The Ferryman is my first book from Justin Cronin.

"In the future, people live in Prospera, an area shielded from the horrors of the outside world. Citizens enjoy their lives until their health monitor drops below ten percent. Then they are sent to an island called the Nursery for a new iteration. Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, helping to shepherd people through their retirement contracts. But all is not well for Proctor. He receives a cryptic message from his father...and begins to question everything he ever believed."

If you are familiar with science fiction tropes you will recognize quickly what is going on here. If you're new to science fiction you will be surprised at the big reveal. Either way the story is still enjoyable. It is interesting to see the path that Cronin chooses for this story. He does put his own spin on a traditional sci-fi trope. There are characters to like and some to dislike. Cronin makes you question what is real and what is only in the characters' minds. I'm sure there is a government agency somewhere looking at this going - "Maybe that's what we need"

My only issue with this book is the length. You could remove 100 pages and still have the story. But Cronin wants to really flesh out these characters and after the success of his Passage books I'm sure he's given the leeway to do so.

I like the ending. It's not what you expect from the story but it works. Fans of character-driven sci-fi and dystopian fiction will love this.

Overall, I just don't think this book was for me. But let's start with some things I liked... First, I did feel drawn into the story pretty much right away. There were also a lot of layers to this story that kept me wondering if I really knew everything yet, and that definitely kept me reading. But that's about it; I felt generally interested enough to keep going but I wasn't having a great time. To be fair, I HATE cheating and there are several instances throughout the story. So that alone made this one kind of tough to enjoy. And everytime I thought the story had moved beyond it and I could try to get re-engaged, it would come up again. Also, while women held positions of power, I don't feel like they actually did much. To me, it felt like the action centered around the men in the story. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that but not what I'm looking for.

I’ve been waiting a long time for a new Justin Cronin. This started off so strong. The middle was a struggle for me to get through but once I did, I was glad I stuck around. Cronin knows how to write these alternate worlds in a way that makes you really believe them.

The world building in Justin Cronin's standalone dystopian science fiction novel is excellent. The archipelago of Prospera is hidden and protected from the rest of the outside world. In Prospera, citizens live long lives until the monitors that measure physical and mental health falls below 10 percent. When this happens, they retire themselves by going on a ferry ride to the Nursery where their bodies are renewed, their memories are erased and they restart life with a clean slate.

Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, helping people go through the retirement process. However, things are not quite right with Proctor. First of all, he is dreaming which is not supposed to be possible in Prospera. In addition, his health monitor is going down very quickly. Finally, he is asked to bring his father to the ferry and something strange happens. At the same time, the support staff that keep Prospera running are starting to question things and unrest is building in the once peaceful island. Proctor begins to question everything and attempts to uncover the truth.

There are a ton of twists and turns in this book. While it is fairly long, it moves pretty quick. It definitely made me think. I really enjoyed this book. For me, it was like the first book in the Passage series--so good!

This book was...something.

The premise is what intrigued me. It's about an island hidden from the rest of the world where people live their lives, and at the end, their bodies get renewed and they get to live a new life.

While this book is long and a bit too dense, I was enjoying the reading experience up until the last 25%. The twists and "shocking" reveals annoyed me and made me mad that I just sat through the previous 400+ pages.

While I won't spoil anything, I will say that the buildup to these characters, up to the 75% mark, ended up being completely wasted by the end. It felt like all the side characters were just there for the main characters' gain, and they did not have their own fulfilling arc.

Also, the end of this book was really confusing.

I absolutely loved Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy so I was very excited to read his newest standalone novel, The Ferryman. I read it a long time ago, so I don't remember the details of the trilogy but I vividly remembered how much I enjoyed reading those books.

The Ferryman was, in my opinion, a completely different type of book, and not just because it is a standalone novel. When I was introduced to the main character, Proctor, I immediately noticed that his language was stilted and stiff. I assumed it was intentional, and part of his character. It was immediately apparent to me that things were not what they seemed in Prospera.

That being said, I was completely shocked by the "twists" that followed, in a very good way. Other reviewers have compared this book to the TV show Lost, or to the book The Giver, and I whole heartedly agree with those comparisons. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of both of those, or to sci-fi and dystopian novels in general. I also have to say {possible spoiler ahead] I agree with the main character's choice at the end, and would have done exactly the same thing, myself, as cowardly as it may have been.

*Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for this honest review*

I absolutely loved The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin and was very excited to read The Ferryman. I do not want to give anything away but I found this story gripping and full of twists. This is a dystopian story set in an ideal world, or Is it? Proctor is The Ferryman that takes people on their final journey to retirement, but after his father becomes a passenger, everything changes. Even as the story unfolds, we never truly know what is going on until the end. Justin Cornin is an amzing storyteller. I was captivated from start to finish.

Happy reading!

The Ferryman is a dystopian novel I'm fairly sure I enjoyed - WOW what a story!

This story is told over eight parts that leads the reader to its epic conclusion. Human kind has survived a horrific environmental event, huddling on a hidden island. Needless to say this novel sets sail through some wild seas from start to finish. To say more, would ruin the joy of reading this book.

This comparison is completely accurate - Westworld meets Inception

Thank you Ballantine Books for the complimentary copy.

I have so many feelings about this book. The Ferryman is a dystopian sci-fi book about a man whose father says something to him before being rejuvenated to a new life that makes him question everything.

I could not stop reading this book. It keeps you entertained from page 1. It can sometimes be confusing at times with whose chapter the point of view has moved too but for the most part you catch up quickly and keep moving. It’s been a while since I have read a dystopian story and so I enjoyed that part a lot.

On the other hand I just personally don’t like some of the social things that happen in the book between characters may not bother all readers but some of it was just not things I enjoy reading about or happening. Overall the book is very creative and I did not see the plot twist coming at all.

Riveting, well written, unique storyline and I loved the pacing of this novel. I love a good post apocalyptic novel and this was so well done, I wouldn’t even say you need to be a fan of the genre to enjoy. I’m very glad I was able to give this one a try!

From the start, readers are thrown into the deep end of a fantastic science fiction world. Every element hints at a full history and culture. Each page is well developed with expert craftsmanship through the mind of author Justin Cronin.

There is no wading into this novel. Readers are tossed into the deep end of the pool as waves of turmoil toss them about. The story continues through well formed, deep point of view. The actions, emotions, and thoughts are all seated deep in the consciousness of the protagonist. We flow from one thought to the next seamlessly, just as our own thoughts race around, collide, and surface to make themselves known.

The mystery grows with each passing chapter… What is Oranios? When is Arrival? Why are workers revolting? Who is Mother?

The riveting standalone novel concerns a group of survivors living on a storm-torn Earth. Their safety is ensured on a hidden island utopia. However, the truth isn’t quite as it appears.

A mysterious genius known as the Designer founded the archipelago called Prospera which lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. Prospera is an island paradise. The lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until their monitors indicate physical health and psychological well-being have fallen below 10 percent. At that point, they are retired, and embark on a ferry ride to another island known as the Nursery. It is here that their failing bodies are renewed, their memories wiped clean, and they restart a new life.

Proctor Bennett is employed by the Department of Social Contracts, and has led a satisfying career as a ferryman. His duties include shepherding people through the retirement process — and, when necessary, enforcing it. But Proctor’s life is about to encounter some very rough waves.

It doesn’t take long for Proctor to find himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized — and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.

The novel starts off with an exciting flourish, but soon enters a slow and boring portion demonstrating the culture of well-heeled Prosperians living empty lives filled with pointless culture. At times, I wanted to put the novel aside. But I am so glad I waded through the muddled middle and picked up on the exciting plot line once again.

The pace picks up and the story becomes more complex. There are moments of complex intrigue, mystery surrounding untold motives, and a thorough history between characters that Cronin reveals sparingly. The author shows mere glimpses of a greater story below the surface. Cronin has so much in mind for the characters that the reader feels they may just be skimming the surface of the complete and complex world.

About half-way through the story Proctor makes the voyage to the mysterious Nursery. It is this moment when he crosses the Threshold of his hero’s journey. Almost everything to that point of the novel had been the normal business of daily living. Even though the edges were peeling away, breaking apart, and in serious peril from an as-yet-unknown threat. Problems begin mounting for Proctor, which he needs to solve, over the course of the next few chapters. The primary result being full character development. Cronin accomplishes this by revealing a web of complex history, both memories and some interactions, shared by multiple characters.

The story picks up momentum as more answers are revealed, while still larger mysteries raise more questions for readers. The pace of the story flows like a torrent of rushing water hurtling the reader off the edge of an incredible waterfall’s brink.

The craft of uncanny storytelling is alive and well in this novel by Justin Cronin. This tale is a reminder of the classic by Alfred Kubin, The Other Side, published in 1908 in which people in the town are sleepwalking through existence (https://matthewrettino.com/2017/09/30/the-other-side-by-alfred-kubin/). For a more contemporary take, readers might view this story as a less frightening version of the modern film Dark City featuring Kiefer Sutherland.

Justin Cronin became a phenomenon, with his novel The Passage, in 2010. That unforgettable was compared to novels by Cormac McCarthy, Michael Crichton, Stephen King, and Margaret Atwood by both critics and readers. It became a runaway bestseller and enchanted readers around the world.

The Passage spent 3 months on The New York Times bestseller list. The novel was featured on more than a dozen “Best of the Year” lists, including Time’s “Top 10 Fiction of 2010,” NPR’s “Year’s Most Transporting Books,” and Esquire’s “Best & Brightest of 2010.” Stephen King called The Passage “enthralling… read this book and the ordinary world disappears.” The Twelve and The City of Mirrors were also critically acclaimed instant New York Times bestsellers.

Justin Cronin’s work has been published in over forty-five languages and sold more than three million copies worldwide. He is a writer in residence at Rice University, and divides his time between Houston, Texas, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Read more from Justin Cronin at https://justincroninbooks.com and find him/her on social media at Facebook(@justincroninauthor), Instagram(@jccronin), and Twitter(@jccronin).

Justin Cronin burst onto the big scene with his apocalyptic vampire doorstopper The Passage (first of a trilogy), a fantastically harrowing blockbuster of a novel that still maintained amidst its action/thriller/horror aspects the quietly intimate elements of his earlier literary novels. His newest, The Ferryman, while not quite as strong and despite having a few more noticeable issues, shares some of the same strengths that made The Passage so successful, as I imagine this one will be.

The story takes place on an archipelago isolated from the rest of the world by something known as The Veil, though no one recalls anymore how or why that is. The main island of Prospera is a veritable Eden with an “entirely beneficent” climate, “the most fertile soil,” forests “abundant with wildlife”, a “lush land free of all want and distractions”. Which means its citizens can “devote themselves to the highest aspiration [of] creative expression and the pursuit of personal excellence.” It is a society of “musicians and painters, poets and scholars . . . itself a work of art.” Prosperans are functionally immortal — when they are old or infirm (the latter often signaled by an embedded monitor that measures their physical and mental health) they take a ferry to a second island known as The Nursery where their memories are wiped and they are somehow “reiterated” into a freshly healthy 16-year-old body that is returned to Prospera for a new life as a new identity.

Meanwhile, a third island called The Annex is home to the Support Staff. These are the people who are “born in the old-fashioned manner . . . deprived of the blessings of reiteration.” Commuting daily from their overcrowded, grittier, poorer island, they spend their far shorter lives doing the menial work that allows the Prosperans to focus on those “highest aspirations”

We open, after a prologue, with a first-person narration from Proctor, a 42-year-old relatively high up civil administrator. He is, in fact, the titular ferryman, the person who escorts Prosperans to the ferry that takes them to The Nursery, a job he’s quite proud of.
The fact that he dreams, a rarity on Prospera, hints early on at his difference, though Proctor has lived a mostly unexamined life up to now. That all changes when he is called on to escort his own father to the ferry, a moment that goes horribly wrong and opens up a Pandora’s Box of mystery and trouble, with his father repeating a strange word and telling Proctor, “You’re not . . you.” Events soon spiral out of control, with tensions between Proctor and his wife Elise, Proctor and his mother-in-law Callista (the Director of Prospera). Even worse, he becomes a target of Prospera’s security organization and then eventually caught up in a resistance movement-slash-quasi-religion amongst the Support Staff known as the Arrivalists.

This latter entanglement comes via an art dealer named Thea, whom Proctor meets at a concert where the two of them commiserate on how bad the art on Prospera is, how robotic and lacking in feeling or true vision. Meanwhile, even as Proctor and Thea become more deeply entwined in the politics, the story also gets more and more surreal as Proctor starts to lose his grip on reality, caught up in odd visions of boats and telescopes and possibly even of a young girl name Caeli whom he thought he met while swimming but now he is unsure if she is real or just in his head. Clearly there is a mystery at the core of Prospera, and I’ll just leave it there so as to avoid spoilers.

As noted, The Ferryman shares some of the strengths of Cronin’s earlier books. One of them is an ability to make even a nearly 600-page novel fly by as if it were a novella. I read The Ferryman in one sitting quite happily, never once getting restless or impatient. Well-wrought characters are another positive, ranging from the two main characters Proctor and Thea to characters who get less page time but are no less interesting and who have hidden depths revealed as the book goes on, characters like Proctor’s father or a blind painter Thea works with. Physical descriptions are also vividly detailed. As he has in the past, Cronin also makes effective, thoughtful use of repeated images, which I’d normally go into a bit but here I’m wary of pointing too clearly to what are meant to be surprises, so suffice to say I appreciated the layering effect he creates.

Finally, as with The Passage trilogy, Cronin does a mostly nice job of mixing action scenes — shootouts, car chases, sieges, riots — and quieter relationship-based or introspective scenes, along with some deeper philosophy questions. That said, I think the alloy here is a bit more brittle than in the other works, with some of those scenes and the characters driving them verging a bit on melodrama/cliché. I also think the genre elements are not as well executed or perhaps it’s not so much execution as aren’t so individualized so as to not feel familiar. I think some of the impact of that will depend on how much genre readers of The Ferryman have read. If it’s none or very little, I think they’ll find the novel twisty and pleasantly surprising. Genre fans, though, will most likely see several of the twists coming around the bend and will either find them satisfactory or possibly even a bit deflating in their familiarity. But again, I won’t say more so as to avoid spoiling those twists and turns.

Thematically, there’s a lot being explored. Love in several forms is one subject: romantic love between partners and the love between parent and child. Grief is another. As is class conflict. And it doesn’t take a keen insight to recognize a story set on “Prospera” is highlighting a connection to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, even without the various storms and squalls, a young vulnerable girl, and other allusions (including direct quotes). Or “illusions”, as part of the connection to the play is the question of reality versus illusion, along with the role of art. And like Shakespeare’s play, there’s more than a little meta-fiction going on here in The Ferryman as well.

For most of its length The Ferryman is a fully entertaining novel, and for non-genre readers my guess is it will be so throughout its entirety. It’s also often a thoughtful exploration of its various themes via a mostly original and immersive setting people with mostly sharply drawn and compelling characters. For myself, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the predictability/familiarity of its latter part was a little deflating in relation to what had come prior, but even though I was pretty sure I knew where it was going, and was right, the pace never flagged so I never felt any desire to stop or even pause my reading. Recommended for everyone, more highly so for people who don’t read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy.

It’s hard to review this one without spoilers, but I’m going to bill it as dystopian sci-fi with a twist.

It’s set on the archipelago of Prospera, veiled from and not in contact with the rest of the world, presumably sometime in the future. Prosperans live in a utopia, free to relax and make art and live long and carefree lives. Meanwhile, the “support staff” who makes this magical life possible exisits in squalor on a separate island — and they’re becoming increasingly unhappy with this situation.

Our protagonist is a “ferryman” whose job it is to soothe the worries and smooth the process for Prosperans whose declining health means it’s time for “retirement” — which begins with a ferry ride to a mysterious third island called the Nursery.

At a certain point I began to wonder where this Hunger Games/Red Rising-esque story was going. It definitely went somewhere — but it wasn’t what I was expecting!

I loved The Passage, the first in Cronin’s zombie trilogy, but The Ferryman is totally different. Overall, it’s more speculative fiction than hardcore sci-fi. But there are some similar relationships and the writing flows just as fast and as well. (It reads quickly, so don’t be intimidated by the size.)

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin is a very highly recommended dystopian/speculative science fiction marvel.

The idyllic archipelago of Prospera is a socially regimented island state founded by the Designer. Citizens enjoy long fulfilling lives until their next “iteration,” where their personalities reemerge in younger bodies. Proctor Bennett works as a ferryman, which means he assists aging Prosperans to travel to the Nursery, an island where their bodies are restored. All citizens have monitors embedded in their forearms which measures their health. If it fails below 10 percent, it is time to retire.

Proctor has always had problems with dreaming, which is not supposed to happen, but now his monitor percentage has been dropping too. When he is called to retire his own father, events go amiss and he receives an enigmatic message from him before getting him onto the ferry. At the same time the support staff for Prospera who all live on the island called the Annex, are now becoming disgruntled and a resistance group known as Arrivalists is growing.

At this point hold on tight, set expectations aside, and keep reading because so many unexpected twists and events happen one after another that it is pointless to predict anything. This will be easy to do because the quality of the writing is exceptional and the plot is fast-paced and riveting. Cronin is in perfect control of the plot and his characters so just keep reading. I promise you that the pages are going to fly-by quickly.

The excellent writing will be the first plus you notice as you begin reading. The prose is simply phenomenal. This will quickly be followed by the awareness that the characters are fully realized and believable individuals with strengths and flaws who are firmly part of the narrative. Then the twists begin and new information is revealed. Follow the prose and plot carefully and, even when you think you don't know what is going on, you soon will understand that you do before the next twist hits.

No spoilers here. If you like science fiction and literary fiction, just read The Ferryman and thank me later. It's sure to be on my list of best of 2023.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, BookBrowse, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

This book is about a community who live on prospera island it’s as close to Utopian Society as money can buy and although everyone on Prospero has great jobs and great lives. There’s another island called Annex Island where the support staff live these people live normal lives and live and die like the rest of us but on Prospera Island when the monitor that everyone has embedded in their arm says their quality of life has gone below 10 they get ferried to nursery island where they get rejuvenated and come back as a handsome teenager. Proctor is a man who is in his eighth year of his 15 year employment contract with the government he is married to Elise his mom is dead and his dad and him have a very strained relationship. When it’s his dad‘s turn to go to nursery island on the route there is dad start acting in a way he’s never acted before and saying things Proctor has never heard him say it when he mentions a mythological god his son doesn’t know what to make of it proctor was already second-guessing his employment but after an altercation he politely gets asked to leave and he immediately goes to Theodora‘s house a woman who is in his wife but who he is slowly but surely becoming closer to with her help he will slowly unravel all the strange things happening like his dreams a girl named Keely the murder of a guard and so much more I’m not gonna lie at times in this book I got really confused but I am so glad I continued reading it as the end is such a great pay off. I knew from the summary I would like this book and with the ending it totally surpassed my expectations I just wish somethings would’ve been explained a little better but it wasn’t so confusing I couldn’t follow the story there’s many things I didn’t say in my review because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else just know The Ferryman by Justin Cronin is a great book with great world building understandable and even likable villains and an awesome ending. I received this book from NetGalley and Random house books but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Proctor is the Director of Social Contracts on the island of Prospera, meaning that he is a ferryman who assists residents who are ready to retire make it to a ferry bound for the Nursery where they will be reiterated and come back to Prospera as adolescents ready to start a new life. But when he must assist the man who served as his adoptive father with the retirement process, his father panics before boarding the ferry and whispers the word “Oranios” to Proctor which sets off a chain of events leading to Proctor’s own forced retirement. Meanwhile, some residents of the Annex, who are the working class people are starting an underground revolution lead by the Arrivalists. What starts as a futuristic dystopian story quickly evolves into a very complex sci-fi thriller.
Well, this book is like nothing I have ever read before. I was hooked from the beginning and was completely surprised and shocked by all the twists and the very complex layers of the plot. There were definitely times when I was somewhat confused by the role changes and shifts in the settings but for the most part, I just had to admire the complexity that the author was able to create - so thought provoking! The story is fast-paced, very engaging and the main characters are likable. The ending was completely unexpected but satisfying. I would definitely recommend this book for sci-fi fans or anyone interested in a genre-bending epic. #NetGalley #RandomHousePublishing-BallantineBooks.

This was an amazing read! Brave New World meets The Matrix meets Hunger Games. It’s sci-fi without being too esoteric. I loved The Passage series and I love how the author can write horror and violence and apocalypse but always manages to preserve the heart of the characters. I couldn’t recommend this more highly for those with an appetite for sci-fi and who are OK with post-apocalyptic fiction.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I was blown away by this book. I was hesitant to read because of the topic and length but so glad I was granted a copy. The opening starts out very wordy, but beautifully written. At first I thought, this may not be up my alley but sure enough I stuck with it and so glad I did.

Quick Synopsis: Proctor is living in Prospera where his job is to "ferry" those whose numbers based on something like a microchip are are dropping(numbers as in quality of life etc) and close to retirement to embark on a new journey. All is not what it seems for sure.

Proctor as the synopsis mentions is feeling something is amiss and is trying to decipher what is wrong. We see him meet all sorts of people from Prospera, the Annex and then the Nursery. How does it tie together and is there a bigger picture in play? The answer is YES!! And its great!

What I liked:
***character development was awesome as was the plot, felt unique
***how each part while different tied together
***Story just flowed without any breaks and it kept me wanting more

What made me not do 5 stars? That ending just, while excellent, confused me a bit and while it didn't ruin the book I had to scratch my head. But seriously 5 vs 4 stars is still a fab read. I did also feel some in the middle got repetitious but overall this was super well written and so glad I got the chance to read. For a 500 page book this read was super quick.

I would give more detail but I went in blind and think that is the best way to go. There is a touch of so many diff genre's in this mostly focusing on sci-fi but also relationships. It pulled these together super well and I think worth giving it a shot if not your typically read.

Thank you for Netgalley, the Publisher and Author for my chance to read this excellent book.

I finished The Ferryman last night and immediately thought well what the heck happened there, I need to read this again.

What an imaginative mind Justin Cronin has and a gift to share the story to the reader. Well written and believable characters. At 560 pages, I was surprised by how quickly the pages passed by. If I'm honest, I did get confused at different parts in the story, but overall, I thought it was an enjoyable novel. All sci-fi/dystopian novel lovers should grab themselves a copy.. and then get with me because I have some questions 😆

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

This story follows Proctor Bennett who lives on an archipelago called Prospera, the main island. Then there is the second island called the Annex where the support staff and basically servants reside. And the last island known as the Nursery where Prosperans go twice, once at the beginning and once at the end per iteration. They live under a Veil protecting them from the outside world, and so no one knows what is truly going on beyond the islands they live on. To leave is forbidden, but who would?

This book is very outside my normal genre, but I got pretty hooked onto it from the beginning. I just wanted to know what was going on, and it kept me guessing throughout the whole book as to what is really going on here. About halfway, I had a feeling what was really going on, but to me, the twist was not even that, but something else that we find out at the end that just made me mad lol. It was very well done, I love twists that get me, and this one did!

None of the characters truly stood out to me. Proctor to be honest was a bit dull basically the whole book, but I think that was kind of the point. He was going through the motions until he wasn't and even he seemed to be unsure what to do at that point and sometimes seemed to resort to his old self until something triggered him. There were some side characters I really liked, like Jason Kim, not sure why, but I really liked that kid from the get go, and Thea who just seemed to listen and believe no matter how farfetched something sounded.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. This is a much different sci-fi/dystopian than I normally would read since I would say it has mystery and is a bit of a thriller, but it kept me on my toes and that's what's important to me!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the free digital copy to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.