Author: Dan Frey
Publisher: Del Ray Books
Released: February 9^th, 2021
Received: NetGalley

I received a copy of The Future Is Yours in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Dan Frey’s The Future Is Yours is a novel that merges mystery and time travel together for one massive science fiction novel.

Friendship can change the world. That is what they say. However, this omniscient ‘they’ probably didn’t see this twist coming. Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry have been best friends since college.

That part of the story is nothing new, not really. However, through technology and intelligence, they’ve been given the opportunity to get a glimpse into the future. One year into the future, to be exact.

They didn’t hesitate. They jumped down that rabbit hole, and it changed everything. Not just their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.

“So an antisocial introvert doing everything in his power to avoid the world…may have created a technology that will end up destroying it? Interesting. I have no further questions.”

Honestly, I’m a bit torn about The Future Is Yours. On the one hand, it is certainly one of the most unique novels I’ve read in quite some time. On the other hand, I really did struggle to find that emotional connection with it and the characters.

The Future Is Yours is told through alternative writing styles. By that I mean it’s mostly made up of e-mails, transcripts, text conversations, blog posts, articles, the works. It’s a clever concept, and one that I’ve only seen used a few times here and there.

In a way, I really did love the writing format for this story. It fits so perfectly! It makes the focus all about the science and what was done. It removes the human element in a way, and forces a step back. In that sense, it feels almost empirical. Something that fits rather nicely here.

But it does come at a cost. Naturally, it’s harder to get into the narrative for Ben and Adhi. It’s hard to know whether we should be invested in their stories, and harder yet to cheer for them (or to hate them).

Ironically, I’m not so certain that’s a bad thing, in this case. Hence why I’m so torn. I almost feel like that distance was intentional here, playing a very important role in the way the entire story unfolds over time (see what I did there?).

Regardless, I do think that The Future Is Yours gave me a lot to think about, and for that alone I really do appreciate taking the time to read it.