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 civilisation.
The Future is what you see if you don't look behind you.
The Future is the only reason to do anything, the only object of desire.
The Future is here.
Naomi's The Power is the kind of work that people talk about for years; the recent TV series will only help with that. She's written other books and short stories before and since, but this is the next 'big' one.
As with The Power, we're following several people over a span of a few years. It did take me a while to remember who was who, but that's a common problem with me; without a visual to hook on to, it takes me longer to learn people. I was reading a proof, but the finished book may have a dramatis personae which would make things easier, but again this is just my problem and probably won't matter to other readers.
This is set slightly in the future and features several new technologies that are not explained except through context, which makes for an interesting read - it's very satisfying when things snap into place! It's very cleverly done with companies that echo, but aren't exactly, companies we know nowadays - there's not-quite-Amazon, almost-Twitter and several others. It means that we can follow along very well with what each company is doing, even though the tech is a little ahead of where we are now.
I loved the way the strands came together at the end; it was very satisfying watching everything dovetail neatly, and the final view of the world is wonderful. If we could only get there from where we are!
This is a great read from Naomi and I can't wait to see how well it goes down - maybe this one will be a TV show as well! I think it would be a really good one.
The Future publishes on the 7th of November, 2023, in both the US and UK, using the same cover as far as I can find out. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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