Match Book
The Power
Naomi Alderman
1998 · Science fiction
How it reads
The Power is science fiction (dystopian, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in an international setting, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are power and politics. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- science fiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- international
- Setting: time
- timeless or multiple
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- power and politics
- Ending style
- ambiguous
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
1984George OrwellShares: science fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, dystopian
The book of MPeng ShepherdShares: science fiction, dark mood, dystopian, moderate pace- FledglingOctavia E. ButlerShares: science fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- Lost Ark DreamingSuyi Davies OkungbowaShares: science fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
The Handmaid’s TaleMargaret AtwoodShares: science fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- WeYevgeny ZamyatinShares: science fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
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