A very intriguing sci fi mystery thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. Very different from Cronin’s Passage trilogy (which I liked better). Can’t talk about it too much without giving the big mystery away!

I was so excited to have been given an opportunity to read and review Justin Cronin's "The Ferryman"! As a fan of Cronin's "Passage" trilogy, there was simply no more highly anticipated literary follow-up that Cronin's new novel (potential series?). Overall, the novel did not disappoint. Similar to the "Passage" trilogy, "The Ferryman" is a complex, expansive, and character-driven story that requires above-average mental energy and focus to follow. There are books that you can start reading, put down for a couple weeks, and resume reading without getting lost in the story - this is not one of those books. The central mysteries of "where are they" and "where are they going" permeate the novel and the answers are both appropriate and inventive. Suffice to say that this will not disappoint you if you are a fan of Justin Cronin but new readers might find they story to be overly imaginative and hard to digest at times. Like I said - this is a sustained mental focus and energy read. I'm looking forward to hearing about the reception for this novel and Cronin's (possible? likely?) plans for continuing the story.

This book! This wonderful freaking book!

I double dog dare you to read the first page—nay, the first paragraph—and not declare it a literary masterpiece that will defy history to forget it. Some books just perfectly combine all the elements of spectacular fiction and then up the ante. They raise the bar and challenge other books to compare. This is one of those books.

This book is many things—so many that it doesn’t properly allow for categorization. Where does it even fit on a bookstore’s shelves? It mocks the very idea of genres. We cannot bring expectations to the table when we read a book like this one; we must simply show up for the task. This is some of the most beautiful writing I’ve had the pleasure of ingesting in quite a long time; it’s purely inspired. The story is disorienting; it’s profound; it’s powerful and emotional. This is a book not to be read but to be experienced, and I hope that everyone who peruses this review will enlist in the epic journey that is The Ferryman. If this doesn’t end up on your Best Books of 2023 list, I’ll eat my Kindle. Don’t miss the honor of welcoming it into your library.

Enjoy.

As with other books by Justin Cronin, I didn't guess what is actually going on in there and how the world works. it starts with the world described in the book ad, but then we find out that it is not what it looks like on the surface. I liked the world building, it was pretty interesting and unusual, even if it didn't looked like it at the first glance. The characters were interesting. I enjoyed the book.

Justin Cronin’s The Ferryman hooked me from the beginning, then lost me, then hooked me again, the ending was pretty disappointing, and because there was so much build-up to the big reveal of what was happening and the why’s and how’s of it all, with shifts in time and location that came on suddenly and without warning, there wasn’t much opportunity to connect with the characters or to adequately sympathize with their plight, their choices, or their feelings. For most of the book, I felt detached from the deeply emotional aspects of the story. The topics dealt with are many: the destruction of the environment, the collapse of society, taking responsibility for one’s actions, suicide, nuclear warfare, aging, what comes next when we run out of time to fix what’s broken in this world - so many big, emotional issues, and most of it just washed over me as I struggled to sort out, at any given moment, where we were, what was happening, and why.

QUICK PLOT OVERVIEW

The books chronicles life on the island of Prospera—an idyllic island community where residents enjoy fulfilling and long lives until the monitors in their arm (which measure their well-being) drop below 10%. At that point, a citizen “retires.” This process involves being ferried to an island known as the Nursery. At the Nursery, memories are erased, bodies are renewed, and life starts over when citizens return to the island as “newborn” teens.

Our protagonist is Proctor Bennett, who works as a ferryman who guides retirees to the Nursery. For the most part, this process is not so bad—except when a retiree resists the process. One day, Proctor is faced with the challenge of having to retire his own father. (Actually it is not really his father but his guardian who played the role of father to him upon his arrival on Prospera.) His father is a bit resistant to the process and begins to rant and rave and says some cryptic and disturbing things on the way to the ferry. This brings up difficult emotions and memories of the time when Proctor’s guardian mother committed suicide (a scene that opens the novel).

Proctor is also experiencing other jolts to the idyllic life he has typically enjoyed on Prospera. His wife Elise seems a bit distant and unhappy with him—plus she won’t even consider adopting from the Nursery. And he also has several odd encounters with a teenage girl—a recent arrival from the Nursery.

In addition to Proctor’s personal turmoil, the “Support Staff” (i.e., the people who do the dirty work that allows Prosperans to pursue their creative and artistic pursuits) are beginning to get restless. In fact, a revolution might be forming in the Annex—the less than ideal section of the island where the Support Staff live.

OK … that wasn’t such a quick overview, was it? The truth is that this book has a LOT going on! At 560 pages, this isn’t a short book and it takes some time for Cronin to set-up and describe the world of Prospera before a lot of the action that drives the book begins to occur. However, this was a totally fine with me as I was interested in learning about Prospera and finding out what the heck was going on.

MY THOUGHTS

I enjoyed this book immensely! Cronin takes him time describing Prospera and how it works. From the get go, you know that something weird is going on, and everything is not quite what it seems. But what is going on? Why was this place created? Where is it located? What happened to trigger the creation of such a society? What was his father talking about when he went to the Nursery? Why did Proctor’s mother commit suicide?

Fortunately, Cronin provides all the answers in due time, and you get there at a steady pace that never felt overly forced or rushed. Everything keeps building to a certain point and then, when you think you know what is going on, the story veers in a different direction. I really enjoyed reading the book and kept turning pages to discover what was going to happen next.

All that being said, not everyone will enjoy this book, particularly if sci-fi or dystopia are not your thing. However, if these types of stories ARE your thing, this is a must read!

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine for an ARC of this book. The book is scheduled to be released on May 2, 2023.

The Ferryman was an interesting read from start to finish. It kept my attention and left me thinking. Cronin did a fantastic job of world-building throughout the settings of the novel. The story was heartbreaking at times, but it captured the many facets of the human experience. Overall, a fresh, interesting read!

The Ferryman
Justin Cronin
Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books
May 2, 2023

The main character is Proctor Bennett, the Director of Social Contracts Enforcement Division: A Ferryman. Ferrymen accompany elder citizens of Prosperos to the Nursery (a fortified island), where their memories are erased and they are born again and returned to Prospera. The island is beautiful, sunny, and populated by the upper class. The workers live on a different island called The Annex. It is run down and can be dangerous. It is the opposite of Prospera.

All is well in Proctor’s life. He has a respected fashion designer wife and a job he enjoys. Until one day when he is summoned to take his father to the ferry that will take him to The Nursery. At the last minute, when he is about to board the ferry Malcolm (Proctor’s father) breaks away from Proctor but is quickly subdued. He utters a strange word to his son, “Oranios.” Proctor has no idea what it means, but with help from the watchmen he ushers his father onto the ferry.

The people in The Annex are fed up with taking care of the Prosperians. They work hard and deserve to live as nicely as those that they work for. Things are brewing and it feels as though something bad is going to happen. Perhaps a revolt?

Cronin has written a complex science fiction book filled with a variety of personalities. I enjoyed the book but had to revert to re-reading sections to fully grasp what was happening. It is a long book, well-written, and twisty. I recommend it to science fiction fans.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#NetGalley #BallantineBooks #TheFerryman #JustinCronin

I don't know what I was excepting with this book, but it wasn't that.

Justin Cronin has a wonderful way of weaving a tale where you think you are doing one thing, but by the end its completely different, but in a good way. Although I found the first half of the book to be a bit slow, the second half of the story kicked into gear and blew my mind.

Although this story has a dystopian feel, the actual story is played out in a scifi setting. An odd combination that works wonderfully together. Proctor, the main character that drives the story, is wonderfully conscious of the plights in his life. His doubt is what brings about changes.

I loved this read and can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.

”Arrival come."

This was my first Justin Cronin book, and I went into it blind without anything but the summary to go by. I’m pretty sure I liked it? I’m pretty sure I liked it a whole lot, actually? But I also have problems with it? I don’t know, my feelings are very mixed, but I don’t have the heart to give it a 3 star rating because there’s just so much good here.

So, just as a vague, incomplete, surface-level summary, Prospera is a utopian society created to shield its residents from the world collapsing outside. Within Prospera as a Prosperan, life is what you make of it. You can spend your time doing whatever it is that fulfills you, in the manner you see fit. Your life is forever ticking down though, and when the meter in your arm falls below a certain point, you’re sent off to the Nursery. Your memories are wiped clean, your body is renewed and refreshed, and you start again in a new life with a new purpose. Life is calm, perfect, and grand. Prospera requires its fair share of custodians however, and these people make up the population of the Annex, your housekeepers, nannies, groundskeepers, and a whole host of residents who keep the island running. Life isn’t as grand and perfect as it is for the Prosperans, and tension rises between them constantly as a result.

The story is told from two points of view – first person from the point of view of Proctor, a “ferryman” whose job involves picking up the Prosperans whose meters fall below acceptable levels and dropping them off at the Nursery, and third person from the point of view of Thea, a resident of the Annex and part-time seditionist working with a group in the Annex. In addition to the conventional rising tensions between the Prosperans (“Prossies”) and the Annex, there’s quite a bit of sci-fi mystery overtones. What does Proctor’s dad’s final words about “Ouranios” mean? Who is Caeli? What is this “arrival come” religion that has taken hold in the Annex? Why does Proctor dream at night but nobody else does?

There’s a lot going on with this book. I was deeply, heavily, intensely invested in the answers to all the sci-fi weirdness that kept cropping up, so much so that I was willing to overlook how slow the start is. There’s quite a bit of worldbuilding and stakes to set up at the beginning, and it isn’t until after the first third of the book is up or so that the actual rollercoaster ride starts. Things get incredibly wild, and even though I thought I had things more or less figured out, it turns out I really didn’t. I like that unexpectedness, honestly.

I had some hangups with how the answers to some of those questions were handled. I felt some of the answers were messy if looked at too closely, and most of the questions were answered with a full third of the book to go. If you're like me, once you have the answers, the book starts to lose its shine a bit because nothing's mysterious anymore.

BUT… there’s a ton to like here, and overall I really enjoyed the wild ride. I’ve even been compelled to seek out Cronin’s other series, The Passage, to see what that’s all about. Just a really unique experience all around that I’m glad I took the time to read.

Any time you read one of Mr. Cronin's books, be prepared to be immersed in a riveting story that requires your full attention. An unique premise and intricate plot involving worlds within worlds will keep readers engaged. Science fiction fans will definitely want to add this to their to-be-read list.

This is every bit as good as expected. It's a masterpiece, just like The Passage was. Very strange and deeply unsettling. The twist ending just made it 1000 times better. I cannot count the number of times I cried while reading this.

On an island paradise called Prospera, citizens coild live a long, fulfilled life. A monitor is embedded in their arm which measures physical health, and psychological health. When the monitor drops below 10%, they are retired and sent to the Nursery where they are sort of rebuilt and drained of memories and then go back to Prospera to start life again. Proctor Bennett is the Ferryman who takes the retirees to the Nursery. Something happens and Proctor starts to suspect that all is not as it seems. This was a mix of dystopian, science fiction and fantasy. What a wild ride! I had to read it in increments so that I could absorb the story!

Amazing, profound and riveting. This story makes you question everything. The writing is spectacular, and pulls you into this new world.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is ALOT. It starts with characters in a sort of utopia world, “Proseria” pursing the finer things in life. No sickness, no worry. As a reader- my suspicion is affirmed when cracks in this façade appear; the multitude of workers who commute in from the “annex” -the gardeners, sewer workers, the maids, the “lower class”, whose entire existence is to serve then go back home to the slums. The good life is not for them.
The Proserians have a lifecycle that is endless- as they become aged and infirm they board a ferry to a nearby island called the nursery, where they will be reborn into teenage bodies with none of their existing memories, and exit as 16 year olds to live their whole life again.
Our main character Proctor Bennet suspects that something is wrong, something is missing, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. At this point as more and more is revealed, the book drags a bit. The enslaved from the annex begin a rebellion, and much of the first 2/3 is dedicated to their efforts of infiltrating the hierarchy and wrestle for control.
Its the last 1/3 of the book however, is where we learn what is actually going on, and kept me up late reading. Its not at all what I expected.
Everything ties together neatly, with lots of big topics- ala what is life? to think about after. Satisfying ending.
Could use some editing to speed up the plot a bit, but Recommend

Not a typical Cronin subject, but as perfect as his previous novels. A master at world building, Justin Cronin has made a completely believable future possibility that keeps you guessing. The Ferryman is utter genius.

MY REVIEW: 4.5 Stars

I’m not even sure what I just read!



Proctor is a Ferryman which is a creepy job! He takes people to the ferry that takes them to the Nursery island! Yeah…..

There is some stuff with his father that is really sad.

AND…

Then this book goes right off the rails! The twists in this book are beyond what I could have imagined! I’m still not sure I understand some of it but it’s not in a bad way. I definitely recommend the book!

*Thank you to the publisher for the offer to read this book and Netgalley for the digital copy!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Justin Cronin’s other series -- It kept me reading. This book is the same. Proctor is a Ferryman, he escorts those who have outlived their lives to the Ferry- then come back as someone else – a child in an adult body to be nurtured to adulthood. These are the special people. Then there are the worker bees --
Proctor is sent to escort his father and is told by him that there is something going on.
The story slowly unfolds but keeps you reading far into the night. Just like all this other books. It drags you in. I highly recommend this book – giving it five stars which is rare for me

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Tina Culbertson
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Tina Culbertson's Reviews > The Ferryman
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
The Ferryman
by Justin Cronin (Goodreads Author)
13328947
Tina Culbertson's reviewDec 17, 2022 · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: fantasy, netgalley

I finished The Ferryman by Justin Cronin and it was ....interesting. Think of the movies The Island with a bit of Inception and a dash of The Matrix. It's post apocalyptic and dystopian, very engaging in most parts. I will say I prefered Cronin's trilogy The Passage. The Ferryman has a publication date of May 2, 2023 and I was given an advanced readers copy from Netgalley.

Proctor Bennett is the main narrator of this story. He's a Ferryman which means he's one of many in that profession to to ensure an individual is "retired" from a long life on Prospera. The people on Prospera have a monitor embedded in their arms and when the level reaches below 20% they board a ferry and are sent to The Nursery. They 'start over" with a younger body and are reestablished back in Prospera as teenagers. Residents in Prospera are generally wealthy enough to have a very nice life.

The Annex is another part of the equation where residents there travel to Prospera to do work such as child minding, maids, sewer workers, bus drivers, etc. People who live in the Annex know real life such as hunger, crime, they are not sterile and babies are born the old fashioned way. Life is real.

But (and this is a huge but) as engaging as the story is you will be in for a huge twist/surprise at about the 85% point of the novel. A whoa moment as the entire story fits together.

I have been eagerly awaiting for the next Justin Cronin book ever since I finished the Passage trilogy so I was glad to get my hands on this ARC.

Happy to say that the author does not disappoint. The writing and the world building is as beautiful as ever. Complex plot but the payback is there if you hang in till the end