The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. (2023).
**2.5 out of 5 stars**
The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean, isolated from the rest of humanity, or whatever remains of it. Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives, attended to by the support staff who lived on a cramped neighbouring island, where whispers grow into cries for revolution. Meanwhile life for Prosperans is perfection – and when it’s not, their bodies are sent to the third island (The Nursery) to be rebooted and restart life afresh. Proctor is a Ferryman who shepherds the soon-to-be retired into the unknown. He never questions it until one day someone says to him “The world is not the world” and Proctor’s life unravels…
I thought the synopsis of this novel sounded very interesting, and I have read the author’s ‘The Passage Trilogy’ which I enjoyed. I didn’t dislike this one but I did find it quite an average read for me. At close to 540 pages it is a large book; I felt it was unnecessarily long and if I wasn’t a fairly fast reader I might have put it down because the pace is pretty slow, particularly in the first half. By the time I got closer to the end and there was a big reveal/twist, I didn’t find it surprising. I didn’t pick it 100% but I had a feeling it was along those lines and to be honest it was a bit disappointing – it felt like something that has been done before quite a few times in various ways in this genre in books and film.
Overall: I might have gone in with too high expectations as I found this one pretty average. The reviews online are quite mixed but mainly positive so worth a go if the synopsis interests you.
One Woman's Brief Book Reviews 