The Ferryman in The Evolution of Science Fiction

Sep 14, 2024 Oleksandr Zholud rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is an SF novel, written by non-SF writer. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for September 2024 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group. The book was nominated for 欧宝娱乐 Choice Award for Science Fiction (2023).

The book starts with a couple (Malcolm and Cynthia) getting a boy Proctor as their ward. So, there is a setting where children aren鈥檛 born but somehow created and adopted, ok. Fast forward to Proctor as a student and a good swimmer, with Cynthia feeling a little reject This is an SF novel, written by non-SF writer. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for September 2024 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group. The book was nominated for 欧宝娱乐 Choice Award for Science Fiction (2023).

The book starts with a couple (Malcolm and Cynthia) getting a boy Proctor as their ward. So, there is a setting where children aren鈥檛 born but somehow created and adopted, ok. Fast forward to Proctor as a student and a good swimmer, with Cynthia feeling a little rejected when he is congratulated on his win by her but by his girlfriend. A bit more forward, Cynthia takes a boat, gets away from the shore, cuts off a chip implanted in her arm and drops aboard, all is recorded by a flying drone. End of the prologue.

The main story starts with older Proctor as the protagonist. There is a bit of info-dumping on the setting: people live of the island called Prospero, which is somehow separated from the rest of the world. Their tech chiefly looks like the 20th century 鈥� cars, guns, security cameras but no smartphones. At the same time 鈥� flying drones to monitor the situation, people living to 120 fit and healthy, health-checking implants, which inform that a person is near death, in which case they are transported by a ferry to a nearby otherwise closed island, where somehow they lose their memories, while their bodies again turn young, to be sent back and adopted by new wardens鈥� Proctor is the ferryman from the title, the person who helps people to get to their last voyage 鈥� he actually doesn鈥檛 step foot on the ferry and has no more knowledge of what鈥檚 happening after. Until one day he gets an order to be a ferryman for his father Malcolm, and before leaving the father gives some information that sounds like mad ravings, but which starts the wheels turning鈥�

As can be seen, the story has a somewhat unreal feel to it, dreamlike, especially bearing in mind that people there usually don鈥檛 dream, and young Proctor鈥檚 dreams and sleepwalking were a reason for serious concern. Therefore, I guess it is hardly surprising that I expected some kind of Martix-like setting behind the surface. And maybe I was right, even if the final reveal was nevertheless a surprise.

As was noted by my fellow reader in the group 鈥� it reads like literary fiction, not SF, even if it has SF elements. Therefore, possibly it works better for a general readership than for SF fans like me. There are a lot of action scenes, which would have been looking great in a movie, but for a book, it isn鈥檛 what I really like. Therefore, despite the book has a lot of potential, it hasn鈥檛 been realized for me. ...more

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Aug 10, 2022 Tomislav rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, net-galley

People who know me, know that I review mostly science fiction, and while it may not be apparent from the beginning, Justin Cronin鈥檚 new stand-alone novel is definitely science fiction. That said, Cronin鈥檚 fame rests not in SF fandom, but as author of the 2010 best-selling post-apocalyptic The Passage. So you know, I have not read The Passage trilogy or seen its television adaptation 鈥� and Cronin is a new writer to me.

The story opens in a seemingly normal world, on the small fictional island-stat People who know me, know that I review mostly science fiction, and while it may not be apparent from the beginning, Justin Cronin鈥檚 new stand-alone novel is definitely science fiction. That said, Cronin鈥檚 fame rests not in SF fandom, but as author of the 2010 best-selling post-apocalyptic The Passage. So you know, I have not read The Passage trilogy or seen its television adaptation 鈥� and Cronin is a new writer to me.

The story opens in a seemingly normal world, on the small fictional island-state of Prospera, whose culture is vaguely contemporary upper-class American. Cynthia is committing suicide by drowning herself, recalling her and her husband Malcolm鈥檚 adoption of a teenager named Proctor. After this prolog, Proctor becomes the middle-aged first-person narrator of the story. At the onset, there are some things not right about this setting 鈥� everyone has a monitor installed in their arm that shows their health as a percentage of optimal. When it gets down to 10%, usually in old age, the person voluntarily or involuntarily retires to another island called the Annex, where they are recycled into new children to be adopted by other Prosperans. Proctor is a Ferryman, whose job is to escort the retirees to the Annex. And yet, in spite of these profound differences, everyone behaves just like in our own world. This is obviously some sort of synthetic world, although the reality behind it remains a mystery to the reader. Even the era in which the synthetic world exists is technologically inconsistent 鈥� there are observation drones, and yet Proctor checks the time on his wristwatch. No cell phones, no internet.

Proctor is assigned to escort his widower father Malcolm to the Annex. At the last moment, Malcolm makes a break for it, and whispers a secret to Proctor. Things get complicated from there, and I鈥檓 going to stop telling the story, for the sake of both plot spoilers, and world-building spoilers. At approximately 75% of the novel鈥檚 length, there is a big reveal info-dump. Anyone who is 鈥渟hocked鈥� at that point, seriously needs to read more science fiction. Unlike most genre SF, there is a great deal more character and relationship development, which seems consistent with best-seller audiences. At the same time, I have some quibbles with the science, although it is difficult to discuss them without spoilers. Suffice it to say, I think this novel assumes a theory of mind for which there is no scientific evidence. I expect this novel will sell very well, given Cronin鈥檚 past works, and introduce new readers to concepts which have long been tropes within the science fiction genre.

I read an advance Digital Review Copy of The Ferryman in an ebook format, which I received from Ballantine Books (an imprint of Random House) through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is tentatively scheduled for release on 2 May 2023. ...more

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Sep 09, 2024 Natalie rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction

Rating 3.5 stars. This book is great as a work of fiction. We get to know the main characters, and a few side characters well, the author elicits many emotions for what the characters endure, and there's a level of mystery that makes unexplained elements seem poetic.
But as a science fiction story, it is weak in several respects: the world building is patchy, the shift to new locations is thinly explained, and the technology involved is mostly just hinted at. I read it as a work of science fictio Rating 3.5 stars. This book is great as a work of fiction. We get to know the main characters, and a few side characters well, the author elicits many emotions for what the characters endure, and there's a level of mystery that makes unexplained elements seem poetic.
But as a science fiction story, it is weak in several respects: the world building is patchy, the shift to new locations is thinly explained, and the technology involved is mostly just hinted at. I read it as a work of science fiction and that is the reason for the lower score.
The first hundred pages of this story introduce us to the main characters and only hint that we are in a utopia that is turning to a dystopia. Proctor Bennett arrives in Prospera, an isolated island city. He is given to Cynthia and Malcolm, who live seemingly peaceful, prosperous lives. We witness Cynthia cut out her monitor, that everyone has in their arms, and apparently drowns. Proctor, who has become a Ferryman, is years later tasked with loading his confused father onto the Ferry to be reprogramed (which is hinted at a way to dispose of the elderly and troublesome). His father tries to escape at the last minute and whispers to his son, Oranios.
The story is told in first person, which is Proctor's POV, as well as third person, which lets us get a glimpse in the lives of Callista, head of the Overseers, and rebels in the "Annex" including Pappi, Quinn, Thea, and Jess. We also get to know, briefly, Oona, Proctor's loyal secretary, and Jason Kim, Proctor's loyal trainee.
The people in the Annex are mounting a rebellion. But the community Watchmen are powerful and numerous. Elise, Proctor's wife, is caught up in her own world and leaves Proctor feeling alone. This apparently justifies Proctor sleeping with Thea, which makes him feel free and happy, but later guilty. Proctor also meets Caelie, a high school age girl who skips school and asks to learn to swim. Proctor, one day, teaches her to swim. But when he tries to locate her, he discovers she's not a registered citizen. Proctor also has dreams, which is a rarity for this community.
Proctor joins with the rebels, but then finds himself being pursued by the Watchman. He is apprehended, and taken to the Nursery where Dr Patty and a strangely mechanical host, Bernardo, try to get everyone in the place to feel relaxed and compliant. Their future is only hinted at.
Proctor finds Caeli, then escapes and is taken aboard a ship. (view spoiler).
Then we shift to a bizarre section where Proctor is director of a crew of people who have escaped Earth on a giant spaceship, the Oranios, and head towards are more viable planet. Suddenly the main characters are expert scientists and aerospace engineers and we are given facts about the ship and the planet they are heading towards. Everyone aboard has been asleep for over a hundred years, a detail I'm not sure of the significance.
We shift several times between Proctor's encounters with Dr Patty and Bernardo, his interactions with Elise, who is now his loving partner again. We are told Caeli is actually his daughter, and that she died.
The book ends with another scene from the past: one in which Proctor is a school administrator and he is back with wife Elise and daughter Caeli.
The book walks us through the characters experiencing a range of emotions: outrage, fear, anxiety, and peace. But we know little about Prospera other than the people are confined, can't remember their pasts, and are kept in line by the administrators. The shift to space is abrupt and is markedly different in style. Then we go back to examining the characters as they face confusing situations. We don't know fully how Prospera works, how Proctor and friends suddenly could control a giant spaceship, or why they are desperate to land on a cold planet other than possibly to escape earth. There are several sex scenes that feel out of place, and unclear relationships between characters (especially Elise and Proctor, which is at times estranged and at others, deeply connected). One of the strangest elements is Prospera is later referred to as a dreamscape even though only Proctor is able to dream.
The author is successful at giving us a character study. And the prose is clear as well as descriptive. The pacing is fast. But as a work of science fiction, I found it rather lacking. ...more

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Sep 09, 2024 Thomas rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Utopias are almost always dystopias in disguise, wrecked jalopies with a fresh coat of paint. The stories of characters who hand Smiling Sam, the Used Car Man, their cash can be played for pathos or humor. In The Ferryman, Justin Cronin describes an island village called Prospera that strictly controls its population with a combination of euthanasia and birth control. Think Brave New World. A prologue shows a woman jumping from a small boat clutching an anchor. So not a comedy. The Ferryman, Pro ...more

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Dec 16, 2024 Mitchell Friedman rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, library, fiction, post-apocalyptic, popsugar-2024

Well yep. That was a book. It had a story and some plots and some chapters and characters. And it was my second to the last popsugar challenge, A book with a main character who's 42 years old. And I'm going to use it for that challenge, after it had a sentence that pretty much had those words. This book was frustrating and annoying. It was slow and long. And then it was a different book and it kind of zoomed. And then it crashed into the ground. I can't really say that I liked it. I can't really ...more

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