Review of "The End: Alpha" by Aaron Ryan

​Score: 90/100 (9.0 out of 10)

The End: Alpha is a Christian dystopian/post-apocalyptic resistance novel set in 2113, after a catastrophic virus, political collapse, and the rise of Constantine Jedidiah Goodfellow, now known as Emperor Nero.

Nero is a narcissistic trillionaire technocrat who has seemingly deluded himself (and most of the world) into believing that he is the Antichrist (with a capital A) and ruler of the world. He has turned the world against Christians, branding them through a fake “virus scan” census and hunting them with robotic killing machines called Guardians and aerial units called AirGuard. The story opens with Sage, a young Christian survivor, living in hiding with other “undesirables” in a bombed-out church shelter in Maple Park, Illinois. What's with all these apocalyptic books and the need for them to take place in Illinois? Are you guys ok in Illinois?

Anyway...

Hopefully this isn't so sacrilegious to say, but this book made us think: what if prophecies of this sort don't unfold because of magical, divine, or supernatural means, but because of a human drive toward self-fulfilling prophecies? What if they come true via rational, realistic, grounded means?

What if we just love digging our own graves and lying in them by propagating these prophecies? What if some texts plant a seed of mania that psychopaths and sociopaths then go overboard with? We actually see glimpses of this on the streets of major American cities every day: the crazy homeless guy shouting at the top of his lungs that the devil made him do stuff and/or that the end is nigh.

That's just a thought. Do you know what's strange? This book actually made us think a lot about Shakespeare's Macbeth--which is a much better story with a much better protagonist and villain, don't get us wrong (even the author probably wouldn't deny that)—however, it similarly explores the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies. Macbeth was led to believe he would become king, then that he was invincible, unkillable, and that he would reign for decades to come because of the vague yet seemingly optimistic prophecies of the three witches. However, all of those prophecies were only true from a certain point of view. Most notably, Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane because Malcolm ordered parts of the trees to be cut and carried to disguise their numbers, and Macduff proved to be "not of woman born" because he was birthed through a C-section. Macbeth followed and fulfilled all of these prophecies, and, arguably, he had never learned of them from the three witches, he might've never attempted to fulfill them. He would've never written to Lady Macbeth about their promises. He would've never done any of the killing. Arguably.

Likewise, this book really made us wonder if Goodfellow would've ever become Nero if he wasn't made aware of the prophecies of the Antichrist.

Anyway, onto the other characters in the book.

Sage is the emotional heart of the book. He is young, angry, traumatized, faithful, jealous, brave, and deeply wounded. He has lost his adoptive family, lives with a glowing Christian mark on his neck, and survives with his best friend Hunter, his love interest Charlie, and their leader/mentor Swifty. Sage’s chapters carry the survival-thriller side of the book: hiding, fleeing, fighting Guardians, losing friends, finding new shelters, and wrestling with whether faith means endurance, forgiveness, revenge, or action.

Thomas Drexler is the military/strategic backbone of the story. He helped create Nero’s Guardian technology before defecting and becoming a key figure in The Defiance. He is a wanted traitor in Nero’s eyes, but also one of the few people capable of fighting Nero’s system from the inside. His chapters reveal the broader war, the hacking/backdoor angle, the resistance network, and eventually the huge truth that he is Sage’s biological father.

Maximillian, later revealed as Darius Antone Forrester, is one of the most interesting parts of the book. He begins as Nero’s grotesquely loyal worshipper, a “High Vassal” who adores Nero with cult-like devotion. His chapters are disgusting, flamboyant, creepy, and intentionally excessive. But over time, a “still, small voice” begins working on him. His storyline becomes a conversion/awakening arc, ending with him rejecting Nero, wounding him, realizing the “god-king” can bleed, escaping in an AirGuard Epsilon, and reclaiming his real name.

The main plot follows Sage’s group as they move from shelter to shelter after suspected informants expose them. They flee the church, survive close encounters with Guardians, lose people like Sister Theresa, Leona, Fritz, and Luca, and eventually reach a larger Christian refuge at a high school. That refuge feels like hope for a moment, but Nero’s forces attack, flooding the mechanical room and scattering or killing many of the survivors.

Now, while that might sound tense and action-packed, a lot of this book is actually more static and philosophical. A lot the characters stand and sit around thinking about and discussing things including the possibility that Nero is a flawed human—a sinner—just like them who they should be praying for as Christ commanded we pray for our enemies.

We found that very interesting, because we don't remember a time in Left Behind, Christ Clone Trilogy, or any other piece of apocalyptic literature in which someone actually encouraged Christians to pray for the Antichrist. Usually, they pray for a meteorite to hit his helicopter or something like that.

Now, we have to say: something seems a little off with this book. It feels really clunky, blocky, and choppy. It feels like each character and each scenario exists in a box. It almost feels like this whole book is happening on a small stage in a theater with some kids dressed like trees in the background while some actors feed and fan a guy dressed like Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove. Nero just comes across as extremely cartoonish, almost unbelievably so. And the problem with that is it prompts the question: why would anyone follow this guy? Believe this guy? Do what this guy says?

Yes, there are times when he's supposed to be trying to draw false sympathy and trying to manipulate the crowd into siding with him and blaming Christians, but it just feels really inauthentic and disingenuous. Yes, people are stupid, but are they really that stupid? We didn't find Nero to be very charismatic or convincing at all. In fact, we found him to be more sniveling and annoying.

Most of the time, Nero just seems to lounge around and get catered to and fawned over. We compared him to the guy from Emperor's New Groove, but he also kinda reminded us of the pompous Space Emperor from the "Space Emperor" SNL skit, you know the skit in which the royal snack guy, Shegan, keeps feeding him "delicious delights" just so the emperor can show off how powerful and in control he is. Maximillian kinda reminded us of Shegan, the snack guy. We couldn't shake that thought the whole time.

With Nero, it was hard for us to imagine a handsome charismatic political leader who people were willing to follow. He came across as a pompous younger guy with a higher pitched voice, crazy hair sticking up like a Super Saiyan or Cats from Zero Wing, and wild clothing like Seymour from Final Fantasy X. No, that's not how his appearance is described in the book, but that's how we imagined him with the way he acts, the way he's viewed and treated in this world, and just the tone of this book in general. Maybe it's just that this book has a really futuristic, sci-fi vibe to it.

This book has a pretty heavy Christian leaning, which we didn't mind. In fact, we kinda liked it. We'd even dare say it was probably the best aspect of this book. It's interesting to read about how Christians might think and act in the end days when they're being persecuted. Would they run and hide? Lie about their faith? Or would they stay steadfast and proclaim the name of Jesus even if it meant certain death?

Check it out on Amazon!