Author Aaron Ryan

I LOVE being able to impart encouragement and affirmation in a public setting. There’s a charged atmosphere present; people are wanting to have their batteries refilled; their lives given increased meaning; their futures imparted fresh hope. I appreciate the great responsibility placed upon me in such an environment, and I, too, come away with a renewed sense of passion for my craft. I also…

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Everyone please read this awesome review I got from The Bookish Elf regarding my book," The End: Alpha." The Bookish Elf writes incredible reviews, and they are spot-on. Thanks!

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In an age where dystopian fiction often feels like a warning rather than entertainment, Aaron Ryan's "The End: Alpha" cuts uncomfortably close to the bone. The year is 2113, and half of humanity has been wiped out by a devastating virus. From the ashes rises Constantine Jedidiah Goodfellow—a name dripping with irony—who transforms into "Nero" and launches a systematic purge of Christianity with mechanical precision.

What haunts me most about Ryan's vision isn't the technology—though the amber-marked necks of believers and the relentless Guardian machines that hunt them are terrifying innovations—but the plausibility of how quickly society accepts the persecution. The way neighbors inform on neighbors. The way faith becomes criminal overnight. The way the question "Citizen, do you recant?" becomes a death sentence.

Ryan masterfully orchestrates three distinct perspectives: eighteen-year-old Sage Maddox, whose family has been executed by Guardians; resistance leader Colonel Thomas Drexler, orchestrating The Defiance from the shadows; and High Vassal Maximillian, whose slavish devotion to Nero reveals the psychological underpinnings of totalitarianism. Through these lenses, we witness both humanity's capacity for cruelty and its potential for transcendent courage.

The novel's greatest strength lies in how it portrays faith under fire. When young Luca faces a Guardian and shouts "Jesus Christ reigns!" knowing it means certain death, or when an elderly believer named Jasper finds creative ways to survive without denying his Lord, Ryan captures the essence of what belief means when it carries mortal consequences.

Having previously crafted the alien-invasion saga "Dissonance," Ryan brings that same intensity to a more intimate apocalypse. His prose carries urgency without sacrificing depth, particularly in moments of quiet reflection between harrowing escapes.

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