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lizzie24601's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Another stellar novel from Justin Cronin. His rich, illustrative prose is much stronger when he writes in third person - so the long-winded chapters from Proctor's perspective are a bit boring at first, but the narrative picks up once the plot speeds up.
As always, Cronin constructs interesting and nuanced characters and builds a complex and mysterious world that you can get lost in. I didn't see the plot twist coming, but once it did, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier. I wish we had gotten a bit more from Elise's perspective, and more about Proctor'sreal world backstory prior to the Oranios launch , but I'm happy with the pacing and where the book ends up. Strong recommendation for anyone who enjoyed The Passage trilogy or fans of light, realistic sci fi.
My one remaining question:If only the Prosperans went to the Nursery, were the colonists in the Annex just... reincarnated? Because presumably they were living more than one lifetime as well. How did that work?
As always, Cronin constructs interesting and nuanced characters and builds a complex and mysterious world that you can get lost in. I didn't see the plot twist coming, but once it did, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier. I wish we had gotten a bit more from Elise's perspective, and more about Proctor's
My one remaining question:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Pregnancy, Blood, Car accident, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
rsouders's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, War, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: War, Death of parent, Blood, Death, and Police brutality
Minor: Murder, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Gun violence
Cerebral without trying to hard. Fantastic details tying together throughout the entire book.luverbyrd's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Just when you feel like it's strange, it gets stranger then stranger and then weird to the point of "what the heck is happening!?". Eventually it makes sense. For me I sort of was on the right track but definitely threw me for a loop with the truth. I'm not going to say much because it is definitely best to go into this as blind as possible, because what a ride it took me on.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Violence, Sexual content, Gun violence, Death, and Child death
amhud1030's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Police brutality, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident, Dementia, Alcohol, Confinement, Classism, and Infidelity
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Child death, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Death of parent and Infidelity
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident
goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
This is my first Cronin book, and having not read his popular Passage series, I wasn't sure what to expect.
What I liked:
The dystopian setting had enough unique aspects and mystery around it to stay engaged with the world and I was eager to tease out what exactly was going on.
There are good resolutions and payoffs for a lot of the plot choices that made me look back at some of the book in a new, better, light. Cronin captures the intense emotions of being a parent in a way that hit deep, often with the mostly delightfully simple turns of phrase.
What was neutral:
There are a fair amount of action sequences- primarily car chases and riots. This is content that I tend to skip over in books no matter the genre. This is a me thing and not a book thing, so zero judgment there.
There is a very formal tone to the writing. At first I thought it was intended to conjure a kind of "bygone era" style that one might associate with the 60s in this dystopian world, but I think it might be more about the author's voice. Hard to say, it was neither good nor bad, just a noticeably different style from the more contemporary/colloquial tone of other novels.
I'm wary of dreams as tools in storytelling because generally it's a piece of non reality that while potentially informing us of the character's state of mind, usually doesn't add anything to the story. In this case the dreams are important to the plot so I'm trying to make my peace with all the dream content.
A lot of boat content. I have never wanted to know what anything on a sailboat is called and I have retained none of the names or details of the various boats in this novel. If you love sailing, you may be thrilled by all the nautical details.
What didn't work for me:
The book feels a little long in some places. Admittedly, I like a sharp and lean book, so this is veering into personal preference territory, but I do think that paring down the story just a little bit more might have helped with pacing.
What I liked:
The dystopian setting had enough unique aspects and mystery around it to stay engaged with the world and I was eager to tease out what exactly was going on.
There are good resolutions and payoffs for a lot of the plot choices that made me look back at some of the book in a new, better, light. Cronin captures the intense emotions of being a parent in a way that hit deep, often with the mostly delightfully simple turns of phrase.
What was neutral:
There are a fair amount of action sequences- primarily car chases and riots. This is content that I tend to skip over in books no matter the genre. This is a me thing and not a book thing, so zero judgment there.
There is a very formal tone to the writing. At first I thought it was intended to conjure a kind of "bygone era" style that one might associate with the 60s in this dystopian world, but I think it might be more about the author's voice. Hard to say, it was neither good nor bad, just a noticeably different style from the more contemporary/colloquial tone of other novels.
I'm wary of dreams as tools in storytelling because generally it's a piece of non reality that while potentially informing us of the character's state of mind, usually doesn't add anything to the story. In this case the dreams are important to the plot so I'm trying to make my peace with all the dream content.
A lot of boat content. I have never wanted to know what anything on a sailboat is called and I have retained none of the names or details of the various boats in this novel. If you love sailing, you may be thrilled by all the nautical details.
What didn't work for me:
The book feels a little long in some places. Admittedly, I like a sharp and lean book, so this is veering into personal preference territory, but I do think that paring down the story just a little bit more might have helped with pacing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Slavery, Gaslighting, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Police brutality, Blood, Death of parent, and Self harm
jaimee_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Review to come
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Child death, Police brutality, Infidelity, Classism, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Gun violence, and Dementia
Minor: Abandonment
thebookcoyote's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
TW/CW: Death of a child, violence, police violence, sex, grief
REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.
The Ferryman is the story of Proctor Bennett, a citizen of a tropical paradise named Prospera. In this paradise, nobody dies – they just get aged back down and given a new life. Everyone is, or is supposed to be, happy, except for the less fortunate who live trapped on an island called the Annex, only visiting Prospera when they are needed to perform manual labor or service work.
Proctor has a good job, a beautiful wife, and a lovely house, but for some reason, the edges of his life start to blur and he starts to sense a wrongness in his perfect world. Is he going crazy, or is something else going on around him that nobody understands?
This was a good book, and I enjoyed reading it. It is more than a little on the long side, and I’m not sure 580 pages was really necessary to get the point across, but Cronin’s writing is good and I didn’t find myself bored. Cronin lets the reader in on things just a little bit at a time so we’re pretty much there with Proctor as he learns what’s going on.
I feel a little iffy about the ending of this one – I think it could have been better. I saw what he was going for, but I would have enjoyed it more if he’d gone in another direction. (I can’t say much more because I don’t want to leave spoilers on the plot!).
In all, though, this was a very interesting science fiction novel and I enjoyed reading it. I would recommend to fans of dystopian fiction and science fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Police brutality
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