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.

The Future‘ was a strange book: part lecture, part thriller, part prayer, part satire. Sometimes it was all four at the same time. The ideas fizzed.

My favourite sections of the novel were the extended online discussions of the meaning and relevance of the parable of the Fox and the Rabbit, and the analysis of the Bible story about Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah. They were calm, challenging, thoughtful and layered. The discussions reminded me of my own religious education five decades ago. I found these passages both thought-provoking and oddly soothing. The calm, reflective proselytising tone reminded me of George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Man and Superman‘.  What I liked most was how what started off sounding like an academic discussion of obscure parables became a distillation of the choices facing each of us as we decide how to respond to the digital world being foisted on us by billionaire Tech Bros, addicted to disruption as a route to profit. 

I had fun watching the I-bet-I-know-who-that’s-based-on billionaires being vivisected on the page. It was refreshing to read something that challenged the billionaires’ agenda from the basis of a solid understanding of how their business models and their technologies work.

There were some great action scenes, including an assassination attempt with a dramatic resolution that would make a wonderful movie scene. The plot had at least two twists that cranked up the tension, but the pace of the storytelling was slower than I’d expect of a thriller.

As a thought piece aimed at breaking through the Tech Bro hegemony on defining the future, it was wonderful. As a speculative fiction thriller, it was still fun. 

I recommend the audiobook version of ‘The Future‘. The use of multiple narrators matched the textured nature of the storytelling. The different voices helped to keep a narrative thread through the changes of pace and tone as the story moved between reflection and action, satire and empathy. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.

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Naomi Alderman grew up in London and attended Oxford University and UEA.

Her novel, The Power was the winner of the 2017 Baileys’ Women’s Prize for Fiction. It was longlisted for the 2017 Orwell Prize and chosen as one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Power topped Barack Obama’s list of his favourite books from 2017 and has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Her first novel, Disobedience (2007), was published in ten languages and was adapted into a feature-length film in 2017, starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams.

Naomi was lead writer on the alternate reality game Perplex City, and has worked as a games writer for over a decade. In 2011 she wrote the Doctor Who novel, Borrowed Time. She is the lead writer of the smartphone app and podcast The Walk. In 2012 she co-created the top-selling fitness game and audio adventure Zombies, Run! with games company Six to Start.

Naomi presents Science Stories – a programme about the history of science on BBC Radio 4 – and is a member of the XPRIZE Sci-Fi Advisory Council.

She is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.