DNF after 2 chapters. This book made no sense yet and I donb't have the time or energy to work through this book. The use of emojis in the text really, really put me off.

The emojis threw me off so badly. I just did not understand it but now that I've finished this book, I actually want to only speak in emojis from now on.

Anyways, I read some other reviews and I'm glad to know everyone was a little confused for the first bit of this book. You're thrown right into the story with little to no explanation on... well, anything. All I've gotta say is that you really have to stick with it. Once the story started coming together, I began really appreciating it. It did take me a while to get through this book because of how confusing everything was, though.

The politics, as weird as they were, were really good. It reminded me heavily of Akira, with multiple storylines in a dystopian world cut off from everywhere else. The characters were great in their flawed ways and they were fun to read about.

The humor caught me off guard, but it was funny. I don't know if Polansky was trying to make it comedic but the advanced New York slang was funny too. Simply because it was regular NY slang but even more exaggerated.

I had very high hopes for this book. I was hoping that this book would be a dystopian to match great novels such as Scythe, but I’m afraid this novel was a far cry.

The story begins with a prologue that is promising, telling us of a boy who’s looking to kill a dog, and sell its pups. Things take a sharp downhill from there, however.

The next few chapters introduce us to who I can only assume are main characters. However, they carry confusing and cliche names, like “the Kid” and “Chisel”. Then, the narrative jumps from event to event, randomly segueing into unrelated people and events. It’s impossible to figure out what’s going on. The world building only worsens the situation. With a deadly (Apocalypse? Mist? Fog?) named “the funk” that seems to haunt a post-apocalyptic New York City, crippling it almost completely, you’d think the author would spend a little more time explaining what it actually is, and how it function.

Overall, this book was one of the most difficult books to read that I’ve received. Working on this story for a few more years would have produced a masterpiece, but an effort to turn an artistic process into a commodity, the story has fallen short.

This book was a wild ride: an enjoyably wild ride. With shades of Mad Max and Fallout, Polansky envision a world in which Manhattan has been cut off from the outside world by an ectoplasmic ‘funk’. The ensuing battle for survival has created a survival-of-the-fittest world, with Manhattan divided up by rival gangs, with the whole thing tenuously held together by an overseeing Council. The novel is a somewhat satirical take on the post-apocalyptic genre, and one that works successfully, with keen observations on how cliques form and reform on a city-wide scale.

I loved this world that Polansky has created. It was frequently laugh-out-loud absurd and filled with every eccentric you could imagine in a society whose main diet is dog (yes, dog, and if not that then rat or pigeon). The main cast is varied, each clinging to their motivations as outside forces begin to exploit the strangeness of this new-Manhattan. Gillian and the Kid, the two characters we spend the most time with, are interesting and multi-layered, with Gillian being our window through which we can understand this strange world, and the Kid an engaging mystery to be worked out. My one complaint is that, for most of the story, characters feel too powerful – winning every fight and getting the jump on any potential barrier to success.

Polansky uses clever world play with character names, dialogue and gang names which left me re-reading lines to grin at his references. He plays with structure, filling the narrative with brief vignettes which lets us learn about facets and niches of a city that is both familiar and oh-so-weird. This novel is a wonderful vision of a Manhattan gripped with rivalries, dogma, street law and people just trying to find their place.

Thank you to Angry Robot for this utterly blinding introduction to the writing of Daniel Polansky. The premise is genius, the content well-constructed, highly detailed and completely immersive and the execution? Simply chef's kiss!

Taking contemporary knowledge, culture symbols and language and evolving them into a whole new language, deities and means to traverse the world is simply brilliant. Now, I will admit, that the first few pages almost made me pull a John Wick (ie the first few scenes prevented me watchhing this glorious film series for years because of his dog - I don't blink at many things, but animals are a soft spot) however, it was a case of setting the scene

The languague hits you first. I love the Boston accent, it's unique and easily identifiable, but imagine it evolving through an apocalypse, how much broader it would be, the inflections and slang. Polansky weakes in contemporary slang and reworks it and in turn creates a whole new language

The story begins with a toxic cloud enveloping Manhattan (the funk) Manhattan is isolated, its inhabitants mutated, a whole new soceity is born from the rubble, different tribes emerge (think Mad Max without cars meets Gangs of New York and you are just about there, but make sure to put on a bit of extra polish!) but, like any fragile soceity, throw a stranger into the mix and things start to get spicy, and not in the good way!

Tomorrow's children is a fantastic read, a wry wit, strong character building (the names!) solid world building and a completely immersive narrative that flows so well, you will be fluent in the new slang

Very, very good book and a great new direction in the Post-Apocalypse Dystopian Genre

Thank you to Netgalley, Angry Robot and Daniel Polansky for this highly entertaining ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I'd like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I really liked Tomorrow's Children, overall. It's a fast paced, interesting story that gave me serious Fallout New Vegas vibes, with the gangs fighting for territory and the powerful few living in a well manicured paradise while corruption and bloodlust course underneath. I loved the characters -the Kid, Gillian, Slim my faves in that order- and the direction the plot took after tying the two main POVs. There's a lot of slang specific to this new world and it takes some getting used to but the meaning can be picked up through context anyways.
I do have two critiques to an otherwise perfect book: one, some slang doesn't make sense - language tends to simplicity, especially with no formal education, but we see the words "day" and "night" changed to "bright" and "dim" - dimtime, the dimmest, brightest, etc. It just doesn't feel natural.
And speaking of not feeling natural, critique #2 would be the emojis. From a practical point of view, the emojis showed too large in my Kindle so the line height went crazy whenever they appeared (2x or 3x normal), and from a narrative flow point of view the task of having to translate them into regular english also took me out of the story - asides from the fact that we don't all call emojis the same, so is it The Drunken Hen or the Dizzy Chicken? Story wise this seems like the least natural path for an illiterate society: having no electronic devices to just tap and get the emoji, drawing something this complex on a board doesn't strike me as neither efficient nor fast (i.e. for the news peddlers).
In any case - these two details are just that, details: the writing is excellent, the story is gripping and I very much enjoyed it.

There are plenty of post-apocalyptic media set in and around New York. On the film front you have Escape from New York, the original Planet of the Apes films and I am Legend. And on the book front there is everything from Colson Whitehead’s zombie apocalypse Zone One to Kim Stanley Robinson’s clifi 2140. Which is all to say that Daniel Polansky’s new novel Tomorrow’s Children, set 6-7 generations after something called the “funk” has decimated New York has plenty of antecedents.
There are so many characters in Tomorrow’s Children that it is hard to know where to start. The action is set in a New York divided into territories that are run by different gangs. The book opens with two critical events, the arrival of a “tourist” to the city and the wiping out of one of those gangs, creating a power vacuum. The story broadly follows two groups – those sowing chaos for reasons that eventually become clear, and those employed to the ruling Commissioner, “the sheriff”, the track them down. But nothing is that simple and readers who can stay with it will find plenty of twists in that particular tale.
Part of the problem though it the sheer number of characters and the telling of the story in short episodes. While this is in some ways immersive in Polansky’s world it will take readers a long time to understand who is who and just what is going on. The stakes are unclear as are many of the character motivations. That said, those characters, are just weird and engaging enough to keep readers’ interest.
Tomorrow’s Children also some clear influences from across the post-apocalyptic spectrum. It’s combination of neo-barbarism, retro-futurism and western tropes recalls a range of influences, including Mad Max and the Fallout video games. It is not that this book feels derivative but it never feels like it gets far enough away from its influences to be truly original. The most original is the funk, which is like a cloud that can both kill and somehow give a high and possibly also cause visions. But it is never really explained – where is came from, why it is possibly only around Manhattan, what it actually does.
The overall impression that Tomorrow’s Children gives is anarchic fun. Polansky revels in plots, explosions, chases, sword fights and the futuristic use of emojis. He creates a violent vibrant world, throws a wrench in the machine, and then sits back to watch the chaos play out. Which some readers will respond to and enjoy, others may just find derivative and exhausting, particularly as this type of narrative has been done better elsewhere.

I am all for a good apocalyptic wasteland story and had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. It was a lot of work to read - lots of unexplained slang and random action scenes that didn’t make sense. At one point, I thought maybe it was a sequel to something that I missed (it wasn’t) - just too much going on. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Tomorrow’s Children offers a thrilling and imaginative journey through a pocket of post-apocalyptic New York, unlike anything seen or imagined before. In this contained world, where gang codes dictate survival and peace is precarious, the story unfolds with grit, humour, and immediate engagement. Initially, the world-building details may seem murky, but they gradually sharpen as the narrative progresses.

The story itself is a complex web of intrigue, with conflicting interests and intertwined personal journeys for the prominent characters. Superhuman abilities and philosophical reflections add depth, hinting at larger-scale goals beyond initial assumptions.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Tomorrow’s Children is a fantastic (and fantastical) ride taking place in an established pocket post-apocalypse, of all places. It’s New York like you’ve never seen and imagined, a contained world where people live and die by gang code and peace is a tenuous concept at best. It’s gritty, funny and immediately engaging, with the world-building details muddy at first but coming into sharper focus as the story unfolds.

And what a story! A real web of intrigue, conflicting and overlapping interests and (rather intertwined) personal journeys for the prominent characters, peppered generously with mentions of superhuman abilities and poignant philosophical comments made as if in passing - all of which ends up being for a much larger-scale goal than you would assume at the beginning.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that Polansky impressed me once again. I loved all the big and little things that make this story so compelling - it might actually be my favorite of his as of now.

Thank you to #angryrobotbooks and Netgalley for an advance copy. An absolute delight.

Welcome to tomorrow’s Manhattan Island. At some point in our future, the air (here, at least – who knows about further afield?) has become polluted with ‘the Funk’. Some people sniff just a little of it to get high, others find themselves warped and mutated by it. Get too enveloped in the stuff, and it’s a messy death. And yet others say that the Funk tells them the future…

Cut off from the outside world, and prevented from going more than a few stories high, Manhattan is now a jigsaw of gang-run neighbourhoods. In an unknown number of generations, written language has disappeared – replaced by emoji-text – and technology is both scarce and failing. Rat forms a large part of most people’s diet. All in all, a lovely place – which only makes it all the more strange when, for the first time in centuries, the island gets a … tourist?!

This is not an easy book to get into, as the reader is thrown right in at the deep end of altered language (are you walking the phalt this dim?) and new social norms. It is, however, high action – there’s something incredibly cinematic about the opening assault on a gang’s high rise home turf, by a misfit band wielding swords as well as some ‘boom’ (ie guns). Led by ‘The Kid’, the first part of the book follows their trail of destruction through the city, all the while wondering what exactly their game even is, never mind where it’s leading us.

The action really doesn’t let up, either, jumping scene to scene between different characters (with regular pithy footnotes passing comment as well as helping keep straight who’s who), different gangs, different parts of the city. There is *such* a lot going on here! Factions upon factions, and then the individual-level scheming, and really you just have to let yourself get swept along. Before too long, I was totally caught up in the plotting and weirdness, and wondering how all the pieces might fit together.

If I had to liken this to anything, it might be Escape from New York populated by the residents of Mad Max’s Barter Town (sans Thunderdome). Only, the Funk adds an otherworldly element, giving some people mental powers even as it traps and damages the population.

We never find out what caused the Funk, or what the rest of the world still looks like but we do get a satisfactory – imo – conclusion to the story, which is always a good thing! Along the way, I did grow to love the imagination and sheer ‘otherness’ of the read compared to most things I’ve stumbled across. Sure, the emoji stuff was highly irritating, but thankfully there’s not too much of it, and it sits alongside several interesting little nods to how a society in might adapt over centuries of isolation.

Not the most immediately easy of reads, but very worth sticking with. I enjoyed this a lot.

I so wanted to love this book, everything about the premise spoke to me but I just could not get into the story, develop a bond with the characters or understand the dialect. Now either I was just not bright enough to truly keep up or this was too large an attempt to be smart that didn’t translate.

We’re introduced to many new characters in each chapters all of whom speak in a new dialect but there’s no ability to understand what they are discussing. The use of emojis as their way of writing sounded so promising but in reality I had absolutely no idea what they were meant to tell me and I trudged and waded through chapters of this book completely confused and unmotivated.

Spoiler alert *

Within just a few sentences of the book we’re subject to something that personally I could have done with a trigger warning for..I’m all for artistic license but I struggled with the graphic description of animal abuse. I can completely appreciate why it was there, they world it’s painting but it was too much for me personally and left ne dreading that another scene like that would be written.

Ultimately I ended up DNF’ing this book. I still believe the premise and idea for this book sounds fantastic and enjoyable. Perhaps the published version will contain a dictionary for the slang, a description of what the emojis mean and a map to help immerse the reader but without it I couldn’t continue.

really fun dystopian tale in the wreckage of what used to be New York City, which is a really gorgeous way to set it up. and it was so fun!

This book is…quirky

I think that’s the best way to explain it. There is a lot happening with little to no explanation and the setting is interesting. The use of emojis was an interesting concept as we see the way text has evolved and the god like status that celebrities are held to.

On the whole I would say it was an ok read.

Thanks NetGalley for the Arc

This book is full of too many silly names, made up words, and over the top weirdness for me. I couldn't take it seriously at all and it just felt like a chore to get to the end.

DNF @ 30%

This book felt very weird to me. I'm a fan of sci-fi and post-apo settings, and am usually excited to figure out the new tech and new customs the authors come up with.
However, this book missed the mark in my opinion. The main problem comes from the language: D. Polansky invented a futuristic slang and **committed** to it. Problem is, it's not intuitive, it felt forced, and i quickly got annoyed at how much effort i had to expand to understand the precise meaning of basic words. To me, it detracted from the atmosphere instead of adding to it, and created a big distance between the reader and the characters.
I also didn't like the little bit of plot I got to see. It was very disjointed and kept jumping from character to character without letting me get attached. I barely saw each POV twice in those 30% i read, how am i supposed to care for anyone?

Overall, a disappointing read. There were some nice elements and ideas i would have liked to see developed, but the writing was such a chore to wade through that i couldn't bother.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Review - Tomorrow's Children by Daniel Polansky

I quite enjoyed this book as something different, edgy and fast paced. In a near-future New York, one of its main islands has become separated by an ever-present supernatural fog ('the funk') from the rest of the world. Because of this isolation, over time its own distinct society has developed, structured around gang-like clans held in a balance of power, homebrew religious sects and a need to survive. This strange location is disrupted by the arrival of an outsider, and what follows is a violent, often amusing, rapidly paced romp filled with lots of action and snappy dialogue.

The story begins with the death of a local clan boss and many of his followers, which disrupts the power balance. A hardened veteran, Gillian, is chosen as the Sheriff to investigate the disturbance. We are also introduced to a varied group of characters during the course of her investigations and manipulations. The Kid is a chain-smoking, tough but mysterious hitman and soldier, whose relationship with Gillian is eventually revealed. Swan is a virtually blinded, drunken samurai-type fighter, who despite his weaknesses and world-weariness is nevertheless seemingly invincible. Maryland Slim is an extravagantly portrayed underworld figure, probably the strongest in the novel. He is lecherous, scheming and overweight, but also a telepath who can wage psychic war on others. There are a number of other interesting side characters, including Nelly the cat lady, who can use the viewpoints of cats' eyes for spying, and Dade and Ariadne the tunnel dwellers, whose own society is vividly imagined. And Ael is another swordsman, whose ridiculous obsession with becoming the very best sparks one of the most rollicking sequences in the book.

One of the religious groups, the Honey Swallowers, is framed for wrongdoing and a climactic battle ensues. While this is developing, Gillian and The Kid must deal with the King of TriBeCa, a mysterious leader of mutants who also wields strange powers over the funk. This fading King is trying to acquire a young boy, Newton, who he believes is the heir to his powers. Meanwhile, the outsider, Mr Simpson, who has been pulling strings behind the scenes, tries to kidnap several of the psychically talented people of the island in a violent attack.

The story is strongest when its merely enjoyed as violent, fast paced romp. It is darkly funny at times and many of the goings-on are coldly absurdist in tone, which certain readers will enjoy. The social norms, dialects and odd vocabulary of the island's residents are elaborately imagined. There are many startling incidents you'll encounter while reading (which is definitely a worthy achievement in any current book). The chapters are short and are structured with small sections within them. This is a neat example of "show me, don't tell me" storytelling, and once you can piece together the connections between the sections and the story being told, you can appreciate some clever achievements.

I didn't really mind the use of emoji symbols in the text. Perhaps it has a deeper meaning, regarding the degeneration of future people's language. But I did ask myself: if there's not much electricity available, how would anyone use emojis to communicate with each other on a powered device?

I could also see some influences or similarities between this book with other works: the kind of amoral "ultraviolence" like in A Clockwork Orange; a weird future with unusual residents like in the Viriconium series; and the future street culture with its mannerisms as Gibson's Sprawl trilogy. And action scenes reminiscent of what you'd see in the Mad Max movies, or any pumped-up Hollywood blockbuster.

There were a few things that didn't quite settle in the mix, however. Like some other readers, I found the beginning difficult to get into, with the many characters we're introduced to and the unfamiliar slang to understand. The dystopian story with its characters inclined to instant violence lacks an emotional heart; it's not a world I could imagine really living in. And some of the female characters weren't rounded or that convincing; I found them a bit too tough and unemotional. But all these flaws can be set aside, as mentioned, if you take the story for what it is: a darkly amusing tale with much action, as long as you don't think about it too deeply.

Thanks to Angry Robot books and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Goodreads review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6189815860

Blog post:
https://toomanyfantasybooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/review-tomorrows-children-by-daniel.html

DNF at 60%

This premise is super interesting but it jumps around so much that I can't get invested in anybody, and it's a very pretentious writing style. Will probably not try this author again for awhile.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy of this interesting book. At first I was totally into the snappy pacing, dialogue, and potential. But a few things kept making me put it down then struggle to want to return. First the number of characters introduced without much clarifying them in my mind. The story did not settle easily on a clear protagonist or even polyprotagonist (my own word). Second was the dialect. At times it was fresh and energizing at other times it was contrived and tedious. Hat's off to Daniel Polansky for creating a vibrant, edgy world, though!
3.75 stars

"From Hugo Award nominated author comes a high-octane post-apocalyptic romp set in the ruins of Manhattan.

Tomorrow, the funk descends on Manhattan, a noxious cloud which separates the island from the rest of the world and mutates the population. Some generations on, the surviving population exists amid the rubble of modernity, wearing our cast-off clothing, worshipping celebrities as dim gods and using emojis in place or written language. The Island exists in a state of uneasy peace, with each neighborhood an independent fiefdom, protecting itself with scrap metal spears and Molotov cocktails.

But something new has come to the Island, the first tourist in centuries, and this uneasy equilibrium is about to shatter..."

Apocalypse tourism. Yeah, that seems about right. Look at Pompeii...