disconnected from the story and characters (including the FMCs, who were given a lot of air time). I couldn't relate to anyone, and I definitely found it hard to sympathize with the characters. The entire novel felt very detached, emotion-wise. A lot of times, it felt like the author was talking at me or lecturing me, instead of telling a narrative story.

3 stars for the interesting situations presented in this novel (doomsday scenarios and tech as humanity's be-all and end-all), the mixed media format with the forum posts and responses, and interesting characters. But I was pretty meh on the entire novel as a whole because I couldn't vibe with the writing style at all.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster, NetGalley, and the author for a physical ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, this book just did not do it for me.

2.5 stars

I enjoy books that force me to think about real world problems. This book’s main focus was supposed to be on climate change and how the rich/our reliance on tech are its downfall, but there were so many timelines/characters and no explanation of when they cross that it was hard to keep track of everything. I also thought it was an interesting choice that the only real disasters that happened in the book were those caused by the main characters supposedly trying to fix things.

Overall, the actual prose was great. The two main characters were interesting, and I am always drawn to books that mention cults. I just think this is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this futuristic approach to billionaires, tech, and a pandemic.

I'll admit. There were times I had no idea what was happening in the book or something went over my head. But I still enjoyed the book. I came for the queer sci-fi vibes and this book delivered.

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

I love a good dystopia/sci-fi book! The Future does not disappoint. A connected group of people get together to save the world from itself. I read the book, thinking about some of the most influential people in today's world. It also made me think about our future with AI and GenAI and where our future will take us. Will one of the most influential people from today take down society as we know it? Will a mistake happen or by design, will something effect the world for better or worse? This book made me think about what the future holds for all of us.

The Power is a favorite book of mine and I was excited to read The Future. The book touches on many issues facing us today like cliemate change, economic disparity, power, I would recommend reading The Future if dystopia/sci-fi strike your interest.


I would like to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Future in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheFuture #NaomiAlderman

3.5 stars
My first book by Naomi Alderman and wow this dystopian aspect of this book really got me instantly hooked. The book does have a lot of background information as well as many characters being introduced. The theme talks about futuristics thoughts, issues, and concerns which I though was interesting.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exhcange for an honest review

This was great! Thank you to S&S Book Club favorites for the gifted copy and the netgalley copy. I loved The Power when it was published, a surprisingly dark commentary on power and women and ... lots of important topics. The Future is similarly strong and I applaud Alderman's deft skill at telling interconnected stories so well, her ability to draw on large and abstract ideas about tech and our future/society and make then grounded and relatable stands out here as timely and important, without feeling preachy. What I like is that her writing invites us to not just read a good story but to think about the messages and ideas woven into the story, to reflect on ideas she raises... I leave feeling like I need to talk about the book without feeling like I was told what to think, how to react... just invited to think and ponder.
A great book, a favorite writer, and a strong recommendation for your 2024 book club lists.

Ugh, I wanted to love this. I even received a physical arc. But I'm 50% through it and I have no idea what is going on.😔

Not as good as The Power, but still loved it. It took me a bit to get into the writing, unlike her other book. But once I got used to it I was hooked.