2054

National Book Award finalist and former Marine Corps special operations team leader Ackerman (The Fifth Act) and retired U.S. Navy admiral Stavridis (To Risk It All) offer a follow-up to their previous work, 2034, set 20 years further into the future. Audiences familiar with 2034 will recognize some characters or their descendants, but new listeners can easily jump right in to the new novel. The story opens after the assassination of the American president, with the fate of the country’s democracy hanging in the balance. Opposing political parties fight to gain control as it becomes clear that advances in AI and an event known as the Singularity may have carried out a remote assassination. While the ensemble of narrators helps listeners keep track of the various characters and better understand their motivations, the somewhat slow pacing is at odds with the book’s propulsive events. Additionally, while the book’s many threads are intriguing, listeners may be frustrated by plot lines that aren’t fully developed and a predictable ending that wraps up a little too neatly.