Bookish Blog Hops' Autumn Hop Day 12: A Book Set In The Future!

Back again!

This time, we were asked about books we recommend that are set in the future. For those who read classic novels, often the "future" of the turn of the twentieth, nineteenth, and even eighteenth centuries would be now... I can recall reading a short story from the year 1989 entitled "School In The Year 2000", which described a scenario that sounded more like an episode of The Jetsons!
Sometimes, an author's premonition of the future can happen very close to reality. Sometimes, an author might choose to project the story into a future date, to experiment with settings, concepts, theories, and technology that just aren't available today. Sometimes these stories can serve as a caution to ambitious minds: "Here's what might happen if this is too ardently pursued!"

Check out the answers below to hear about some books we'd recommend that are set in a time period beyond our present!

Leslie Conzatti (Me!)

The series that immediately comes to mind would be the one I’ve mentioned before: The Broken Empire Trilogy and it’s “spin-off” set in the same world, the Red Queen’s War trilogy by Mark Lawrence. The date is uncertain--it’s kept vague, as one would expect from a typical “low fantasy” tale, and everything is reckoned by the global cataclysm known as “The Day of A Thousand Suns”... but then the author works in very subtle hints that range from vague (like a “haunted closet” containing a disembodied voice, or referring to some kind of materials as “Builder’s stone” and “Builder’s torches”, but at the same time not really mentioning what makes it different than “normal” stone and torches…) to blatant (a caravan of horses walks past a sign that says “NO PARKING”; one character starts muttering the lyrics to some “ancient ditty” and it’s literally the chorus of “American Pie”) and then you start to realize that the map included just after the title page looks a LOT like Western Europe, with much of the coastline dramatically diminished--and it all becomes very clear. It’s the future--our future, a potential future of this world, and the “Thousand Suns” might refer to a nuclear event of some sort--but at any rate, it’s an absolutely stellar grimdark fantasy series and so much fun!

Robin Taylor 

https://www.robinlovesreading.com

I am slowly reading the J.D. Robb In Death series. It is set in 2059. They are currently 50 books and I have only been able to read the first 10. I can only get to them about one per month. Recently Edelweiss sent me the last two, and each month I grab one from my library or Audible. It is a crime fiction or mystery/thriller series with a detective married to a billionaire and they are madly in love despite her troublesome past and her difficulty in believing that a man as wonderful as he could accept her and her line of work. 

Kim J 

www.writersideoflife.com

I am currently listening to Year One by Nora Roberts on audiobook. It is a story set in a dystopian New York about a mysterious virus that wipes out 5 billion people. It begins in Scotland and quickly affects people from all walks of life. We see the full range of humanity in the aftermath - from greedy self-serving people to the completely selfless and empathetic. I love the way the author weaves the threads of the characters’ emotions through the plot, with insight and sensitivity.
Another favorite set in the future would have to be Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The story takes place in a world where people constantly watch television to dull their minds, while books are burned. The main character is a fireman, Montag. A classic and a cautionary tale about thinking critically!

How about you? What books set in the future would you recommend? Share with us in the comments! See below for a full list of post topics for the month!