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The Ferryman cover art

The Ferryman

By: Justin Cronin
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Suzanne Elise Freeman
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Publisher's Summary

The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean: in splendid isolation 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 live on a cramped neighbouring island, where whispers begin to grow into cries for revolution.

Meanwhile, life for Prosperans is perfection - and when it's not, their bodies are sent to the mysterious third island: a facility named The Nursery, to be rebooted and restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett is a Ferryman, who shepherds the soon-to-be retired into the unknown. He never questioned his work until the day he is delivered a cryptic message:

"The world is not the world..."

These simple words unravel something that he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams - of the stars and the sea - and the unshakeable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important.

Something greater than anyone could possibly imagine, which could change the fate of humanity itself...

©2023 Justin Cronin (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Critic Reviews

"Next to impossible to put down...exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying." (Stephen King)

"A mind-bending novel full of big ideas and a rollercoaster's worth of twists and turns - so powerful and thrilling!" (Andy Weir, author of The Martian)

What listeners say about The Ferryman

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Audiobook.

I really enjoyed the story and the narration.

The author's commentary on the social inequality that exists today and the environmental degradation that is currently occuring creates a solid foundation for the author's speculative vision of the future. One non-spoiler aspect I particularly liked was Cronin's idea of how health tracker technology could be used to determine an individual's suitability to participate in society; once your numbers are too low, you are considered unsuitable and forced to "retire." Cronin's concept was particularly thought-provoking, as it raises ethical questions about the potential misuse of this health tracking technology and its impact on personal freedom today. While this is only a small, subtle aspect of the story, it does serve to highlight Cronin's skills in world building, which includes many other ideas that are far more intriguing than can be discussed here without spoilers.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narration irritating

Scott Brick must not have been well at the time of his performance because it seems so out of place with the story IMHO. It is irritating to me. I’ve almost returned the book a number of times and I’m not even half way through. On the other hand Suzanne Elise Freeman flows with the parts she gives her voice to. I’m persisting because the story is intriguing.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A huge task

For an audible reading I found it laborious and difficult to identify a lot of the characters. Having said that the readers done a great job!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story

the story was good, complex, and surprising. However found the narration a bit dramatic, and overly emphasised, particularly the male narrator.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

Such a richly imagined world. Kept me guessing all the way through. So different to the passage, but just as great a story

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • L A
  • 06-06-2023

Page turner

Intriguing story, narration a bit overwrought at times, but overall enjoyed it and looked forward to listening to what happened next.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Loved listening

I thought the narration was spot on, I felt the emotion and immersed in the story; some of the dialogue was a bit long and I had to concentrate to follow … not a big deal though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Didn’t see it coming

Loved this book. Beautiful futuristic demonstration of a mothers guilt and how that could manifest at the end of days.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Exciting story

I couldn't stop listening, exciting story!! I enjoyed the readers performance and the pacing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great piece of roman-à-clef speculative sci fi

It has the warm comfort and existential dread one gets from other texts of this genre, like 1984 and A Brave New World, but placed in a setting, and with dilemas relevant to our time, that, i think, everyone could identify with.

Unlike the aforementioned classic texts, The Ferryman goes that extra step into Matrix and even Gattaca territory, and pushes at the edges of one's concept of identity and reality.

Is it so farfetched a concept that... I don't think so. Read the book and mull it over for yourself.

In terms of performance, the narrators get a solid 5 from me. They brought out the shades and contours of this text brilliantly. There was two narrators, right?

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1 person found this helpful

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