From the not-very informative title, THE FUTURE turned out to be a great speculative science fiction techno-thriller. The main characters are a mishmash of tech billionaires, their wives, and their associates. Lenk Sketlish is the first we meet, founder and driving force behind the Fantail social network, which works hard to polarise arguments to increase engagement and emotion while selling users’ data.
Lenk’s more moderate assistant, Martha Einkhorn, develops into a far more interesting character, having grown up in a preppers’ commune and left to experience the world, bringing many lessons in survival. The world not too far from now is full of desperate anxiety, and many people run survival shows. One such is Lei Zhen, ethnically Hong Kong Chinese and British, who constantly expects the end of the world.
The end of the world is happening, right before our eyes. Lenk, along with store and delivery mogul Zimri Nommik of Anvil, and the woman who ousted the founder of Medlar tech gadget firm, Ellen Bywater, each get a secret alert. They have to leave and head for personal bunkers. Before it’s too late and before anyone else turns desperate. Caught up unwillingly is Lei Zhen, stalked by a cult and needs protection.
I can’t say much more except that we follow personalities and step back in time a few months to see how everything develops and finally unfolds. Author Naomi Alderman writes from a British perspective, so she may be better placed to view Silicon Valley tech with an outsider’s eye. She adds up the damage that uncontrolled giant firms may be doing, in pursuit of money, and speculates on how to ameliorate some of the issues. I do think she’s over-simplifying, as other thrillers will have it that the oil firms and arms firms run the world and cause the problems, but you have to start somewhere.
The gadgets displayed in the near future are fun and dangerously manipulable. I read all the message board sections, but some readers will probably skip them; the posters retell Biblical disaster stories. The Fox, nomadic hunter-gatherer, and Rabbit, farmer, of these posts remind us that the world has ended many times. Naomi Alderman previously wrote Doctor Who novels and zombie fiction, and I certainly enjoyed her intricately arranged tech thriller. THE FUTURE may be bleak, but Naomi Alderman writes a story with a message that says we can help one another survive.
When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated
compound in Oregon, she never expected to find herself
working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on
controlling everything. Now, she’s surrounded by
mega-rich companies designing private weather, predictive
analytics, and covert weaponry, while spouting technological
prophecy. Martha may have left the cult, but if the
apocalyptic warnings in her father’s fox and rabbit
sermon—once a parable to her—are starting to
come true, how much future is actually left?
Across the world, in a mall in Singapore, Lai Zhen, an
internet-famous survivalist, flees from an assassin.
She’s cornered, desperate and—worst of
all—might die without ever knowing what's going on.
Suddenly, a remarkable piece of software appears on her
phone telling her exactly how to escape. Who made it? What
is it really for? And if those behind it can save her from
danger, what do they want from her, and what else do they
know about the future?
Martha and Zhen’s
worlds are about to collide. An explosive chain of events is
set in motion. 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.
By turns thrilling, hilarious,
tender, and always piercingly brilliant, The Future
unfolds at a breakneck speed, highlighting how power
corrupts the few who have it and what it means to stand up
to them. The future is coming. The
Future is here.
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