The Future by Naomi Alderman

The Future—as the richest people on the planet have discovered—is where the money is. The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with secret lavish bunkers. The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons.

The Future is a handful of friends—the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist—hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization.

Imagine that the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, and Google were all so rich that they created secret bunkers around the world. The bunkers are large enough for themselves and a small group of individuals close to them, all in preparation for a possible end to civilization as we know it. Knowing that they could be safe at the end of the world, would those CEOs let the world spiral out of control, or would they use their vast resources to help save the planet for all? What about those that know they have a safe space in the bunker – would they try to influence the CEOs to save the world?

The first half of the book is largely character introduction and backstory, along with some philosophical discussions and biblical stories. The pace was a little slow for me, but about midway through the book the pace of the story accelerates, and things get much more interesting. There are some plot twists in the last third of the book that nicely fill in the earlier gaps in the story and make the overall premise more believable.

Thanks to NetGalley, Naomi Alderman, and Simon & Schuster for providing a complimentary copy of this book in hopes that I will leave my unbiased review. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and the above review is simply my opinion of the book.

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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