With real "Birnam Wood" billionaire vibes, Alderman returns in "The Future" – where a friend group plans a heist to save the world from greedy tech giants.

One of the more creative takes on our current life situation....the one whereby social media and online shopping website billionaires are basically running the world, The Future is, in a word, terrifying. But it's also laugh-out-loud, tongue-lodged-firmly-in-cheek, hilarious. Not to mention fun to read and well worth the time spent.
Don't expect too much in the way of redemption arcs as the thinly veiled representations of our current set of tech oligarchs are truly are as awful as they must be in real life. But with an opening line like: “On the day the world ended, Lenk Sketlish—CEO and founder of the Fantail social network—sat at dawn beneath the redwoods in a designated location of natural beauty and attempted to inhale from his navel." how can you go wrong?

Warning: there is some chronological messiness that made me have to re-read some parts to ensure I was in the right place, right time in the narrative. But Ms. Alderman's outsized, wealthy main characters who're seeking to survive a pandemic worse than COVID, along with their alter-ego set of characters who want to save the word instead of just themselves will make you giggle plenty while you come to terms with the weight of her story's warning.

This is incredibly propulsive; I tore through it in less than 24 hours. It has grand aspirations towards profound meaning, and while I'm not convinced that it gets them all, it certainly doesn't totally fail at them. It's not quite as well thought out in it's arguments about technological solutions, but as an imagination of the near future it's comprehensive and consistent, and as a portrayal of tech companies it's scathing. Strong recommend on this one.

Philosophically, this book is much more interested in the mentalities of survival and of the theology of Genesis than it is interested in what it takes to motivate societal change. This is not a bad thing: you do not expect all books to have opinions on all things, and the opinions that this book has on those things are genuinely interesting and kept me going even when their discussion interrupted the plot.

Structurally, this book handles a non-linear narrative with aplomb, jumping between characters and times in a way that feels thematically consistent and doles out information exactly as you need it. There were definitely places where I could get sense of what information I was meant to pick up on, but I didn't get any of the big pieces of information earlier than Alderman wanted me to have them.

I appreciated the casual queerness of this book. I appreciated the arguments for taking a stand and not relying on forces of history to improve things. I loved that it didn't shy away from making its heroes messy and sometimes just wrong. I loved that, unlike The Power, it didn't leave me despairing about the nature of humanity.

If you enjoyed The Power you’ll probably enjoy this new stand alone by the same author. I will say none of the main characters lend themselves to a certain allegiance by the reader although the storyline is interesting
and complex. The book is lacking a main protagonist that carries you through the large number of characters and changing view points. By the end of the book you’re not really rooting for anyone specific except maybe for the planet and the book to be over. The ending seems almost like an afterthought in the last two chapters; a bit of a throwaway to the one romantic couple. Also the epilogue/“many many years in the future” Was very odd and I was just kind of ready to be done and didn’t have the investment to figure out the authors purpose there.

The chat board chapters also had a really wired layout on my kindle, and I always kind of skimmed them.

***I was provided an advance copy for kindle via Netgalley in exchange for my review.

I mistakenly thought I had loved The Power so I requested this one. But as I started The Future, I felt lost and confused and had a really hard time following what was happening. I then looked up my review from The Power and so many of the feelings I had about it, I was feeling for The Future. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Alderman is an author for me.

“The only way to predict the future is to control it.” Naomi Alderman is so good at near-future speculative fiction and proves it once again with The Future.

This is less of a heist and more of an exploration of anxiety for the future and the ways we all get trapped within trying to be prepared, the difference between survival and society, of community and individualism, of the ways we are and are really not at all prepared for the future.

Through jumping POVs and time points, Alderman explores a future that looks very much like our own - the tech billionaires are easily traceable to companies we have now, disasters mentioned are familiar (the COVID pandemic gets a lot of play, understandably), and while no specific year is mentioned, it’s clear it’s the next twenty or thirty years, not some far-flung future. Some of it feels a little parable-y - there’s a comparison Alderman has that a lot of Western history gets passed through - but it fits together well enough and without any taking away from the energy of the story, which grabs you from the first page. While there’s not a lot of action to the plot, there’s always plenty happening that makes you think about where the past has been and where the future is going. I especially enjoyed the treatment of the uses of the internet, social media, and to my own surprise, AI.

Endings are usually the problem with speculative fiction, and this does falter a little towards the end - it’s such a sweeping generalization of an ending after such a lot of speculation and specific solutions, but it does leave you thinking and hoping for a better future, which is the appeal of speculative fiction for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel.

Wow, that was a lot. Biblical philosophy, tech overlords, strategies for avoiding and/or surviving the apocalypse, the nature of humanity, and a thriller and a romance to boot. This is an incredibly ambitious novel that Naomi Alderman has managed to pull off. I am not sure I agree with all of the philosophy, but that is kind of besides the point. The forces of entropy are strong with or without the internet. The tech lords are certainly destructive, but not by that much. And the idea that 4 good people would be adjacent to them is highly questionable, but. . . Still. It made me think about many different things in a new way. The one nit I have is that the nature of the pandemic was given away early. That is frustrating and took away a major twist. But I was so entertained by this powerful, propulsive novel by Ms Alderman.

Adventure/thriller that drew me in. Character development was solid. Author is masterful at identifying the myriad forces and the complex systems that define civilization and humanity and weaves them into a version of the future that feels almost hopeful.

I loved "The Future", which is no surprise since Naomi Alderman is probably my favorite author. I found myself absorbed by the story immediately.

This all seemed a bit like an alternate timeline, where people and circumstances were almost recognizable but slightly tweaked from our current reality. It seemed clear for the most part who the billionaires were based on and which of the top global companies were being mirrored in this story, and the inclusion of a religious cult story and a survivalist conspiracy community felt so timely. I had no idea where the story was going as it unfolded and definitely could not have predicted the end, although it was everything I wanted it to be. (Although I admit that the epilogue didn't make much sense to me… Or maybe I just didn't want to entertain the implications that it held.)

In short, from the first word to the last, I was absorbed by the story. I didn't want it to end. I'm so glad I was able to read this ahead of publication and I look forward to buying a hard copy once it's available.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I selected this book based on its dystopian premise..however I think I really only enjoy a fast paced dystopian novel. This was not for me, although from other reviews ,people have really enjoyed it.

I truly wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. I was taken in by the hype and early word of mouth about 'The Future.' I have not read any Alderman's previous work, so I have nothing to compare to in that respect, but I was let down by this novel. I kept expecting it go somewhere (the future maybe?) more quickly than it did. The plot plodded and many of the story elements were very repetitive and at times preachy. I did enjoy the two main characters, and their background stories to me were far more interesting than the main storyline itself. In my opinion, the story could have been streamlined, some of the repetitive elements trimmed, and that would have made for a more effective novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

Naome Alderman burst on the scene as the winner of the 2017 Baileys women's prize for fiction. In The Future, Alderman tackles the issues of unbridled greed, technology, and climate change. The first half of the book moves slowly, as we are introduced to a slew of both major and minor characters. But once past that, it becomes a page turner. The plot - three wealthy technology giants have prepared for the end of the world predicted by their AI and are able to hole up in their palatial bunkers while the rest of the world dies. Meanwhile each of them has someone close who wants to thwart their plans and instead use the technology to solve earth's problems. Highly recommende.

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!

I love the authors writing, it feels very immersive. I did not enjoy the biblical discussions, so I skimmed those sections.

The twists came as a surprise, but I’ve never been great at predicting those. It looks like there may be a sequel or series - looking forward to it! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy. I have read 50% of this book and could not continue reading it. I found it to be very boring. There was no development after halfway through the book.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. This book was poorly written and extremely predictable. There was no character growth and the results of the main cabal's coup were fantastical and unrealistic.

The near future is filled with huge tech companies, social media infiltrating daily life, growing AI, and people just can't stop buying stuff. AI might even predict a virus-induced apocalypse and alert only the richest people who've created post-apocalyptic havens. Alderman's latest novel explores the possibilities of all of this along with who's involved and who knows what. This story is a ride.

I really liked this author's other book, [The Power](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29751398.The_Power).

In this one, she looks at a different scenario, basically that the world is a mess and needs to be fixed. The head people running the largest corporations make plans for themselves and how to survive if the world as they know it ends. Their immediate subordinates look at the same scenario and look for ways to make the world better so that the entire world sorts itself out. Each group is planning for the future, but their goals are slightly different and also slightly opposing.

I would categorize this one as sci-fi, as the author is taking technology to a new level and not actually making things up out of their imagination.

I definitely encourage you to read this in order to find out how all of it resolves itself.

A long book, perhaps a bit too long in the middle, and it took me a while to catch on to what was happening. And that didn't happen until about 3/4 of the way through. But when it did, a switch flipped and it all made sense. And I had the feeling that in many ways, we're living the future now. Corporate greed is alive and well and the future holds no revelations there, just more ways for greed to be expressed. It wasn't evident at first, but Lai Zhen is by far the main attraction and she is a multitalented but very believable person. Set in the future (of course) we follow Lai Zhen's travels and trials as to how they relate to the three wealthiest humans on the planet, and how they deal with the end of the earth. The 'end of the earth' is by no means a clear cut event, and that is perhaps one of the frustrations I had when I began The Future.

I requested this book because I loved The Power (same author), and this one, although long, did not disappoint. Lest you think otherwise, I do not shy away from long books but when they start to drag I start to question my decision to read. The Future caught me in the nick of time.

My ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

3.5 stars

I read The Power by Naomi Alderman for my book club and that book took me a while to get into and this one was similar in that aspect.

Rich tech bros are ruining the world and also preparing for the demise of everything in secret. The premise is relatable to the world that we currently live in and there are so many parallels to our current situation.

I thought the synopsis sounded good and was excited by the dystopian world.
The timeline jumps around without much context so I found myself frequently confused as to what time I was in. The characters weren't very likable and I found myself putting the book down quite a lot.

I thought it was a unique story with lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Overall I think this just wasn't for me.