A review by adamsw216
The Future Library by Peng Shepherd
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Based on an actual art project where one author is invited per year to contribute a new story to be included in an archive which will not be opened for 100 years, The Future Library imagines how said project would come to a conclusion. Trees have been planted which will eventually be used to create the paper on which the books will be printed.
The Future Library focuses on an arborist named Ingrid who is living in a future where climate change has wrought its full wrath upon the planet--forests are dying en masse, wildfires rage out of control, air polluted with smoke and dust. The end of humanity is nigh. Yet amidst all of this, there is a refuge. The Future Library and it's proprietor, an author named Claire. But the trees themselves hold a secret, something mysterious and fantastical.
This story represents the difficult decisions and painful future that is in store for us if we do not take heed as an already realized reality. Curiosity tugs at our sleeves asking us how the story ends, but some endings are final. After all, isn't it more interesting if the story goes on? There is so much more left unsaid, undone.
The Future Library is a dark tale of a very real problem we face as a species, but it also has a tinge of romance and hope. Told in an epistolary fashion, the writing is easy and smooth. The jumps in time feel very natural and are well executed. It's a nice little story with a relevant message to our time, but it didn't really wow me.
The Future Library focuses on an arborist named Ingrid who is living in a future where climate change has wrought its full wrath upon the planet--forests are dying en masse, wildfires rage out of control, air polluted with smoke and dust. The end of humanity is nigh. Yet amidst all of this, there is a refuge. The Future Library and it's proprietor, an author named Claire. But the trees themselves hold a secret, something mysterious and fantastical.
This story represents the difficult decisions and painful future that is in store for us if we do not take heed as an already realized reality. Curiosity tugs at our sleeves asking us how the story ends, but some endings are final. After all, isn't it more interesting if the story goes on? There is so much more left unsaid, undone.
The Future Library is a dark tale of a very real problem we face as a species, but it also has a tinge of romance and hope. Told in an epistolary fashion, the writing is easy and smooth. The jumps in time feel very natural and are well executed. It's a nice little story with a relevant message to our time, but it didn't really wow me.