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The Ferryman review: A profound new take on a sci-fi staple

Justin Cronin's new science fiction novel transmutes the familiar trope of a utopia with a dark secret into a deep story with humanity at its centre. Read along with us at New Scientist's book club

By Neil McRobert

25 May 2023

 

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The Ferryman
Justin Cronin (Orion Books)

IN THE canon of contemporary science fiction, reality is a shaky concept. Books and movies have probed, pummelled and pulled apart the fabric of the material world to reveal countless deceits.

Such revelations are the source of paranoid nightmares in works like The Matrix, The Truman Show or William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Then there are the more lucid deceit-fantasies in the vein of Total Recall, Inception and Westworld. Elsewhere there are stories in which utopian filters obscure harrowing truths.

In this latter category you can find equal room for the gleaming pulp of …

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