This novel is part political drama, family saga and speculative science.fiction. The story of how humankind might weather the tragedy and chaos that can be expected from accelerating change. As I took this journey with Max MacGyver and his grandson, they reveal their family history, and the road ahead. It is about a family’s journey through the trials and triumphs of the coming century, including climate change, medicine, AI, and the new world order as robots displace human labor, all while experiencing the family dynamics. I liked the experience of the journey. It’s an amazing novel.

3.5/5.0 Stars

‘Parts political drama, family saga, and hard-science speculative fiction, Journey to 2125 is the story of how humankind might collectively weather the tragedy and chaos that we can expect from accelerating change. What will it feel like to live during these next one hundred years? Take this journey with Max MacGyver and his grandson, as they reveal their family history, and the road ahead for you and yours.’

Gary Bengiers’ JOURNEY TO 2125 is nothing short of terrifying. The novel opens with an introduction to Max Yang MacGyver and begins with a nightmarish reflection on his life in Taiwan in 2033, and flows to ‘present-day’ California in 2125.

A word that comes to mind whilst reading this book—and now as I gaze at the option for AI assistance—that I always decline when writing a review—is Terrifying!

Too easy it is to reflect on our present-day in comparison. I will let you do the math.

Bengier touches on key moments throughout Max’s genealogy with an easy-to-follow and frequently placed family tree that reminds the reader of who’s who as you navigate the roles each character plays in a technologically driven future.

JOURNEY TO 2125 is a very slow-burn, with a storyline you will sit and simmer with well after reading—Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Chiliagon Press, for providing me with an eBook of JOURNEY TO 2125 at the request of an honest review.

Rating: 3.5⭐
Diversity: Yes

This book was a tough read given the current state of the world and the U.S. The story of Journey to 2125 spans three generations and challenges readers to contemplate the intersectionality between family values, climate change, technology, and how decisions around these shape our world and affect future generations.

I loved that the book was broken up into different perspectives and different timelines. It often felt like the story dragged because we were given a lot of information about technology and the climate it felt like reading a textbook rather than it being organic through dialogue. Correction, the information was given through dialogue but it felt like a lecture.

I found it informative and thought-provoking. This book is for the reader who loves learning through the science fiction genre and likes reflective storylines. This is not for the mood reader who's looking for a fun and fast-paced read.

I was approached by the author to read and review his new book and it took me a while to finish it, but this is not a negative thing. The story is layered and thoughtful, and presents a future that's both hopeful and terrifying. It's worth taking your time with this one in order to fully absorb everything it posits.

I did start to lose interest a bit in the middle for a couple of reasons...
1) There were a lot of characters and plot threads to keep track of, and
2) The dialogue started to feel a bit expository, like characters were taking turns lecturing each other on their favorite talking points, rather than having normal human conversations.

Fortunately, these scenes were always followed by the lessons playing out in the real world, moving the plot forward and eventually drawing all the narrative threads together.

I appreciated the opportunity to spend time in Gary Bengier's future. My honest review is my own opinion.

One possible future, told through the parable of a multi-generational, multi-national, and multi-cultural family. Bengier does his utmost to emphasize - correctly - the difference between nuclear weapons (bad) and nuclear energy (rebranded - again correctly - as fission).

While I don’t know that technology will progress as quickly and in as sinister a direction as Bengier suggests, the thought experiment is still worthwhile and the story is enjoyable and well paced, making this a quick and thoughtful read.

This book was not for me. Although I care about the important issues described (AI, climate change), I wasn’t invested in any of the characters and there didn’t seem to be any differentiation in them anyway. Some of the plot lines, such as the development of AI, felt very repetitive. I think it would’ve been a much more interesting nonfiction book with, maybe, a brief storyline of what a family might experience as society changed.

This fell into the "just not for me" category. This is a well written book with an interesting premise and characters. Unfortunately, the writing leaves a bit to be desired as we sacrifice certain things on the altar of "let's come up with more cool tech!" And the tech IS cool. But we zoom past what seem like monumental events in order to get more tech ideas.

Obviously, YMMV - if you are going into this for the futurism and ideas of the future of technology and AI and etc...this will hit the spot. But if you're going for an entertaining or moving story set in the near future...there are better ones out there. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Journey to 2125: One Century, One Family, Rising to Challenges by Gary F. Bengier is an ambitious and intriguing novel that paints a compelling picture of what the future might hold, both for society at large and for one family navigating a world in flux. Spanning across a century, the book follows a family’s evolution as they face the challenges of a rapidly changing world—technological breakthroughs, environmental crises, and societal shifts.

What drew me to the book was its unique approach of blending speculative fiction with a very personal story. Rather than focusing solely on sweeping global events, Bengier weaves these larger changes into the fabric of the family’s lives. I really appreciated how the author grounded the futuristic concepts in personal struggles and triumphs, making them feel more relatable and emotionally impactful. The family’s story becomes a lens through which we experience the evolution of society and technology, which adds a layer of intimacy to a genre that can sometimes feel distant or abstract.

Bengier does an excellent job of exploring the intersection between the individual and the world around them. I found myself drawn to the way the family members adapted and grew over time, with each generation dealing with the issues of its era while also carrying forward the lessons of the past. The book doesn’t shy away from the complex challenges that come with technological and environmental changes, but it also highlights the resilience of people facing them. The speculative elements—such as artificial intelligence and climate change—are thoughtfully explored, and the author ensures that these futuristic concepts never overshadow the human element at the core of the story.

That being said, there were moments where the novel felt a bit dense. The scope of the world-building and the depth of the socio-political commentary can occasionally slow the pace, and some readers may find themselves wishing for a more streamlined narrative. Personally, I sometimes felt that the focus on the family’s internal dynamics could have been balanced with a bit more exploration of the broader world outside their experience. Still, I found that these slower moments were often followed by powerful insights or events that made the book worth sticking with.

In the end, Journey to 2125 is a thought-provoking read that will appeal to fans of speculative fiction who enjoy stories with a strong focus on personal development and societal change. While it can be dense at times, the depth of character exploration and the thought-provoking questions it raises about the future of humanity kept me engaged. If you're looking for a story that blends emotional depth with a vision of the future, this book is definitely worth a read.

This was a fun futuristic story told from a multi-generational perspective. I loved the action, family lines, and technology. And sooooo thankful for the glossary to help understand the futuristic tech.

I really liked this book. It gave an interesting take on what might be coming in the future with AI and robots. I liked that parts of the book felt real, that they could happen in our timeline as well, because not everything that occurs could be made artificial. Everyone would still, for example, feel a certain amount of pain from a snake bite. And everybody could still experience a tsunami. In the future though these scenarios would be amplified with climate change and with the rise in technology.

Overall this book gave me a lot to think about and reflect on.

Thank you to the publisher and author for sending me this book, I enjoyed it.

This is definitely a speculative science fiction novel, which I usually really love reading, but something about this book just did not do it for me. I think it might be the almost juvenile nature of the writing style, which makes it really ironic because it somehow felt like it was written with AI. You know the saying “Show, don’t tell” that they teach you in ELA in the 3rd grade? This book does the opposite, I feel like every scene was telling us about a new feature or problem of their time, but not actually immersing us into the experience with the characters.

I might have liked this book as a younger YA reader. I really really wanted to like this book, but it definitely was not my cup of tea, it was really slow without much of a burn to keep the story interesting. I really like the premise behind this story, I just wish it was executed a bit better. Thank you to netgalley for giving me the chance to review this book!

Journey to 2125" offers a compelling narrative that blends a family saga with speculative fiction. Gary F. Bengier masterfully captures the essence of a century-long journey through the eyes of Max MacGyver, revealing the triumphs and trials of his family in a futuristic setting. The book seamlessly addresses significant themes such as technological advancements, climate change, and the resilience of the human spirit. The character development is profound, and the plot is intricately woven, making it a page-turner. I particularly appreciated the way Bengier paints a vivid picture of the future, while still making the emotional struggles and relationships deeply relatable. An engaging read for anyone interested in exploring the possibilities of the future through a personal and familial lens.

The jumping around from time period to time period makes things a bit jointed for me, but the overall narrative is compelling enough.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Journey to 2125.

This book was just ok and not really my cup of tea. If you are a science fiction book lover I think you should read.

This was a very different book than what I usually read. I thought it was well composed and creative, addressing a lot of timely topics and exploring what the future may look like if we continue down our current path. I loved the foundational discussion between Max and Grand and the twists that came at the end - I did not see that coming! This story is compulsively readable. The only complaint I had was that it jumped around a lot between characters and timelines - sometimes this was hard to follow, even in print.

Such an amazing work loved it.
This is a science fiction book although u am not a fan of this genre I still enjoyed this one. It was a mix of dystopian, science fiction family drama and futuristic theme and style. After all this book period span follows a family and it's generationfrom 2033 to 2125.
The Book was so engaging from the first chapter beautifully written easy clear understandable language characters well defined and easy to follow the timeliness.

This book was a heartwarming one in an aspect and thought provoking at the same time and u would gladely recommend it 👌 😀

First time reading for this author and hope for more loved it

This review was written in exchange of an ARC copy from netgalley of this book

Journey to 2125: One Century, One Family, Rising to Challenges by Gary F. Bengier. A thought provoking, engaging look into the future that is expertly written with memorable and reliatable characers.

Thank you to the author, Chiliagon Press LLC and Netgalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a sci-fi story that's not quite dystopian and not quite utopian. It follows the MacGyver family over a period of about 100 years. It's not only a story of their resiliency but also how they figure out how to fit in and survive in an ever changing world. The author does a great job of creating characters that are complex, yet still relatable. The future described in this book was a good mixture of problems that humanity was able to solve, problems humanity is working on, and problems humanity still can't figure out. The technological advancements described in the book actually seem very reasonable given where we are now.
Each chapter is told from a different family member's point of view. It was very easy to follow and keep straight. There is also a helpful glossary included that explains all the futuristic tech terms.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. I was interested in the futuristic telling of this book and the POV and timeline both bounce all around from a nearby present date to 2125. I found it to be a bit long and more focused on robotics and climate change science bits while I was more interested in the personal side of the characters. I did like the vast differences between the characters and that they weren't just "cookie cutter" characters.

Fantastic premise and a gripping read. I was excited to read this book and found the story both interesting and scary at the same time.
I wanted to love it even more, but I found it lagging in parts with too many unimportant details and mundane information that took away from the story.
Over all, it was enough to keep me interested, and I would have been more so, if parts of the story didn’t drag with so many story stopping details.