So beautiful! I loved this book. Naomi Alderman has yet to disappoint me. What if billionaires used their resources, both financial and intellectual, to improve the world instead of making themselves more wealthy?

The characters are beautifully written and complex. The way their lives all weave together is impeccably done. I was curious the entire time how all the pieces would tie together, but she managed to make it happen. I really enjoyed this book and its, ultimately, very hopeful view of the future.

I think many people will love this book, although it didn't work for me. It was hard to follow and at times boring. I did appreciate all the potential scenarios of how our life may actually be in the near future from now. I think the author did a great job highlighting what many people believe and currently discuss as far as the future of the world. My main issue with the book was there were many things that go against my religious beliefs and I have a hard time accepting Biblical references planted in a fictional story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This author is new to me but I like a good apocalyptic story and this sounded like a good one. I was right; it is a good one.

The future looks grim: billionaires have secret retreats and "preppers" have a dominant Web presence. Everyone thinks the end of times is near. When survivalists Martha and Zhen meet and combine their knowledge, they see a dangerous situation when the ultra-rich look out for themselves at the expense of civilization. They and a small group of survivalist friends decide to take action. Besides their retreats, a select few of the richest of the rich also have software telling them how and when to escape. This software also mysteriously appears on Zhen's phone giving her inside information but also raising questions: who sent it to her and why? And what is most important, is there time to fix things?

This story took off with a bang and grabbed me with its good versus evil idea but it got bogged down a bit in the middle with the over-my-head descriptions of software and algorithms to predict the future. It did pick up again, however, and I enjoyed the cat-and-mouse games that played out. The writing is excellent and the plot is just far-fetched enough to be believable. 3.5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is November 7, 2023.

I received a eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Full disclosure, I DNFed this book at around 30%, it just wasn’t for me. Thus everything below should be taken with a grain of salt, as I cannot expand on the back half of the novel.
Pros:
The strongest aspect of this book is it’s proximity to reality. The world the author builds feels tangential to our own, whilst still maintaining enough distance to feel like sci-fi. It paints a bleak, albeit obvious, picture of the trajectory our own world is heading down with climate change, political division, and corporate greed.
I really liked the characters the author created. Despite a large cast, each character felt like they had their own voice and personality, and the main characters had strong voices that made them feel real.
The incorporation of mixed-media (via messaging boards) was a cool insight into the niche subgroups operating in the world.
Cons:
For me, the biggest con, and ultimately why I DNFed the book, was the lack of a comprehensive storyline. At 30% through, I still wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. The apocalypse was coming, our MC had been shot at, there was a love interest, but these events felt isolated and unconnected, which left me feeling bored and uninterested. I really wanted to like this, and kept waiting for that AHA moment when everything came together, but it just took too long to get there.
Secondarily, the timeline is really confusing. The story jumps around a lot between past and present, message forums and IRL, character to character. This makes it ultimately hard to follow, and combined with a large cast of characters, I kept having to be like “wait when was this” again and again

I cannot say enough good things about this book. Naomi Alderman's The Power was a pivotal book earlier in my life, so I was thrilled to have the chance to read this copy. And I was so, so right to be excited -- Alderman has a rich and brilliant mind that comes through in expert writing. This book was fascinating and horrifying and so thrilling.

The Future is a freakishly plausible story about a bunch of tech billionaires stockpiling resources and building bunkers to survive the end of the world instead of using some of those billions to save it. This was really cleverly constructed - I loved the sections written as survivalist message board posts, even though I did start drifting and skimming a lot of the fox/rabbit/Enoch/preachy parts. There were lots of twists and turns, and the whole book had a real Neal Stephenson/Crytonomicon feel to it, which I really enjoyed!

"The Future" was an interesting, layered novel that does a good job examining the future as it could be along the current trajectory of technological advancements, paranoid billionaires, and environmental issues. It's certainly thought-provoking, but also moves along at a brisk pace with plenty of action and twists. I enjoyed the Internet forum sections that broke up the main story while still adding to it. I would have liked more character development in some of the secondary players, but overall this was a solid dystopian novel that I flew through. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a digital review copy.

The premise really sounded like something I would enjoy. However, while I found some parts interesting, there were too many other parts that felt disjointed. This wasn’t a smooth read and I ended up being too annoyed to enjoy it.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC of The Future by Naomi Alderman.

I enjoyed this book and found its themes very interesting to contemplate. In the not too distant future, all of the problems of modern society have intensified and we are on the verge of collapse. The book asks what we can do about it, and what we should do about it. Do the ends justify the means? Throw in the daughter of a doomsday cult leader, a lot of biblical/philosophical debate and a scrappy survivalist Vlogger and you’ve got this book.

It’s a little bit confusing to read as it jumps around in time without any indication that it’s doing so. It’s up to the reader to figure out the timeline, which is eventually clear.

It’s a solid 4 star book for me. - well written and thought provoking.

Technology is scary. The power-hungry, controlling personalities in charge of it are even scarier. The super wealthy just live in an entirely different reality. Use that power for good, people!
I loved the romance and uncertainty between Martha and Zhen. Zhen is a fantastic character to follow as she puts her survival skills to use in ways she never imagined. The future foreseen by the three CEOs is wildly different from what the activists imagine and plan for. This is about me vs them, about personal interests vs the greater good, about who gets to survive for the future and what that future looks like.
Both scary and hopeful, this book takes a hard look at where current technology is leading us and what the future could be.

#netgalley #thefuture

This is my first book by Naomi Alderman and it was fascinating! I don't read a lot of sci-fi or dystopian lit and found The Future incredibly immersive. We get such a vivid picture if each character and the near future and societal collapse.

The plot is a little slow-going at the beginning as it is largely character-driven, but it starts to pick up steam. The background of each person was so well-written.

It made me ponder our society and the responsibility tech companies specifically have to humanity. What choices would we make if we knew the end of the world was imminent?

Thank you Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Okay, I loved this book. But I understand it may not be for everyone. I’m not even sure I can say that if you loved “The Power” by this author (which I did, vehemently) that you would also like this book, but chances are definitely higher. First, this book is very intellectual and feels a little highbrow. That may or may not be your jam (it is mine, depending on the subject). A lot of this was technology based, but also about economics/ finance/ how technology-based firms rule the world. This is something I thought was extremely interesting, and also made me hate Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. (But of course not enough to quit using any of their services… ugh what can I say, I guess I’m a sheep.) It also made me sympathize with Ron Swanson and want to live off the grid. (Maybe just slightly.)
I think Naomi Alderman does a fantastic job getting her points across in her books. I’m not going to mention what her points are, as they are kind of spoilers, but if you know, you know. And I wish I could talk more about the spoilers in this book, because they are just so good!
I almost think this book should be required reading for some classes, because it just brings up so many good points. So I do heavily recommend reading this book to almost everyone, knowing it might not be your cup of tea, but is still a worthwhile read.

📖 Read if 📖 :
✔️ You liked “The Power”, but want to read more about how people with power can subtly affect the world in the future
✔️ You’re a conspiracy theorist, especially about technology and how technological firms work
✔️ Even if you don’t think you’ll like this book but want to read something with impact, with meaning

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

In a very plausible near future where billionaire tech giants control our lives, a handful of people hatch a plan to turn the technology that is leading us to an impending collapse into something good. The first half of this novel was fast-paced and enthralling, the second half dragged a little, possibly because of all the tech descriptions.

Reminiscent of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven with similar themes to Dave Eggers’s The Circle

I loved all of this. It takes you through the descent of society with a bit of mystery and intrigue, and the characters were interesting, even if they weren’t all sympathetic. I don’t mind a little heavy handedness in my apocalyptic cli-fi which is good because that was certainly present here.

This is my first Naomi Alderman book, and I’m looking forward to reading others.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Shuster!

Loved this until it got a bit too technical and preachy at the end. Agreed with the sentiment and then it went a bit too overboard. Also, that final postscript?

Some aspects of this I really enjoyed, and it scratched a similar itch as <i>Station Eleven</i>, which is one of my favorite books. This is a very solid entry in the climate fiction genre.

But the messaging about the evils of billionaires and capitalism felt too heavy handed and naive, the solutions too simplistic. Ultimately I enjoyed it, but there was a nagging feeling of annoyance.

"The Future" is here. Naomi Alderman's latest novel looks at the dystopian world we are currently living in rather than the standard fictionalized dystopias of the future--and it is so much scarier. The invasive tech, the intrusive apps and out of control AI read as if it were ripped from the headlines. Every page spins possible threats into existence or reminds us of past incursions to our privacy that we have readily given away with both hands to avoid spending 15 minutes in the systems menu or worse for 15% off our latest online purchase.

Alderman uses the premise that if certain people, namely billionaire tech owners, wanted to fix the world they could and instead they are letting greed and selfishness push the rest of us down the path to destruction. What is one to do? Obviously you turn the tables and beat them at their own game.

Alderman excels at creating a high tech wonderland of gadgets and apps geared to save users from apocalyptic deaths. She also excels at using myths and historical events to provide lessons for her characters to exploit, my only concern is that I heard a lot of Margaret Atwood's voice in parts of this novel. Normally it would be an honor to be compared to Atwood or even have your work discussed in the same breath, and it is no secret that Atwood has been like a mentor to Alderman, but I would encourage Alderman to be truer to her own voice that was so original and pure in "The Power".

In "The Future" Alderman is setting readers up for important and interesting thoughts and dialogs about responsibility, privilege and obligations. What do we owe others? What are we willing to endure for a better world? I hope these discussions prove fruitful and provide the catalyst for lasting change.

I think Alderman's books are just not for me. The characters felt more like caricatures to prove the points she's making.

Naomi Alderman's newest novel is a thought-provoking read from start to finish. In the story we encounter three titans of the tech world and follow them, and the key individuals around them, as they continue doing what they do best despite the consequences that their decisions might create for the rest of the world. "They knew how to make that general human happy, and that's why they were so good withholding it [happiness] or doling it out in perfect slices." Indeed, we meet them on a momentous day, when the systems that alert them to the impending doom of human society begin to go off.

Unlike the balanced global narration of The Power, in this book Alderman reveals most of her story through the eyes of an intriguing techie survivalist Lai Zhen, "her curiosity was greater than her fear, this too, is the pull of the future, the joy of simple wanting-to-know." Zhen's popular videos and connections in the online world lead her into rooms where she meets and forms relationships with some of the players behind the thrones. The reader follows with her without being sure if Zhen is a pawn in this world or someone with agency to create change and survive.

The Future is a gripping story with a knowledgeable central character. My favorite moments were the discussions with and about AI - "tools ask to be used." There is a lot of rich material to be discussed in this novel. It will be an excellent book club read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the loan of this advance e-copy for the purpose of review.

An interesting take on a believable dystopian very near future. I find the premise completely credible that the uber-rich billionaires, who are pulling the strings globally, would have some intricate, cushy secret bunkers set up to weather the disaster in comfort. I also didn't have any problem getting how they would be pretending to donate their extortionate wealth to solve the climate crisis while actually just continuing to make bank. I liked the characters and the convoluted plot of who is really running the show here, but I got a bit bogged down in the technology side of things. A lot of that went right over my head. Still a really good story though.