The Future is uncomfortably close to reality and a great thriller. Although at first I struggled to get into the story and connect with the characters, but it is worth continuing and I was soon blown away. by this dystopian thriller. The characters were really engaging and I loved the idea of a main character being a doomsday prepper which, to me, was a really unique perspective. I also thought the world building was greatly written and although confusing in parts, is very interesting. I do believe this book won't be for everyone but I do recommend giving this a chance.

The latest novel from Alderman is a high-energy, cinematic speculative sci-fi that explores the possibilities of the future. From the more cutting-edge technological advances and scientific breakthroughs, to the terrifying abuse of power that could allow to grow and corrupt and breakdown of the climate.

The Future is one of those stories that feels too possible, to close for comfort with familiar places and people to create something uncomfortable with real nightmare potential.

Each character had a different viewpoint, a different voice to bring to the story with many different weaving subplots and stories that come together to show a vision of the future in spectacular ways and of course creating a female-led, female-focused cast that always manages to capture the real issues at hand.

Mixing cli-fi with high-energy thriller vibes along with real, warm characterisation this was exactly the kind of intelligent but entertaining thing I’ve come to expect from Alderman.

This was an absolute page-turner for me. It is a compelling story, full of action and rich characterisation, set in a familiar world of polution, climate crisis, and personal and corporate greed. The setting is close to the bone, and the book has a lot to say about our place in this world. This didn’t make it a difficult read - rather it gave the plot and characters’ motivations a poignancy.

The plot moved at a good pace, with plenty of twists and reveals that kept me on my toes. The cast of characters is nicely varied, with each character having a unique and well drawn personality. They all have an emotional presence and authenticity that made the book a joy to read - and I was genuinely engaged with the overall plot and the outcomes for the main characters.

The book has a satisfying, unexpected, and thought-provoking ending. The characters, technology, and overall spirit of the story left me wanting more - I would love to see these characters or settings appear in a future work by the author.

Thank you #NetGalley and 4th Estate for the free review copy of The Future in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book started out quite challenging for me, I had a really hard time getting into it between the thinly disguised caricatures of the three main characters and the sections written as part of a forum which was a bit hard to follow and suffered from formatting issues on the Kindle (which I'm sure will be fixed in the final edition). I did persevere and ultimately found the book to be quite entertaining once I got past the issues mentioned above, though more as a comic novel than a dystopian environmental thriller. I did find the other characters aside much more engaging than the three tech bosses and liked the twist at the end, though taken as a whole there was just a bit too much going on for this to be a winning read for me.

This was a really interesting book packed with ideas and reflections on what could be the outcome of various contemporary global events. A lot of it was also really scary and almost too plausible. Unfortunately, the negative side was that it was so packed with ideas, I found it confusing at times and difficult to remember the relationships between the various characters. However, I think it is a book I shall continue to think about for some time to come.
Thank you to netgalley and 4th Estate for an advance copy of this book
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

This is a very thought provoking book, and it took me on quite a journey!

In short, this is about a small number of billionaires safeguarding their future by buying a product that will warn them when the world is about to go crazy (think pandemic/earthquakes, etc etc), and Will send them to a secret bunker where they can survive until everything is back to normal.

As expected, the alarms go off and off they go….

As I said above, it’s an excellent, truly excellent read and it threw me a good few times as I did not expect what was coming! It’s left its mark on me though, quite a big one. What if this happened? In real life? Could it….should it? I think it should…

My thanks to Netgalley and 4th Estate and William Collins for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book very hard to follow with the multi POV format and the blog conversations. I'm sure that if you are into this genre,it's a good book but unfortunately not for me

I have been running with Zombies, Run for 7 years and have always enjoyed Naomi Alderman’s writing. Although I haven’t read The Power, I have heard many good things about it and so I was excited to request The Future – her latest novel.

The book focuses on Lai Zhen, a doomsday prepper whose life is suddenly mixed with the life of billionaires when she meets one of their assistants at a conference.

I think one of my main problems with The Future is that there is a lot of world building needed to get the plot off the ground. We need to get to know the three billionaires at the centre of the plot, their close family and confidents, the technology that they have created, the life of a doomsday cult that existed and their philosophy, the character of Lai Zhen and how she ties into the story, the conversations on various message boards that help us understand the motives of those around them. It was all just a bit too much for me - the real plot only got going at 70% and that part on the island I actually enjoyed. Everything previous to that just felt like it dragged - the long-winded conversations and biblical stories on the forums of an internet chatroom in particular. I think the book would have benefitted from a show, not tell style by integrating some of the backstory into the plot and perhaps starting on the island and working back in a flashback style.

Overall, The Future has too many plot threads which leaves the reader confused and the first half drags way too much. I did like the ending though and that pulled this review up from a 2-star to a 3-star read for me. It’s a clever concept and one that sticks with you for quite a while afterwards. Thank you to NetGalley & Fourth Estate for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Written by the author of 'the power' this novel is set in the near future. It focuses on three giants of the corporate tech world (who seem strangely familiar) and their determination to survive and repopulate the earth in an extinction level event. The planet is dying thanks to human beings, and the end is getting closer. Unknown to the rest of the population, these three billionaire geniuses have a series of secret bunkers across the globe. One day, they all get a phonecall. It is finally happening. Time to evacuate in top secret.
Other people close to them become entangled in their mission to keep these bunkers top secret. As the story unfolds we learn just how involved they all are. Lots of twists and turns. Some great ideas of futuristic tech. Sabotage, spy missions, survival on a desert island. This book has lots to keep you on your toes. Really enjoyable and completely sucked me in.

Read courtesy of NetGalley and Publisher.

Ingredients: tech billionaires, end-of-the-world app, end-of-the-world forum, survivalist expert, survivor of an evangelical cult, a plot, a deadly pandemic. Shake and stir and strain, see the result - a novel whose darkest parts seem very likely and brightest moments - perhaps too optimistic.

This was a fine novel that unfortunately, did that thing multi-POV books sometime do that means it's tough to get invested, i.e. jumped perspectives (timelines, places) precisely when things were getting really fun. I think the plot-twist is a little too predictable, too (although it's a fun one - but I called it really early on and then I ended up mostly reading to see if I was right). I think the characters didn't quite become as realized as I wanted them to. I liked some fragments that I expect won't be as popular with majority of readers (Martha's religious thoughts, and forum fragments). I wanted more of fox and rabbit, and for it to be more central than it ultimately was. I feel like the themes end up only half-realized.

Still, a solid 3.5 stars.

I barely even know where to start with reviewing this book. It took me a while to get through but this by no means is any reflection on how good the story is.
I have so much to say about the story but unfortunately most of it has to include spoilers so I can't.

As a quick overview of what the story is about - it focuses on the leaders of the top 3 tech companies in the world, while they are fictional companies it is very obvious who these could be in our own world.
These incredibly powerful people are so powerful that they have acquired access to something noone else can have, knowledge of The Future. But what does this actually mean for them, and everyone else?
That's honestly the only way I can think to describe it and when I read a similar description I wasn't sold. If it hadn't been by Naomi Alderman I don't think I would have picked it up but I'm very glad I did.

I unfortunately don't think this book will be as popular as her other novel, The Power, which is a huge shame because it is possibly one of the best, most thought out books I have ever read. I genuinely believe that Naomi Alderman is the next Margaret Atwood and as much as I hate to compare people, I feel that this is the fastest way to explain her stories. This story is very on-the-nose and that made it kind of hard to get through but the lyrical prose and richly developed characters will be the reason I think about this book for years to come.
I don't think that it will be for everyone and I do feel that a lot of people may DNF it before they realise why they absolutely shouldn't so if you're reading this review, just know that whilst I would understand if you're halfway through the book and wondering where the story is going and what the point to it all is, it is 100% worth it.
Naomi Alderman really knows her stuff - about everything - and this really comes across in her writing.
I really can't wait to see what else she comes up with.

It's a few days after I have finished this book and I am still trying to figure out what I think.
The plot is very strong, but kind of unreliable, in the sense that you will later lean that what you thought the characters knew was in fact not what the characters knew.
The characters are strong, they have very distinct voices and strong motivations that make sense from their point of view.
The writing is obviously gorgeous, the pacing was a bit weird for me, especially the mixed media breaks, but they added a lot to the atmosphere.
With this all said and done, the reason why I am still hooked on this book is the strong social commentary on how we see our future, where we are headed and what is needed to change course. Get ready for your morals to be challenged. The book technically does offer an answer to the questions it is asking, and it is kind of implied as the "correct" answer, I think the strongest point is still giving you question to think and talk about.
I found this book to be overwhelming in the best way possible.

I mostly enjoyed this. I liked the characters they all were 'real', I liked how it was something that could plausibly happen with the technology. It took me a while to get into it though. I didn't enjoy the "religious" elements. I thought it was quite long and could potentially have been shortened.

I loved The Power and really wanted to love this book too. Unfortunately it was too technological and sci-fi in nature to keep my interest. The plot jumping around in time and person was hard to follow too. There's no doubt the author is skilled. This just wasn't the book for me.

I am still trying to catch my breath after finishing this amazing novel.
It is Intriguing, scary, depressing, uplifting, optimistic and then more, but no spoilers! As other reviewers have said, it jumps around quite a lot and the reader has to be on the ball to stay with the narrative, but it is most definitely worth it. I had a whole gamut of questions and opinions as I was reading the story, some of which were answered as it progressed, but others I had to wait until nearly the end to see all of the threads unravel and reunite.
Definitely recommended if you care about the future of our society and want to think about where the planet is heading. Not my usual type of more predictable genre, but it just shows that we should all take a chance and be the fox, not the rabbit sometimes.

I wasn’t sure what to make of The Future until about half way into reading it. However, from that point on, I did succumb to the overall pull of the intricacies within the plot and literally could not put it down. Naomi Alderman’s, The Future, is about the use of social media by those at the very top to subvert and invent world events, to be fed to the global collective as reality. A very clever work!

I was excited to read this as i have read Naomi Alderman's book The Power previously. This one didn't pull me in or keep my attention as much as The Power did.

A daring, stunning offering from the author of The Power. Naomi Aldermans sharp prose and cutting stories sit deep within.

Book Review 📚
The Future by Naomi Alderman - 4/5 ⭐

A group of 4 coming together to try and save the world, set decades in the future? I went in blind and based my choice to read off the title and cover alone. I was expecting a dystopian, futuristic book but was pleasantly surprised with the route The Future takes.

Let's talk author first. Alderman is quite clearly the "Sheldon Cooper" of this world. She has these huge, fantastic and indescribable ideas that's she put into words. She makes you think about what could happen in the future on a realistic level, with the way she plays on words and thoughts. It's truly impeccable. She has a unbelievably phenomenal mind and writing skill. I look forward to more from Alderman.

Some of the themes throughout the book are pretty strong. Characters and ideas, both. It can become overwhelming but still completely enjoyable. There are so many different aspects to enjoy that it's bound to appease a variety of bookworms who enjoy completely different genres. There is surreal description throughout and strong characters and plots. There's not a lot to fault in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and 4th Estate for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5817215611

I don't quite know how to describe this book. It's a mediation on the power of big tech companies and where our broken world might end up if we don't change our direction of travel. It's fizzing with big ideas and sweeping themes. But it's also weirdly patchy. One minute it's like reading an academic essay, the next it's a crash bang wallop action scene, the next it's a (slightly unconvincing) attempt at a love story. One minute it's moving at a hundred miles a hour, the next at snails pace. A compete ragbag of ideas and writing styles and plot twists, some of which land beautifully, some of which don't. Probably a whisker away from greatness, but enjoyable in the attempt.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.