This 1908 novel, which along with We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, birthed the modern dystopian novel, and without it there would be no 1984, A Clockwork Orange or Brave New World, all of which have the influence of London’s novel stamped all over them. This book deserves to be so much better known, as I love everything from the fake historical footnotes and commentary (a wonderful device allowing the story to be presented as a historical document with the author commenting on and even critiquing it himself without breaking the flow of the narrative) to the worldbuilding of empires and superpowers. Using the approach of presenting and critiquing a ‘found manuscript’ from centuries earlier, there is a really interesting take on how much we believe and how much ‘truth’ comes from the received wisdom of the day.
The fact the ‘ending’ is revealed early on is unusual, but doesn’t matter as it’s the things that happen to the people that matter rather than the end result itself, something I am definitely drawn towards in my own writing. It is philosophy, prediction, a romance novel, science fiction and history all rolled into one and though parts understandably seem to drag a bit for a modern audience, I’d highly recommend reading it (and being old, you can get for free from Project Gutenberg).