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The Future

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The Future

By: Naomi Alderman
Narrated by: Guinevere Turner, Natalie Naudus, Jeremy Bobb, Santino Fontana, Graham Halstead, Lorelei King, Fred Sanders
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About this listen

‘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 BEUKES

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.

‘A rollicking, fun-packed thriller’ ALASTAIR REYNOLDS

©2023 Naomi Alderman (P)2023 Simon and Schuster Audio
Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Exciting Funny Witty
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Nicely paced performance, which helps follow the story, and a funny, entertaining, exciting story, all the way to the end.

Enjoyable ruse, plausible, informed, entertaining

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Loved this book. Not what I was expecting from the blurb, but a combination of purposeful story with a hopeful reflection on our current times. Fantastic.

Fabulous parable of modern times

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Layer upon layer, superbly woven together. After The Power my expectations were high, and the author met and surpassed them. The many different voices didn't help me tell the characters apart, but where nice to listen to. I will write no more, to spoil nothing, just enjoy!

WOW!

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Liked the strong female characters. Tech aspects were well researched. Plenty of interesting characters weaved into the story. Reader also did a great job.

Highly plausible

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Naomi Alderman is our cleverest novelist, in the tradition of Margaret Atwood. She specialises in meditations on the near future, turning her attention this time to the destructive consequences of the tech bros and what might happen if the power of their organisations is left unchecked, particularly as that power intersects with ecological and social crises. It sounds heavy, but it isn’t. The novel is inventive, funny and fizzes with ideas. It is, however, long, jumps across time and space and has intermittent chapters regaling the reader with somewhat obscure philosophical musings from the message boards of an obscure religious sect. Stay along for the ride and you will find that the plot strands are expertly brought together, even if many of the main characters never get much beyond archetypes. The multi-voice narration adds to the fun.

A dazzling if complex listen

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