The Future

by Naomi Alderman

2 out of 5

Synopsis

The latest novel from the Women’s Prize-winning, bestselling author of The Power, The Future is a white-knuckle tour de force and dazzling exploration of the world we have made and where we are going.

Lai Zhen is about to die. As an Internet-famous survivalist, she’s spent her life prepping for the end of the world. But now, desperate and cornered in a mall in Singapore, she’s mad she might go out not knowing what the hell is going on. If she makes it out alive, what kind of a future will be waiting for her?

Across the world, Martha Einkorn works the room at a gathering of mega-rich companies hell-bent securing a future just for them. Covert weapons, private weather, technological prophecy, when Martha fled her father’s compound she may have left the cult behind, but if the apocalyptic warnings of his fox and rabbit sermon are starting to come true, how much future is actually left?

Martha and Zhen’s worlds are about to collide. While a few billionaires assured of their own safety lead the world to destruction, Martha’s relentless drive and Zhen’s insatiable curiosity could lead to something beautiful … or the cataclysmic end of civilization.

Review

In the near future, the world feels like it could end at any moment, and many billionaires have prepared for this, so a select few can hide away safely whilst the world burns.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The narrative is split between quite a few characters, including three billionaires who have the biggest influence over the world; Martha, the right-hand of one of those billionaires; and Lai Zhen, a famous survivalist.

I liked the world in which this was set; it's in the near future, and I could definitely see things progressing in the same way as Alderman's future. It felt realistic and grounded, and it explored both the good and the bad; and the potential for very bad to happen very quickly.

It was interesting to read how AI was developing in this future version, especially as it feels like AI is starting to have a very real impact in our daily lives right now.

The not-so-good.

I didn't like any of the characters. It spends too much time with the billionaires in the beginning, and it feels like their story, and they're all self-involved arses with no redeeming qualities. I mean, they weren't like supervillains or anything - they didn't intentionally make the world worse, but as the world is deteriorating, they have plans in place for how to survive and come out on top.

I think that's kinda the point - you don't need an antagonist to be a moustache-twirling villain plotting and doing all the evil things - this is a much more realistic antagonist - selfish billionaires that are always chasing the next tech advancement, or industry to monopolise. It's something that I could believe quite easily.

Whether that's the point or not, I found it hard to stay engaged reading this book.

Martha and Lai Zhen are more interesting, but I did question their actions throughout. 

The plot... I couldn't tell you what the plot was.

Yes, ok, I could tell you the condensed outcomes of the book, and the reasons behind it; but whilst reading the story felt chaotic, switching from past, to future, to past, to current, to six months ago, to three years ahead, to whatever. It felt like it couldn't decide on the actual plot, and was a mesh of so many different stories. A lot of them were very preachy, too.

I mean, I liked the emphasis on turning more of the world into wildlife habitats, and I thought those parts were done very well; but there were other parts that just completely rubbed the wrong way.

I had guessed what was happening about half-way through; but that just brought up more questions than answers, and made it hard to keep invested in the extreme situations and options the "good guys" took.

Overall, I liked the premise, but this book was not for me.

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