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The Ferryman

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The Ferryman

By: Justin Cronin
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Suzanne Elise Freeman
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About this listen

'Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.'
STEPHEN KING

The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean: in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity, or whatever remains of it. . .

Surrounded by sun, and sea, and stars, their world is perfect. But every paradise comes at a price.

When the truth behind theirs is revealed, it will end a way of life, and start a revolution that will change the course of humanity itself.

And it will all begin with one person hearing these simple words:

"The world is not the world..."

PRAISE FOR THE FERRYMAN:

'A mind-bending novel full of big ideas and a rollercoaster's worth of twists and turns - so powerful and thrilling!'
ANDY WEIR, author of The Martian

'All of my sky-high expectations were smashed... Fiction doesn't get better than this.'
BLAKE CROUCH, author of Dark Matter

©2023 Justin Cronin (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited
Fiction Genetic Engineering Genre Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction

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Critic reviews

"Next to impossible to put down...exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying." (Stephen King)

"A mind-bending novel full of big ideas and a rollercoaster's worth of twists and turns - so powerful and thrilling!" (Andy Weir, author of The Martian)

All stars
Most relevant
This is a difficult book to review. Fundamentally I would say that it requires patience, which you might not have.
I found it interesting and boring in almost equal measure.
The writing is poetic and beautiful, constructing richly detailed environments and delving deep into emotions. Cronin knows how to weave words.
The overall concept is cool although not particularly original, especially to anyone vaguely familiar with the generation defining ‘Matrix’. Think also ‘2001 Space Odyssey’, ‘Passengers’ (2016 film), The Truman Show. I suspected the ‘big reveal’ in such a way that I let out an audible groan when it was revealed, which was disappointing and embarrassing (no one wants to hear someone groaning on a bus).
I thought the characters were ill-defined and bland. Some tertiary characters pop up out of nowhere and then seemingly disappear. I kept hearing names mentioned and not being able to remember who they were, which turned out to be of no significance anyway because they didn’t matter to the narrative. Character motives didn’t appear sincere or believable, much like the characters themselves.
Whole sections of the story seemed pointless and could have been edited out. I found the story meandering and unnecessarily convoluted, frequently wondering what was going on, but instead of being intrigued I just didn’t really care.
The narration was weird. Neither narrator was individually bad but I didn’t like the constant changing between the two and the fact that they both performed the voices for the same characters, which was really annoying. The man was too uptight and dramatic compared to the woman’s laid-back, gentle style. It was jarring.
I had read a review where the author aligned himself with Kazuo Ishiguro in his intention for this story and so I was expecting a philosophical story about life and death, Charon and the River Styx…in space. Something delicate, subtle and gloriously meaningful. There were hints of that here but those moments were engulfed in a mess of kamikaze characterisation, inexplicable environmental changes, nightmarish leaps between storylines and Shakespeare quotes.

Zzzz Rounded with a sleep zzzz

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After reading the authors previous trilogy which I found entertaining but perhaps better served as a duology I presumed wrongly that he couldn't write a compact story, how wrong I was. This is a hugely entertaining, thought provoking and taut novel that is satisfying on every level. Mr Cronin's writing is wonderful throughout, can't wait for his next idea from his imagination. This book reminded me of Stephen King writing science fiction. Recommended

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I was completely immersed in the story with its vividly portrayed characters. Can’t wait for more.

Thought provoking thrilling

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took a looooong time to get startet and almost gave up, because it was simply too boring in the beginning, luckily I stuck with it, and it did actually get to be an okay book.. the narrators did a fine job.

rather confusing story, but got more interesting and exciting along the way.

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Quite a complex listen but enjoyable all the way through, go on give it a go!

Classic Cronin

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