"Part prophetic dystopian page-turner, part romance, this wildly entertaining novel sees a few billionaires go to destructive extremes as they prep for surviving the end of the world."
Exploring where the world could well be headed in terms of tech, climate change, and the power the wealthy few have over the poorer, powerless many, Naomi Alderman’s The Future is incredibly smart, incredibly suspenseful, and incredibly entertaining.
Set in a near-future world, The Future is largely centred on a few billionaires who hold all the cards (i.e. money and power) when it comes to technology and having the resources to potentially survive the end of the world. In this world, it’s less a case of survival of the fittest, and more about survival of the richest … maybe.
Among the three billionaires in question are Lenk, “a powerful man who had built his career on the future” aided by his executive assistant, Martha, daughter of a cult religious survivalist leader.
Sparks fly when Martha meets Lai Zhen, a “semi-celebrity in her little survivalist corner of the online multiverse”. As Lai Zhen realises the billionaires might be preparing for the imminent end of the world, there’s a domino effect of global disasters, just as she and Martha independently realise they might have succumbed to that weird thing called love: “There is a thing in human life that can never be predicted or controlled. It is dangerous and terrifying; it destroys your life and fucks up your plans.”
Sharp and audacious, The Future is a thrilling, thought-provoking wild ride of a read, with the suspenseful story peppered with posts from survivalist forums. Add to that a shivery sense of conspiracy, and a killer question at its core (“The question is whether there might be one good man in Sodom”) and The Future amounts to an exhilarating triumph.
| Primary Genre | Dystopian and utopian fiction |
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'Gripping' MARGARET ATWOOD'A fabulous, witty writer on the digital world' SUNDAY TIMES'A little Atwood, a little Gibson, all Alderman, it's brilliant and I loved it' LAUREN BEUKESThe 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.'A rollicking, fun-packed thriller' ALASTAIR REYNOLDS.
The Future features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Dystopian and utopian fiction, General Fiction, Thriller and Suspense, Science fiction: near future, Speculative fiction, Narrative theme: Environmental issues / the natural world, Science fiction: apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, Technothriller, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fiction: narrative themes, Star Books, Recommendations
The Future is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Future was written by Naomi Alderman and published by 4th Estate an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
The Future has 416 pages
