Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

12 reviews

lizzie24601's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Another stellar novel from Justin Cronin. His rich, illustrative prose is much stronger when he writes in third person - so the long-winded chapters from Proctor's perspective are a bit boring at first, but the narrative picks up once the plot speeds up.

As always, Cronin constructs interesting and nuanced characters and builds a complex and mysterious world that you can get lost in. I didn't see the plot twist coming, but once it did, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier. I wish we had gotten a bit more from Elise's perspective, and more about Proctor's

real world backstory prior to the Oranios launch

, but I'm happy with the pacing and where the book ends up. Strong recommendation for anyone who enjoyed The Passage trilogy or fans of light, realistic sci fi.

My one remaining question:

If only the Prosperans went to the Nursery, were the colonists in the Annex just... reincarnated? Because presumably they were living more than one lifetime as well. How did that work?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pregnancy, Blood, Car accident, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

rsouders's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: War, Death of parent, Blood, Death, and Police brutality

Minor: Murder, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Gun violence

Cerebral without trying to hard. Fantastic details tying together throughout the entire book.

sturmland's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Child death

luverbyrd's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Just when you feel like it's strange, it gets stranger then stranger and then weird to the point of "what the heck is happening!?". Eventually it makes sense. For me I sort of was on the right track but definitely threw me for a loop with the truth. I'm not going to say much because it is definitely best to go into this as blind as possible, because what a ride it took me on.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Sexual content, Gun violence, Death, and Child death

leahvogel's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and War

amhud1030's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Police brutality, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident, Dementia, Alcohol, Confinement, Classism, and Infidelity

aileron's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Child death, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent and Infidelity

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

ripxw's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, and Death

aimeebaker's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Anyone who was enthralled with Justin Cronin's earlier THE PASSAGE trilogy is probably, like me, eagerly awaiting his latest release, THE FERRYMAN, so I was thrilled to get my hands on an ARC. Set on the utopian island of Prospera, this novel focuses on Proctor, a ferryman whose task it is to escort citizens whose lives are coming to a close to the awaiting ferry. From there, the residents of Prospera are sent to the Nursery where they are, in a sense, reborn and sent back to the island. But, as any sci-fi thriller reader expects, something seems not quite right with this process or the world, and soon, Proctor finds himself trying to unravel what's happening.

As a writer, one of the parts I love about Cronin's work is his way of what seems like poking fun at the "rules" of writing. If you've ever been in a creative writing classroom, you've probably been told at some point not to write "genre" fiction. His trilogy, filled with vampires, felt like a challenge to that rule. The Ferryman, meanwhile, breaks one of the most common "rules" in a major way. I can't exactly say which one here since I don't want to spoil his work, but it's fun to watch him pull it off.

I don't love this book as much as his trilogy (though I confess, I still need to read the 3rd), but this was filled with the kind of action and plot twists that make me think that if it hasn't been optioned for film rights yet, it will be soon. It's got a cinematic quality to it.

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, and Death

goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This is my first Cronin book, and having not read his popular Passage series, I wasn't sure what to expect.
What I liked:
The dystopian setting had enough unique aspects and mystery around it to stay engaged with the world and I was eager to tease out what exactly was going on.
There are good resolutions and payoffs for a lot of the plot choices that made me look back at some of the book in a new, better, light. Cronin captures the intense emotions of being a parent in a way that hit deep, often with the mostly delightfully simple turns of phrase.
What was neutral:
There are a fair amount of action sequences- primarily car chases and riots. This is content that I tend to skip over in books no matter the genre. This is a me thing and not a book thing, so zero judgment there.
There is a very formal tone to the writing. At first I thought it was intended to conjure a kind of "bygone era" style that one might associate with the 60s in this dystopian world, but I think it might be more about the author's voice. Hard to say, it was neither good nor bad, just a noticeably different style from the more contemporary/colloquial tone of other novels.
I'm wary of dreams as tools in storytelling because generally it's a piece of non reality that while potentially informing us of the character's state of mind, usually doesn't add anything to the story. In this case the dreams are important to the plot so I'm trying to make my peace with all the dream content.
A lot of boat content. I have never wanted to know what anything on a sailboat is called and I have retained none of the names or details of the various boats in this novel. If you love sailing, you may be thrilled by all the nautical details.
What didn't work for me:
The book feels a little long in some places. Admittedly, I like a sharp and lean book, so this is veering into personal preference territory, but I do think that paring down the story just a little bit more might have helped with pacing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Slavery, Gaslighting, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Police brutality, Blood, Death of parent, and Self harm