The Unincorporated Future

Unincorporated Man #4

by Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin

Sandra O'Toole is the president of the Outer Alliance, which stretches from the asteroid belt to the Oort Cloud beyond Pluto. Resurrected following the death of Justin Cord, the unincorporated man, O'Toole has become a powerful political figure and a Machiavellian leader determined to win the Civil War against the inner planets at almost any cost. And the war has been going badly, in part because of the great General Trang, a fit opponent for the brilliant J. D. Black. Choices have to be made to abandon some of the moral principles upon which the revolution was founded. It is a time of great heroism and great betrayal, madness, sacrifice, and shocking military conflict. Nothing is predictable, even the behavior of artificial intelligences. There may be only one way out, but it is not surrender.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2012

About the author

I'm an accidental science fiction author.
A few years back, broke, desperate and living with my wife and three kids at my in-laws, I decided to get together with my brother, Eytan and write a book. Mind you I had no idea how to go about this but I did know that Eytan had some great ideas and little tenacity and I had a lot of tenacity and a gift for knowing how to turn great ideas into a marketable ones. I applied my advertising copywriter skill set (word craftsmanship and reader empathy) to the one idea of Eytan's I felt was strongest and then together we created an outline, basic plot points and an extrapolated world built on that initial concept. 8 years later our first book, The Unincorporated Man, hit the shelves. It went on to win the 2010 Prometheus Award for Best Science Fiction novel of the year and the three books that followed in its wake were also nominated, one even making the finals. Happy to say the series has also found a warm welcome here at goodreads.com.
Re: me. My hobbies include roadbike riding, surfing and reading.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Cobia · Rating 1 out of 5]

After three books toiling through the space opera battle of zero resources the ending to this book fell totally flat. There were no questioning, probing ideas, just neat wrap ups that could have occurred three books earlier. The one thing I kept waiting for never happened and there was almost no true conflict. I will defend The Unincorporated Man as a novel with some of the best and most creative and intriguing science fiction ideas in fifty years, but the series simply crashed and burned after the second book. I was still on the hook after the third, but if I was recommending this series, I wouldn't waste my time after the second one.

Take away - I really, really hope the authors stick to grand ideas grounded in reality and don't force the space opera in their future books. The Unincorporated Man made me a fan for life, but I'd rather re-read it than ever pick this one up again.

[Izabela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book in the series a lot because I love sci-fi books but I was disappointed with the rest of the series. The next 3 books were all about war and I don’t really enjoy reading about wars (just a personal preference). I was hoping throughout the third book and into the fourth one that the focus of the books would shift but they didn’t. I feel like the concept of the story was really great at the beginning and the series had so much potential but the authors didn’t quite get there. Plus, although the overall ending was interesting, I really didn’t like the epilogue. It made it quite clear that the story was all about religion and faith and although this was brought up throughout the books, it wasn’t the focus of the story and it felt like a very unfinished end.

[Brown Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could say I read this book on a dare--and won. I didn't, and I hadn't a chance. This is not a successful book, it is definitely only an ancillary part of a larger story, and you should read it only as a kind of coda. It introduces nothing, explains nothing and seems to go nowhere.

It's probably bad form to find fault with a book clearly labeled as part of 4 of something for not standing alone, and it is probably unnecessary. Do not read this book in this series first. If you've read the first three, you have a better sense of whether this final volume is worth the time.

Nonetheless I have jumped into serials in medias res before with satisfactory results, so in this case I feel the Kollins' political and socioeconomic theorizing took precedence over storytelling. They have a lot to say...at length.

Given this volume, I probably won't bother with the first three.

[Ashleigh Mattern · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a perfect ending to a great series! I still think this should have been a three-book series, with books two and three combined, but this felt like the right ending. It wraps up all the narrative threads, and even leaves it open to more books in the universe in the future. So much of what I want to say are spoilers for the series so I'll just leave it at that!

[Sean Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an ending I was expecting, and a lot of death, distruction and sadness in this volume. But of course it works, and I am very pleased to have found more volumes in this most intriguing and different of seriess.

[Jenni Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's rare that a book takes a space war to a conclusion and then goes on to describe what happens next. Really glad this one did so I didn't have to hear more about rail guns and battles. Even though the characters are melodramatic, this series would translate well to TV or movies.

[Amy Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This completed the u incorporated series. Authors tied up the loose ends and I'm so glad they did it the way they did. This was such an amazing series of books. I just loved them!

[Anatoly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot, character development, at last. But what's up with all the religion stuff? As in the previous book, it felt really out of place, forced.

[Nemo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dull, slow, unappealing ending to what started out as a pretty promising series.
Sad.

[Pixelmonkee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 stars for this book are not just for this book, but for the entire series. Loved it.

[Michael Rhoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series started with a lot of promise and good ideas, then spent the next two and a half books describing an endless an pointless war. Maybe that war is pointless is the point, but the over-explaining by the authors and the repeated "If we just win this battle, the war will be over!" got a little tedious after a while. Overall not a bad series, but not great, the ideas could have been implemented better by an Clarke or Asimov caliber author.

Also, this book was not in my local library system, so I had to pay $4 to find a used copy on Amazon, which was a withdrawn for lack of use copy from a library in Wisconsin. That might have been telling...

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good series.

A couple neat take aways about history and media that really are worth pondering. Basically, it is a question of how to make sure that history can travel through time. I mean if it is electronic in the way it is stored, what is to stop others from changing history? The book doesn't really hammer this, but what happens in 500 years when the next Constantine shows up and rewrites things? How will people know what happened? For that matter, we base our decisions on the information we are given, but how far can a narrative controlled by the government be taken.

Couple things I did not like

While the story is wrapped up better this way, Justin should have been woken up. It is immoral to leave him suspended. He was a good man and for sure should have been there to see the world or universe as it unfolded. Again, I admit the story is tighter that way, but I just didn't like it.

Also, I think that Trang was fertile ground for some sort of agreement for a long time. The fact that Hector saved him from the Avatar plague is not enough to forgive him or trust him. Trang was smart enough to see through Hector and I just don't think it needed to wait that long if that is the case. This is why I don't write them though since it again makes for a better story. I guess it is just that when you develop a character enough that the reader feels like they know that character, it is tough when they act in ways that don't seem like would be their nature.


So all that being said, this series is my favorite type of science fiction. This environment allows the author to bring things up that you just could never do in another format. I can see the seeds. They are all around us. The seeds of the ideas that spawned this series. The author took them, incubated them in a crazy setting and set them free on the world.

The Kollin's have very interesting ideas about the world and people in general. I am sure I would enjoy their company discussing things on a philosophical level that I rarely find people are capable or even interested in doing. I don't even think I would agree with them on everything. For example, I would imagine I am far more negative on the role of religion to reform in a way that they sort of suggest. Their philosophy and opinions really are available to the reader to ponder and enjoy. I truly look forward to whatever they come up with next.

[Stephen Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unincorporated Future is the epic closure to the Unincorporated saga by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin. In this action-packed tale of space battles and vendetta, the Kollin brothers sum up the conflicts in one final and explosive ending. The story continues a war on two fronts: the frontiers of space and the wastelands of the Neuro, where dwell the ever-mysterious and watchful race of the avatars. It is from The Martian Neuro that the avatar “Al” and his hundreds of thousands of copies reign. And in the physical world, Hektor Bandillo Sambianco, president of the United Human Federation, makes his final move to eliminate the one true hope humanity has to be free of the corporate core: the president of the Outer Alliance, Sandra O’toole. He will stop at nothing until he has Sandra’s head on his desk. But at what cost? How many will die before Sambianco comes close to gaining his one true prize of victory?
My suggestions for who might be interested in this book varies between its corresponding prequels. While the novel has an economic background, the story is now told with a more sinister and dark feel, and it focuses more on futuristic space warfare/network attacks (via the Neuro). It also devotes much of the story to the leaders rather than the subordinates and grunts on the front lines. Because of this, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading futuristic naval warfare and/or the goings-on between officers in times of war and hardship and how they deal with drastic situations.
I gave the book five stars because it was my overall favorite of the saga. While reading the others, I could feel the conflict leading up to this central point of action, and when it came, I was very satisfied with it. Each chapter was more interesting than the last, each introducing another plot twist or character to make the story more interesting. Another reason I loved the book is because it is more action-packed than the last, adding more to the hooking concept when I read it.

[Fred Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth and final book in the Unincorporated series which also includes “The Unincorporated War” “The Unincorporated Man” “The Unincorporated Woman”


In this stunning conclusion we have the Incorporated World and the Alliance still killing as many of the others as they can. The war has been going on for 7 years and the loss of life is in the billions.

On the Incorporated side we have Hektor Sambianco, President of the United Human Federation and his “Champion” Admiral Trang who would wnd will do anything that the President tells him to do. Even though it is obvious that President Sambianco is a sociopath (as are most serial killers).

On the Alliance side we have President Sandra O’Toole and her “Champion” Admiral J.D. Black. Black may not be as brutal as Trang, but she has none the less spilled her share of blood.

And the third party in the war is the avatars who have avoided being found out by humanity up to this point but in fact have been found out. Just like humanity the avatars are fighting their own battle against a rogue avatar who wants to kill any avatar who does not do what he wants done.

There is of course a good side to the avatars and they are not only trying to help the alliance but also limit damage to them by the rogue avatar.

Both sides prepare for what is expected to be a final battle for supremacy in their part of the galaxy.

Will a decisive battle really end the war ?

What will the losing side do in response ?

Are the avatars really on the Alliances side ?

What about their own internal war ?

With a wicked twist in the plot at the end, this along with the other 3 books in the series, this book will keep you up wanting to read more to see what happens.

One minor complaint is that editing was sloppy in the first quarter of the book with grammatical errors and the wrong words added or being used. After that, the rest of the book was flawless.

Highly recommended book.

Highly recommended series.
.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Unincorporated Future was about as good as The Unincorporated War. There was not that much actual action and the political and religious stuff was annoying. There were whole passages that I ended up skipping solely to get to the end of the book. The characters are flat and boring or just too stereotypical. The story just dragged on and on with no end in sight for this stupid Unincorporated War. I honestly forgot a few times why there was even a war at all since it seemed to be clouded by other issues, like religion and other stupid things.
I liked J.D. Black but the other characters were like cardboard cutouts. Eventually the war finally ends and some of the bad guys from the UHF get what they deserve but that ends up being anti-climatic and not that exciting. I was really disappointed that Neela didn't get to kill Hektor. Out of all the people that I wanted to kill him, I wanted her to do it the most. Sadly, she is not in this book that much and nothing really gets solved with her. Justin is seen at the end of the book, but he isn't awake and that was extremely disappointing. I kept expecting him to pop up and make the story better, but it never happens.
Overall, this book gets 2 stars out of 5 and the series as a whole gets 2.5 stars out of 5. I would suggest just reading the first book, The Unincorporated Man since it was the most interesting and just not wasting your time with any of the others. You will just be bored and then disappointed in the series as a whole. The Unincorporated Man had unique ideas and a unique world that we got to learn right next to Justin Cord. But the other books in the series ruin that with it's mediocre story and then they just drag on and on. Do yourself a favor and skip the rest of the series after The Unincorporated Man.

[Nada Faris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This installment is a fitting conclusion to almost a decade of war that ripped the world in two camps, those that fought for their “security” and those that fought for “freedom.” Billions of people died in the process. Be prepared to see the life of your favorite characters extinguished—sometimes as mere collateral! And one of the best things that this installment achieves is the coalescing of the two major stories/wars, which I have been waiting for since the first book! Namely, it brings onto the fore the civil war of the avatars who divided themselves into two camps as well.

The Unincorporated Future continues the story of Sandra O’Toole who succeeded Justin Cord as the president of the Outer Alliance. In the middle of a human Civil War rages a cyber confrontation caused by the human-like avatars (artificial intelligence) that run the computers in the new world. A Religious debate continues to give depth to a colossal space opera, and human flaws/errors complicate any victory/failure.

This book is about war, not science, about modernity, not the future. It is about characters, not ideas, about hope, not despair. This is a satisfying end for a series that raised many questions and that riled many fans. There are climaxes and a series of anti-climaxes that rouse you and make you wonder what these characters meant for you and how you feel about their deaths. But most of all, it really makes you wonder if war is worth it, I mean, really, at the end of the day, with people dying and life/progress put on hold, are human beings happier /safer than they were under incorporation? And what do religion and our dependency on technology mean for us today?

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun ending to the series, even if it did stray a bit into some weird messianic territory. I'm also disappointed that after all of the time spent building up to it, the book sidesteps the final confrontation between Tang and Black. It was reasonable to sidestep our expectations that way, but it was also a bit of a let down for me as a reader, as it was what the first half of this book spent all it's time building to. While the book was fun, I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. It was all a bit happy (especially the part about Justin). for how brutal the rest of the books could be. I'm also wondering if the implication that Justin Cord (J.C.) was Jesus Christ (J.C.) was really that intentional, or if I just read too much into it.

I can see the symmetry in what they tried to do with the ending, in the first book we're told that incorporation is the only way to be free and prevent wars. In this book, at the end, we see that religion can do the same thing, while keeping people free (at least, that feels like what they were going for). I'm not sure I buy the message, that religion is so fundamental to human happiness and freedom, but it was nice to see them try to wrap up the theme of the book that way.

Was the series worth my time? I guess so. I enjoyed it, even if it wasn't the best I've ever read. But I would say that I could also have been relatively happy just having read the first book. The second book was the low point, at least from a characterization and writing point of view, and the third and the forth were stronger, but still, in my opinion, not as good as the first.

[Clay Kallam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dani and Eytan Kollin wound up their Solar System space opera with “The Unincorporated Future” (Tor, $27.99, 348 pages) and it’s hard to pull off too many surprises after three books, so it’s not unexpected that “The Unincorporated Future” doesn’t break much new ground. The basic plot is the battle between the evil dictator of Earth, Mars and Luna and the plucky colonists of the asteroids and beyond, and though the series began with an economic twist about how each individual was a corporation with stock values and shares, that has faded into the background as the narrative began to focus on the struggles in both the real and virtual worlds.

I’m not sure I would recommend going out and buying all four of these books unless you really enjoy large-scale space battles set in a pretty much good-vs.-evil setting, but then again, the tetralogy was fun to read and delivered a reasonable bang for the buck. Call me maybe on this one …

[Krys · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fourth book in the unincorporated series surprised me several times. The Kollins aren't afraid to write good characters doing bad things, and they absolutely did not end the war the way I expected.

a lot of people mention the Kollins' philosophizing as if it's a bad thing - but something i love about their writing is the way they pull apart the issues, from both sides, examining the underpinnings and providing motivation that's understandable and believable. I never get grumpy because a character has a magical change of heart or does something uncharacteristic - their characters are fleshy, human and relatable.

Can't wait to read the next book from these guys!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this novel, and it does offer some unexpected twists, turns, and reveals. But I agree with some other reviewers. The highly intriguing concept set forth in the first novel is completely gone by this last one, and the overall series suffers for it. There also are some pulpy aspects to the book, with the heroes at times being a little too heroic and the villains too villainous, which is a result of the approaches in the earlier novels. A good read, but I felt it was the weakest of the series but was bolstered by the being the close-out of the series (but probably not the end of the books).

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

With extremely heavy-handed, thinly-veiled allegory followed by the dispensation of allegory in favor of directly informing the reader's opinions, this book ranks low on my list along with its two predecessors. Characters you might have liked once become characters about whom you couldn't care less and the characters you hate stick around well past their sell-by date. Points for gritty sci-fi realism, but I'd've been better served, I think, stopping with book 1 and just imagining the fate of the Unincorporated Man.

[Stacey Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised that this series continued to surprise me. Just when I was sure I knew what was happening, I was wrong. The first two books in this sci-fi space thriller have the best new ideas whether it is about future social constructs or how warfare might be conducted. It felt like I was reading a new Heinlein again. But the characters and story lines have enough depth and complexity to keep interest going right to the end. Bravo.

[Flavia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh My God. Such an amazing end to an amazing series. I'm speechless. I feel like, for these last four books, I was taken to another place and now I've just returned. Centuries went by. I saw human civilization transform over centuries of time. It was incredible. And the ending...so poetic. I don't want to spoil it, so I won't say anything else, but if you're looking for a new series to start, I definitely recommend this one.

[Emerson Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

BAM! The series goes out the way it came in. I thought the series slipped a little in Book 3, but it came back in a big way in Book 4. Every storyline you wanted resolved is, enough of an opening for a future series set is a further flung series, a great resolution to the dilemma, all of it incredibly well done. A+.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last in series. The war between the sheeplike, corruptly lead capitalists and the freedom loving spacers reaches its end amid billions of deaths. The authors are very....deliberate....storytellers who leave in almost every step in their plotlines and conversations--but their story is a good one, and can be enjoyed with judicious skipping.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was 3.5 right up until the epilogue, which really spoke to my inner sap.
A fitting conclusion, speaking to the core themes of personal freedom and faith, with a much needed reduced focus on military maneuvers. While I enjoyed the last two, the Kollins are at their best writing character and philosophy.

A DRM-free Tor ebook.

[Daniel Hamad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well there's no question about it... you CAN ruin a good series.

I can deal with the somewhat sad ending... that's fine, I don't need to be happy all the time - that gets boring. What I can't deal with is that the book is basically a summary of what could have been a novel, and a bunch of apocalyptic scenarios seemingly written by a 10 year old.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the final book in the "Unincorporated ..." series. The ending, at least for me, was stupendous -- I didn't see it coming at all. What a statement of the human spirit! I very highly recommend this series (they really must be read as a series; otherwise there are too many things that wouldn't make sense).

[James Elkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great conclusion to a sweeping dystopian epic. The ending wasn't a result of pandering to the audience, that is to say, there were no easy outs, no happily ever afters (well maybe one). My personal favorite was the nod to Arthurian mythology at the very end.

[Pat Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blockbuster ending. I never saw it coming. Dani & Eytan are bloody genii. By the time I made it 75% into the book, I was terrified of a thud-and-blunder ending. Instead, I was delighted to find a hopeful, even joyous, conclusion. I have a new favorite series.