“The human race isn’t getting any better we’re just getting different and more and faster and if you’re not getting better then more and faster is just the same as getting worse … We’ve spent the past century hiding under our blankets while the red notices piled up in the hallway, ARREARS: Habitat Destruction and Extinction, DO NOT IGNORE: Social Inequality, PAY NOW OR FACE CONSEQUENCES: Climate Change. And us going “Hey if we shuffle things around, move that balance onto this card, work out how to frack shale and ignore the flammable water coming out of the taps then we can buy a new car and brim it with gasoline and things will be OK for another month.” … And I thought, with this pandemic we’re gonna realize we just have to be sensible. Unlike the dinosaurs, we don’t need to get hit by an asteroid. I know it’s a joke now. “Nature is healing.” Believing things could get better is just a joke, right?”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Alderman writes in a quick and engaging way that drew me in right away. Page-turner.
The ins and outs of what takes place is so predicated on life, today, that every bit seemed like it could plausibly happen tomorrow.
The Future delves into “what if.” What if we took the 3 billionaires (obviously based on real life figures, of course there would perhaps be more than 3 in the real world), who controlled more than any person should, and were leading the world into a dark future - all for personal gain - and removed them from the picture?
What strides could we make in saving humanity and the planet without greed in the way?
Alderman mixes philosophy and biblical references with a semi-manifesto of how to “fix” the world, alongside a bit of mystery with some twists and turns that I found extremely satisfying.
All while facing the ultimate questions. No matter what steps we take, what lengths we go to, can we ever really stop the stream train that humanity is on, barreling toward disaster? Can we ever really change human nature? Can the fox ever live peacefully alongside the rabbit?
Things that fell short for me:
The repetition of the Bible lessons….got it after the first 3 times you told me.
The author is obviously extremely smart, but, sometimes….just a tad too preachy.
Would the amount of time allotted really have been remotely enough time to affect change in the way it is portrayed?
You need to dispel a great deal of belief that all of the pieces of the plot could really have been conceived, planned, and enacted without a hitch (As a reader of fantasy, I went with it, but it was wrapped in a pretty tight bow).
But overall, I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to any lover of dystopian, sci-fi, queer, corporate thrillers.

The future is grim, but you already know that. Welcome to a dystopian examination of where we are going.

My biggest struggle with this book was trying to figure out when it was supposed to take place. References to contemporary culture and movie stars like Ryan Reynolds suggested the very near future, but much of the technology described suggested some time further in the future. It was distracting and unsettling — maybe what Naomi Alderman was going for.

The premise of the book was interesting though and what kept me hooked - what if the honchos at the big tech giants were conspiring against us? It’s like watching a slow moving train wreck as we watch everything we know get dismantled.

The middle of the book dragged for me and there felt like there were too many side storylines for me to keep track of. While intelligent and with a clear message to tell, this one was not easy to read and definitely more suited for those who like to meander in the worlds created by the books they read. But because of the uncertainty in timing I mentioned earlier, I found it hard to fully immerse myself in this near but far future world.

I like Alderman’s creativity (loved The Power) and will look out for her next one, despite not falling in love with this one.

Thanks to @netgalley, @simonbooks and @naomi_alderman for the ARC.

If the Apocalypse is here what will you do? Can we prevent it in the first place? In her new Novel Naomi Alderman again explores the workings of the human society and what is wrong with it. How if you have money and the system is working for you you don’t want to change it even if it means to doom everyone else. How often people think starting new is better than fixing things as it seems so much easier. And how we can become our own worst enemy if we isolate ourselves and lose all trust in the people around us. Even though the book gives a lot to think about it is entertaining and thrilling, a great combination.
If you haven’t already read The Power by the same author, I would highly recommend it!

Thanks to Negalley and the publisher to provide me with an arc :)

I wanted to love this story as much as The Power, but it just didn’t deliver. Too long and detailed in some areas and lacking in others. I often confused the characters because none of them were really fleshed out. This book reinforced the idea that the wealthy should not be allowed to hoard wealth and technology. The inability to share the resources range true to the current state of the world with only a handful of extremely wealthy people using their money to influence policy.

Synopsis: In the not so distant future, the apocalypse is coming. People are making careers out of survivalism and the tech industry is booming as they incorporate bunkers and safe zones into their onslaught of products. The three most successful tech heads come together for a plan to escape the end of days. A group of people close to them decides to alter things in a subtle yet significant way, and Zhen, survivalist expert, gets caught in the crosshairs.

Review: thank you, @netgalley for this advanced copy! It took me some time to figure out where this story was going. But the journey was riveting and I really liked the concept of this book. Maybe it was that I’ve been in a spooky reading phase, but this was a nice reprieve from that. The story was beautifully told, albeit slightly confusing from the different perspectives and timelines. Once it came together, despite thinking you know where it’s going, you don’t. I appreciated the twists and turns along the way. For those who enjoy sci-fi and dystopian futures, I highly recommend!

I loved this. A really good read that was simultaneously entertaining and slightly horrifying. Maybe hitting a little too close to home for our current situation. A bit tough to swallow at times. But very satisfying.

I really enjoyed THE FUTURE by Naomi Alderman. Billionaire tech CEOs, survival, religious symbolism, cult escape, mystery, romance... it has it ALL.

The near-future setting Alderman has created rings true in a deliciously unsettling way. The plot unfolds at a perfect pace, and even seemingly random asides end up being important to the fabric of the whole story.

I would say if you are at all drawn in by the premise, you're going to be in for a good time. My only complaint is that I think it could have been a little more succinct.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for a free review copy of THE FUTURE by Naomi Alderman.

Post on Instagram to come closer to the book's release date.

The Future was an incredibly unique read and I really loved it.

It took me a minute to get into it, the plot isn't linear and the POV jumps around quite a bit. You get a lot of backstory, especially on two of the characters. There is a decent amount of internet forum ranting that I normally would glaze over. These might seem like negatives, but once I got into it and figured out who was who and got used to how character histories are written, I was really into it and very much enjoyed it and was extremely glad I stuck with it.

Alderman builds a feasible dystopia centered around large technology companies monetizing essentially everything at the expense of the rest of the world, while safeguarding their own interests. Through intriguing scenarios and characters, she explores fascinating thoughts around humanity's dependence on and interactions with technology, leaving the reader with crumbs of hope.

Thank you so much to Simon Books for the ARC of this one.

This was my first book by this author and I was hooked on the very first page! I read this over a span of about 28 hours. It leaves you with a lot to think about regarding the future of the planet, civilization, and how big tech impacts our lives and this world we live in.

This book is super plausible, between the possibility of tech creating a super Plague, how it impacts us psychologically, and what we can do to turn things around and make this world a better place for the future. It also is about income inequality and how these CEO's can protect themselves and have advanced notice of the coming doom and how everybody else would be left to parish. It's not hard to think about this stuff actually happening, right?

The pacing is a little slow at first as we gwt world building and character backgrounds. Then in the second half, the pacing goes much quicker. The only characters who are really fully developed are Lai Zhen, a survivalist, ND Martha, an assistant to one of the CEO's. Still a very good book with an excellent, believable premise. I would recommend to fans of dystopia thrillers.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, author Naomi Alderman, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

In a world plagued by problems, a group of people connected through the tech industry collaborate to change the world. Also involved is future predicting technology and a famous social media survivalist.

This one was even more cerebral than The Power I’d say. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think it will be everyone’s cup of tea. I do think that some of the blog posts after (spoiler ahead) Martha and Albert connect weren’t as necessary. I understood its point until then, but then they became a bit rambly. Even though I did see the twist toward the end coming, I still enjoyed it.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I received a copy of THE FUTURE, I was excited. What I truly love about Naomi Alderman’s writing is that I had no idea where the story is going to go, but that I’ll have a thought provoking novel that makes me think about modern concepts and how we currently view the world. And while this is the case with this book, I was actually bored throughout most of it, and, as a result, didn’t love this book as much as I hoped I would.

The premise is simple. Three billionaires who have revolutionized society through technology (with companies who doing similar to Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) are not saving the world through their creations, but are instead tearing society apart in a variety of different ways. Add in the apocalypse and some dystopia (but is it really if it’s creepily similar to what is happening now) and you have yourself a compelling novel.

But what makes this book so compelling also makes it drag. It gets bogged down in technological jargon. There becomes a large section of the book that discuss technical ideas that I did not find myself interested in and that slowed the pace of the story exponentially. Instead of being compelling, weaving together narratives that highlight the complexity of this world, throughout chunks of the book I found my attention waning, letting out large sighs about how much I had to read left, and became uninterested in the story being told.

Don’t get me wrong. This book is well written. It made me think. It made me sit with concepts. And the way everything worked together at the end was satisfying. But, to me, that doesn’t negate the more difficult aspects of the novel.

Overall, I think you would really enjoy this novel if you love complex stories that don’t align until the end with character driven narrative aspects. You’d also love this book if you enjoy stories that center around technology and it’s impact on the world through beautiful story crafting. But know this is not a story you can rush through, but instead savor for its intricacy.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Exciting premise and there is a lot going on here! In this sci-fi/dystopian world, global tech giants (think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs) are attempting to outsmart all the world’s calamities that are leading us to the final end of days. This story takes on some big and very real challenges that our world is currently dealing with and the message this author is trying to convey is important. But, for me, a lot was lost in translation. I could not connect with the characters or the storyline and found myself getting lost in the details. Maybe this book was written for more intelligent readers than myself. Thank you Netgalley, Simon and Schuster, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on November 7, 2023.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me an early copy of THE FUTURE by Naomi Alderman. This book publishes on November 7.

I had high hopes for this dystopian novel and it really sucked me in at first. Honestly, it was a win until the last 50 pages. I loved the technical explanations, didn't love the knock off reddit threads but, the settings felt super detailed. This one just took a strange turn at the end that kind of ruined it for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Title: The Future
Author: Naomi Alderman
Source: DRC via NetGalley (Simon and Schuster) in exchange for an honest review
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon

Why did I choose to read this book?

Honestly I almost didn’t request this book. I haven’t been granted a lot of advance copies from Simon and Schuster so I’ve been programmed to just kind of pass them by even if I’m really interested. The description on this book was too good to pass up though. Lesbians escaping cults and assassins, taking down billionaires, averting and/or surviving the end of the world? You son of a bitch, I’m in!

What is this book about?

This book is about saving the world from billionaires. Period. There’s other stuff going on, like how Martha (the assistant to one of the billionaires) escaped a cult run by her father and how that informs her later actions, or how Lien had to survive a refugee camp because they missed a paperwork deadline due to her mom’s cancer. Overall, it’s people who have seen/survived some shit who have found their way into influential positions and want to make the world a better place through whatever means necessary.

What is notable about this story?

If you look at the book cover you’ll see two animals: a fox and a rabbit. The story of Fox and Rabbit is a story that Martha’s father Enoch would tell the members of his cult. It’s meant to mirror the fables throughout history that pit farmers vs. hunters, nesters vs. nomads, people who stay put and people that never stop moving. Control freaks versus adrenaline junkies (if taken to the extreme). It was interesting to see this theme continue to surface throughout the book, and the different ways it was addressed made me consider which is better, which I would consider myself to be, and whether it’s possible to switch back and forth between the two identities.

There are also some Biblical references as Martha and her compatriots decide what to do about saving the planet. They reference the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah and constantly have discussions about how many good people would make someplace worth saving. They also discuss the opposite of this, which is what is the minimum number of people you would be willing to sacrifice to try to save a place. One person? Two? How many people would need to be removed from the game board to make the game winnable?

The overlapping of the Enoch fable and the Bible story made this a very pensive read. I feel like I came out on the other side of this one more thoughtful and introspective than when I started.

Was anything not so great?

The ending felt a little sudden and anticlimactic. The book is going 100mph at a volume of 10 and then suddenly…it’s over? It felt a little like falling off a cliff that turns out to be a 1 foot drop.

Totally worth it though. Small quibble.

What’s the verdict?

Four stars on Goodreads and you probably want to preorder this one to read right away. It’s a fast read that won’t let you go even after the end – you’ll be thinking about this book for a while! Go get it!

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The Future is a primarily science fiction dystopian, as a group of billionaires and those closest to them navigate (you guessed it) a future where society has collapsed. As we start the book, we meet our three billionaires who control almost all of technology, and who have utilized all of their resources, money, and connections to ensure their survival in the event of an apocalypse.

While a bit slow at first, this is such a fascinating read. I have a love-hate relationship with books that make me feel a bit on the dumb side, and Alderman’s writing certainly does that but in a good way. It was difficult for me to grasp on to the story initially, as I felt we bounced around from character to character quickly, and it wasn’t immediately apparent to me how they’d all be connected. We also bounce between the present and memories which paired with seemingly random chapters titles made it hard to follow the trajectory of the story. Once I tuned into how everyone related to each other, I felt more confident in the storyline. Alderman also adds in quite a bit of technology, biblical references, and there is also a Reddit type thread that appears within the story. These things certainly add an extra level of knowledge to the story but there were quite a few things/people/stories I wasn’t familiar with and of course ended up going down multiple Google rabbit hole. Because of this, the format changes interrupted my pacing (which is a me problem) and made the story seem slower than it was.

Outside of the structure of the books – the story itself and plot is completely compelling. There is so much talk nowadays about the end of the world, climate change, and technology taking over and Alderman has painted a very interesting premise of what our world could look like. She also takes this theme and gives us a glimpse on how we could potentially change it, and how we only need to look at the problem in a different light. I don’t want to get too in-depth on the plot, as I don’t want to spoil anything. But going in with an open mind will you wonders as Alderman does get philosophical on us.

Alderman has given us a wonderfully constructed and complex story about survival. The web Alderman weaves of humanities history to our potential future is compelling to say the least, and she brings up quite a few good points around how we evolved from the hunters and gatherers. I would have liked to learn about a few of our minor characters more, but ultimately this was a thought-provoking story.


The Future is out now. Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

I really liked the ideas in this book, the tech companies being so powerful and the gold of AI over people for example. I generally tend to like dystopian or apocalyptic fiction so it was exactly my kind of thing. That said, I lost interest at times, and struggled to get back into it. Overall a great read.

Three tech billionaires prepare for the future apocalypse. There were some interesting threads in this book and the concept was intriguing. There were also parts I could have done without (the forums). The book held my interest the whole time and gives an interesting look at what our future could be.

A brilliant novel set in the near future. Three of richest tech bosses in the world (think billionaire head honchos of Twitter-Facebook, Amazon, Apple) are all set with their luxurious, high-tech bunkers waiting for an apocalypse that will destroy the world as we know it. When the alarm sounds, they take off in a private jet to an unknown destination. Unfortunately things don't go as per plan....

The story is not very fast-paced but it is engrossing all the same. There are snippets of biblical philosophy and references to the Enochite survivalist movement. I loved the author's unique style of writing in the form of Reddit-like forum posts interspersed with the main narrative - very original. If you are a fan of tech stuff and AI you will love this book. If you are not a fan of tech stuff, you probably still have a chance of loving it for other issues - like the increasing disruptive power of mega corporations. Overall, a five-star read, the book contains enough poignant points to ponder and will be perfect for book club discussions as well!!

Thank you Netgalley, Naomi Alderman and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

A review of the book
The Future By Naomi Alderman

I was granted access to this book through a complimentary free copy through netgallery
I did not receive any compensation for writing this review and all thoughts and opinions. Here are my own.

This book is a mixture of Lord of the flies with an adult theme. Added with a futuristic overlay.
That's the first thing that comes to mind when I read this. There are hints of other books woven within the tapestry here. Overall, I think that this book has a lot of value. You really do need to read it more than once to get all of the nuances it contains in it. Some of the points that I think it brings home masterfully is that there's not much that can overpower the human condition the desire to control our environment. Sometimes twisted, afterment and to our own detriment. Also, finally, with the calming down of the coven pandemic, there's a lot of mental health elements here like we need each other to achieve optimal mental health. You can't really survive as a loner as much as people would like to. Also, even when we try to escape to a tropical island, the island of our dreams can easily turn into a nightmare. If we, as human beings can manage to leave things alone, nature will ultimately find a balance and get back to itself. But humankind needs to alter things to make it suitable. Habitable by itself. We are the odd man out. We need each other to survive so ultimately it serves all of us to the treat. Everyone and everything with love and respect. The greatest lack is a lack of love. And only humans can fix that for themselves. But they need more than one person to do it.
This book takes many twists and turns. Many unexpected. The rich think they are in control but are they really?
This book really makes you think and wonder where the world is going to end up or how it is going to end up.. I definitely recommend this book. It should be read through at least once, preferably more then once

Summary: dazzling exploration of the world we have made and where we are going. The Future—as the richest people on the planet have discovered—is where the money is.
The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with secret lavish bunkers. The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons.
The Future is a handful of friends-the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist-hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization. The Future is what you see if you don't look behind you. The Future is the only reason to do anything, the only object of desire. The Future is here.

Review: This book is almost a cautionary tale of what would happen if CEO's of big tech companies had bunkers for when stuff gets bad. And obviously they don't help things to go on a better directions. It has an almost non-fiction element that plays with your head and makes things interesting. Not my cup of tea but great for Silicon Valley junkies.