Today I've chosen to participate in Top 5 Tuesday, originally hosted by BionicBookworm, now hosted by MeeghanReads!
This week's theme is: Books Set in the Future
I had a lot of fun looking through the various books I've read that are set in the future, and it was surprisingly hard to settle on just five. That being said, I've really loved all five of the books on this list and am always looking for more great future-set stories to read. Let's take a look at my five picks!
1. Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace
I absolutely adored this book! It's set in a futuristic society where resources are scarce and things are all pretty much owned by large corporation. We follow a woman who makes her living as a VR gamer, but is dragged into something much bigger than she expected... - My review
About:
"Like everyone else she knows, Mallory is an orphan of the corporate war. As a child, she lost her parents, her home, and her entire building in an airstrike. As an adult, she lives in a cramped hotel room with eight other people, all of them working multiple jobs to try to afford water and make ends meet. And the job she’s best at is streaming a popular VR war game. The best part of the game isn’t killing enemy combatants, though—it’s catching in-game glimpses of SpecOps operatives, celebrity supersoldiers grown and owned by Stellaxis, the corporation that runs the America she lives in.
Until a chance encounter with a SpecOps operative in the game leads Mal to a horrifying discovery: the real-life operatives weren’t created by Stellaxis. They were kids, just like her, who lost everything in the war, and were stolen and augmented and tortured into becoming supersoldiers. The world worships them, but the world believes a lie.
The company controls every part of their lives, and defying them puts everything at risk—her water ration, her livelihood, her connectivity, her friends, her life—but she can’t just sit on the knowledge. She has to do something—even if doing something will bring the wrath of the most powerful company in the world down upon her." Goodreads 2. The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes
This is a fast-paced and engaging futuristic sci-fi that takes place in space and has some fantastic characters. - My review
About:
"The Divide.
It’s the edge of the universe.
Now it’s collapsing—and taking everyone and everything with it.
The only ones who can stop it are the Sentinels—the recruits, exiles, and court-martialed dregs of the military.
At the Divide, Adequin Rake, commanding the Argus, has no resources, no comms—nothing, except for the soldiers that no one wanted.
3. Docile by K.M. Szpara
This is set in a near/alternate future world where debt has risen to the point that people are now essentially forced into indentured servitude. It's an intense read. - My review
About:
"There is no consent under capitalism
To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your children's future.
Elisha Wilder’s family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family’s debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him. Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family’s crowning achievement could have any negative side effects—and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it." Goodreads 4. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
This is a futuristic, dystopia-esque world that is, essentially, governed by colors. It's ridiculously captivating and is so vibrantly written that it's truly hard to put down. There is a sequel in the works! - My review (it's an old one, apologies for quality)
About:
"Hundreds of years in the future, the world is an alarmingly different place. Life is lived according to The Rulebook and social hierarchy is determined by your perception of colour.
Eddie Russett is an above-average Red who dreams of moving up the ladder. Until he is sent to the Outer Fringes where he meets Jane - a lowly Grey with an uncontrollable temper and a desire to see him killed.
For Eddie, it's love at first sight. But his infatuation will lead him to discover that all is not as it seems in a world where everything that looks black and white is really shades of grey..." Goodreads
5. Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon
This is probably the closest to our "regular" world out of the books on this list. We follow a man trying to get by in a world that feels like it's crumbling apart. I loved Chaon's writing and how he captured this sort of mad, inconsistent road trip that felt both fast-paced and thoughtful at the same time.
About:
"Sleepwalk’s hero, Will Bear, is a man with so many aliases that he simply thinks of himself as the Barely Blur. At fifty years old, he’s been living off the grid for over half his life. He’s never had a real job, never paid taxes, never been in a committed relationship. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and an LSD microdosing problem, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady, often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation he’s never troubled himself to learn too much about. He has lots of connections, but no true ties. His longest relationships are with an old rescue dog with posttraumatic stress, and a childhood friend as deeply entrenched in the underworld as he is, who, lately, he’s less and less sure he can trust.
Out of the blue, one of his many burner phones heralds a call from a twenty-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter, Cammie. She says she’s the product of one of his long-ago sperm donations; he’s half certain she’s AI. She needs his help. She’s entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will’s employers, and continuing to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people Will is working for and the people he’s running from." Goodreads
Have you read any of these books? What are some books set in the future you've enjoyed?
