The Ministry for the Future

May 1, 2020

As the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning Robinson here deals with climate change and the complications of technology, as well as the types of human behavior that lead to crises in these areas, it's no surprise that this postapocalyptic novel is set in the near future. No plot details but a 150,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 29, 2020
Bestseller Robinson (Forty Signs of Rain) again tackles climate change head-on in this gutsy, humane view of a near-future Earth careening toward collapse. Mary Murphy, head of the Ministry for the Future, a UN watchdog agency created as a result of the Paris Agreement, takes to heart the ministry’s mission “to advocate for the world’s future generations.” Mary spends her days promoting relief for the afflicted and wrestling with the financial powers-that-be to change the carbon balance before it tips too far. She must also be on the watch for ecoterrorists, even as she plans to use their attacks in her pitch for a carbon sequestration cryptocurrency to a group of influential bankers. Then Molly is abducted by the traumatized survivor of a heat wave that killed 20 million in India, who furiously cuts through the political weeds to demand change (“You’re killing the world and you want me to remember what words you used to cover your ass?”). Galvanized by his demands, Molly attempts to start a “black wing” working in secret within the Ministry for the Future to make larger changes than she can aboveboard—only to discover that such a group already exists. Robinson masterfully integrates the practical details of environmental crises and geoengineering projects into a sweeping, optimistic portrait of humanity’s ability to cooperate in the face of disaster. This heartfelt work of hard science-fiction is a must-read for anyone worried about the future of the planet. Agent: Chris Schelling, Selectric Artists.

Starred review from September 1, 2020
The 2025 Paris Agreement begets the Ministry for the Future, led by pragmatic Irishwoman Mary Murphy, to ensure Earth's future through the reversal of climate change. Simultaneously, U.S. clinician Frank miraculously survives an extinction-level heat event in Uttar Pradesh. Robinson's dense prose explodes Mary's and Frank's stories (among scores of human, animal, and other stories) into a provocative look at the economic, legislative, and scientific leaps that must be made in order to control rampant climate events that seem all too real. This creates a prickling tension as epic-scale world events are married to micro-scale storytelling, in which even a lowly photon gets a turn to relate its experiences. Humanity is pitted against an inexorably ticking clock as Mary struggles with the ramifications of rogue nation-states manipulating the weather, anarchist political groups trying to force change with violent, massive attacks against wealthy resource-hogging elites, and her kidnapping at the hands of Frank. A breathtaking look at the challenges that face our planet in all their sprawling magnitude and also in their intimate, individual moments of humanity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2020
This detail-heavy near-future novel offers a window onto the apocalypse looming just behind our present dystopia. As Uttar Pradesh suffers from a crippling heatwave and blackouts, Frank May, an American aid worker in a small city, runs out of options to help the local residents stay cool and suggests that they go into the lake, which unfortunately offers very little relief. He rouses from an uneasy night submerged in the water to discover that everyone is dead but him, a devastating outcome that leaves him with PTSD and a desire to do something, anything, to reverse climate change. But as Frank is the quintessence of the ineffectual White American savior--not equipped to save anything or anyone, even himself--he doesn't have the first idea about how to pursue his goal. His bumbling and his anger drive him to a failed kidnap attempt on Mary Murphy, head of the titular Ministry for the Future, a U.N. agency formed in 2025 to further the aims of the Paris Agreement. Frank drifts through years as a fugitive and then as a convicted felon, Mary works tirelessly through diplomatic and bureaucratic channels to save the planet before it's too late, and the Children of Kali, a group of eco-terrorists also inspired by the Indian heatwave tragedy, pursue more violent--and shockingly effective--methods of combating environmental destruction. These strands initially form the basis of a gripping story, but they're diffused by Robinson's determination to narrate a history of an alternate future timeline, one which naturally excludes our present pandemic and the latest crackdowns in Hong Kong but also apparently ignores the U.S. dropping out of the Paris Agreement and the implications of Brexit. That tale, or more often lecture, is conveyed through dry and snarky infodump essays and brief, punchy accounts from people, inanimate objects, and metaphorical forces. Perhaps the author is angry that though he's spent years writing novels exploring the dire results of climate change, the message doesn't seem to have gotten through; it's clear that he is unhappy at how politics and greed have obstructed opportunities for positive environmental action. At the same time, he seems hopeful that the world can still forge a path forward, if only we have the resolve. High-minded, well-intentioned, and in love with what Earth's future could be but somewhat lacking in narrative drive.

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