Final Great War
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Final Great War is a series of epic post-apocalyptic science fiction novels by the Urcean novelist and screenwriter Mychal Geronato. He began writing the first volume, also called Final Great War in 2002, publishing it in 2007. The series depicts a post-apocalyptic setting brought about by a digital great war between Caphiria and Levantia, and deals with themes of loss, personal core values, endurance, and divergent perspectives. The conclusion of the series conveys Geronato's sense of the inevitability of human behavior and a total rejection of presentism as well as the notion of a man-made apocalypse. Within this setting, survivors of the great war struggle on an individual and societal level at varying scales, ranging from individuals trying to stay alive to groups of survivors attempting to rebuild civilization.
| |
| Author | Mychal Geronato |
|---|---|
| Country | Urcea |
| Language | Julian Ænglish |
| Genre | Epic post-apocalyptic science fiction |
| Publisher | Enterprise Publishing |
| Published | 19 July 2007 – present |
| Media type | |
The series is comprised of six novels, five of which follow a consistent narrative and one of which is a prequel (2020's Beast with Seven Heads). Geronato subsequently condensed material from Beast with Seven Heads with material from the first two novels to create The Time of War (2021, revised 2024) and All That Still Remains (2027). These condensed books were intended to provide easier entry points into the universe of Final Great War by new readers of the series, and are not considered to have replaced any of the standalone original texts.
The series is well known for its unique narrative structure, which combines a nonlinear narrative with unreliable narrators to convey an uncertain sense of events within the world it creates. This format, now known as Geronatic literature for Final Great War's author, has become widely emulated throughout Urcean and global literature.
As of 2032, more than 200 million copies have been sold. The series was adapted into a 2025-2030 made-for-streaming television adaptation that proved extremely popular. The success of the books and series resulted in an additional set of movies written within the world of Final Great War by Geronato, the first of which debuted in February 2032.
Plot synopsis
The events of the Final Great War series generally take place after the events of the Third Great War. Through the narrative, it is revealed the Third Great War took place roughly between 2096 and 2099 and was fought between an alliance primarily based around Caphiria on one side and an alliance centered around an entity known as the Levantine Social Republic (generally thought to be a consolidated Levantine Union) on the other. In the pre-war world, most people were fitted with consumer brain implants, allowing a great range of new abilities as well as wireless connection between consciousness and the rest of the world at all times. During the Third Great War, most of the conflict was fought using digital hacks and viruses of brain implants rather than actual force of arms, though it is implied some limited traditional fighting occurred. At the end of the first novel, it is revealed that the continued use of hacks and viruses created a worldwide digital plague, which functionally killed every single person whose brain implants were exposed to the plague, and that the implants then took motor control of human bodies, creating a very huge number of cybernetic zombies. This plague functionally destroyed all human civilization and most governments. Throughout all of the novels, the protagonists struggle against the cybernetic zombies, but their inability to spread the plague to non-implanted individuals leads to a significant decline of the zombie population by the end of the fourth novel, Presented On High.
Against a destroyed world civilization and large numbers of cybernetic zombies, the novels focus on the efforts of humans to survive and eventually move past the events after the Third Great War. The first novel primarily deals with small numbers of survivors and individual survivors; the focus gradually scales as new alliances, tribes, and social institutions are built among survivors, such that by the end of the third novel, Into Ploughshares, the main conflict shifts from survival from hunger and cybernetic zombies to conflict between groups of survivors and, eventually, newly formed states. By the time of the fifth and final mainline novel, Next Great War, most cybernetic zombies are gone and society has largely rebuilt, and thematically the novel depicts the so-called "Final Great War" and apocalypse as just another event in human history as the post-war states shed their "survival alliances" of convenience and prepare to resume war and conflict.
The series makes references to places and events in Sarpedon and Ultmar, particularly in the prequel Beast of Seven Heads and finale Next Great War. The primary narrative, however, takes place in the lands formerly of the Levantine Social Republic, largely modern Urcea, Burgundie, and Rhotia. Several post-war polities in modern Fiannria and Faneria are named in Next Great War, and some characters from those places are introduced in that novel. Geronato has stated he intends to write several spin-off movies focusing on post-war events in other countries and places.
Novels
Final Great War (2007)
Final Great War was published on 19 July 2007. As the first book in the series, it introduces the post-apocalyptic setting and establishes the main groups, individuals, and tribes that serve as the narrative focus for the remainder of the series. The novel demonstrated what would inevitably become Geronato's literary staple, employing a nonlinear narrative to show the story in the "present day" (approximately 2120 according to most of Geronato's statements) and the events of the Third Great War (2096-2099), as well as other expository events. Every three or four chapters of First Great War recounts a first person narrative of events that occurred during or just the War, sometimes from the point of view of established characters and sometimes from characters that only appear in one chapter.
In Final Great War's sequential narrative, six present day individuals are introduced, and tell their story from a first-person point of view. In addition to their recountings being presented somewhat out of chronological order, their narratives contradict in several places. Almost all of these characters struggle against the world's cybernetic plague zombies as well as against basic human needs like shelter and hunter. By the end of the novel, three of the individuals meet eachother and bind together to establish the Survivors Union. Two of the remaining three die by the end of the novel, with the final character's fate undetermined.
In 2021, The Time of War was published as a collected version of Final Great War and the 2020 prequel Beast of Seven Heads. The Time of War was curated by Geronato, removing several original Final Great War chapters that focused on one-off characters that took place during the Third Great War; Geronato sought to remove duplicative expository information about the worldbuilding of the series. The Time of War also removed various character foreshadowing and other potential spoilers about main characters that appear in both original books, with some minor editing done to make the overall narrative more cohesive. The Time of War Revised was released in 2024 with further Beast content removed, especially some unpopular or controversial portions. Taken together, The Time of War is generally considered to be a strong entrypoint into the series by critics even if the narrative is more disjointed from the original, and The Time of War was used as the basis for the first season of the television series rather than the original print of Final Great War.
All That Remains (2011)
All That Remains is a direct sequel to Final Great War and was published on 22 April 2011. It picks up the thread of the three surviving characters from the first novel and introduces four additional new main characters, some of whom align with the Survivors Union and others who decide to remain independent. The novel also deals with several unresolved Third Great War era plotlines for characters introduced in the first novel, while adding two additional one-off vignettes. The novel concludes with all main characters surviving, with five in the Survivors Union and the remaining two founding new "tribes" (Fellowes and Agreeners) with descendants of their ancestors' pre-war friends and neighbors. All That Remains alludes to the geographic setting of the series for the first time, largely taking place in the corridor of Urcea's eastern border with Anglei, Rhotia, and Burgundie.
With the 2021 publication of The Time of War, an abridged consolidation of Final Great War and Beast of Seven Heads, a large number of the flashback sequence plotlines remained unresolved if a reader only read The Time of War and All That Remains. Accordingly, after completing the novel series, Geronato took the conclusion of some flashback plotlines not included in The Time of War and paired them with the text of All That Remains to create All That Still Remains in 2027. Due to the lesser popularity of the flashback sequences, All That Still Remains was not popular and as it was published after the completion of the accompanying season of the television program, it was not incorporated into that series.
Critics generally view All That Remains as the weakest book of the series. It largely continues the story and tone of the first novel without materially changing the conflicts the Survivors Union faces. Though most agree the writing is satisfying and the plot turns enjoyable, most concurred that All That Remains was more comparable to additional chapters to the original novel than a standalone work of literature.
Into Ploughshares was published on 13 February 2015. It takes primarily place more than four years after All That Remains, introducing a timeshift forward for all seven major characters. The Survivors Union established in the first two novels now has dozens of individuals living on a large compound that was once a farm, led by the five main characters who are in it as of the previous novel. Unlike the first two novels, Into Ploughshares deals with the relationships between the five protagonists as the immediate danger of zombie attack and starvation are no longer as apparent. Into Ploughshares eschews major character interaction with the plague zombies, who are implied to still be an important threat but who stay away from the Survivors Union compound. Meanwhile, the two other main characters introduced in All That Remain lead militaristic tribes who feud with eachother and others, and who both deeply resent the Survivors Union. Towards the end of the novel, it is revealed part of the Survivors Union success in keeping zombies away was use of technology to direct zombie hordes to other, non-Survivors Union settlements, the source of hatred of the tribes for the Union. This practice is alluded to throughout the novel, and at the very end of Into Ploughshares two of the five main characters and dozens of others depart the settlement, deeply disappointed by the immoral choices of their former colleagues.
Although nonlinear storytelling was a staple of the first two novels, Into Ploughshares is the first novel in the series to not have any Third Great War-era flashback sequences at all. The remaining two mainline novels would also eschew them. Geronato incorporated the conclusion of several of the flashback plotlines originally intended to be in Into Ploughshares as the core of the 2020 prequel Beast of Seven Heads.
Presented On High (2017)
Presented on High was published on 1 August 2017. It takes place three years following the events of Into Ploughshares. The Survivors Union has expanded significantly, incorporating other previously unaligned settlements, and it has become a major political entity. The defectors from the previous novel established the Peoples' Alliance, a rival organization which operates similarly to the Union and has established something resembling borders. The majority of the novel focuses on the relationship of the two tribes - the Fellowes and Agreeners - with both the Union and Alliance. Four new main characters are introduced, one for each faction, for a total of eleven. Presented on High diverges from most of the other novels in the series, as many of the chapters are present-day vignettes depicting life in the different factions. Religion, vice and virtue, and complex economic life in the world of the "factional era" as well as family life are portrayed throughout these vignettes. The novel also follows various individuals handling a trivial incident between the Union and Fellowes tribe that eventually emerges into a major incident and a cause for war due to misunderstandings and mishandling of the incident. The novel concludes with the beginning of the Union-Fellowes war.
Presented on High marks a tonal shift in the series, as exterior threats (zombies, starvation, etc.) are completely overshadowed by conflict with other humans. This conflict ranges from the central plot of the novel to minor disagreements in business, religion, and marriage as depicted in the vignettes. The cybernetic plague zombies are not mentioned in the novel until about three fourths of the way through the book, when a Fellowes tribe member discovers a small elderly pack of plague zombies. The novel presents that most of the zombies have now passed by the time of the novel, which takes place approximately thirty years after the end of the Third Great War. The novel deals with the fleeting relief that the end of the zombie threat has on the survivors of the Third Great War; specifically, it examines the realization of the survivors that they will all continue to live on and that the time of change had largely concluded, and the novel considers what the prospect of a long life means to most of the characters.
Beast of Seven Heads (2020)
Beast of Seven Heads was published on 19 October 2020. It is a prequel to the rest of the books, and provides an in depth treatment of the events of the Third Great War as well as a survey of different characters and the kinds of people that would ultimately survive the Third Great War. The novel reveals that most of the survivors of the war were largely marginalized people, preppers, or otherwise extremely remote rural people, none of whom had brain implants in large numbers. The book introduces two of the original six characters of Final Great War plus additional supporting characters that appear in later books or their ancestors. Controversially, Beast of Seven Heads included sequences wherein the protagonists of the previous novels, or their ancestors, kill, steal from, and otherwise commit violence against those who had once been their "social betters" (the rich, politicians, etc.) in an act of vengeance rather than of survival.
Beast of Seven Heads was the worst received of the Final Great War series. Critics described the vengeance sequences as "gratuitous", with several arguing that they introduced extreme moral ambiguity and subversion of moral expectations into a series that heretofore excluded both. Geronato, as well as some more positive critics, argued that these introductions were necessary to make the characters "more interesting", and Geronato extensively quoted the Pauline Epistles ("for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God") on social media and in interviews without further elaboration. Nevertheless, the events which occur within Beast of Seven Heads are not referenced again in the follow-up novel, Next Great War, beyond some general occurrences of the Third Great War as described within Beast.
In 2021, a Gernato paired a large amount of content of Beast with that of the original Final Great War novel to create The Time of War, which abridges both novels in order to create a cohesive narrative regarding the Third Great War and an introduction to the series. In 2024, some of the more controversial plotlines of Beast were removed entirely from the newly published The Time of War Revised. The conclusion of some past timeline plots introduced in the condensed The Time of War were concluded with a second, less popular condensed version of some Beast material with the second book, All That Remains, in 2027's All That Still Remains. When the series was adapted for the 2025-30 television show, The Time of War Revised was used as the basis for the first season of the program, and accordingly most of the material from Beast was entirely omitted.
Next Great War (2022)
Next Great War, the final novel of the series, was published on 23 March 2022. Another timejump places the novel two years following Presented on High, a total of roughly ten years between the first and final novel of the series. The Survivors Union and Peoples' Alliance have evolved further into fully blown polities, with borders and something resembling political constitutions. The novel also reveals the general location of these entities, with the Union existing in the environs of Eastvale and the Alliance in northwestern Burgundie. As was the case at the conclusion of the last book, the Union and Fellowes tribe are at war, and the novel spends considerable amount of time looking at the psychological ramifications the war. Specifically, it examines peoples' general feelings and rationalizations of returning to war between people despite having lived through the apocalyptic aftermath of the Third Great War. The novel also builds a growing enmity between the Union and Alliance, and closes the story of many of the main characters, who have grown old and relatively happy; many of them step out of leadership roles and prepare to hand power to a new generation, while three of the eleven are either assassinated or killed in battle. The novel, like its predecessor, includes many vignettes of what are now "average citizens" of the Survivors Union, but like the main characters it focuses on their evolving worldview and reflections rather than on extensive worldbuilding. Next Great War also features side plotlines for some of the Union-affiliated main characters traveling to other, similar polities in former Fiannria, the first time the area is covered within the series. The novel concludes with the very first shots of what would become a Union-Alliance war, bringing the series full circle. It is the only novel in the series to not feature any cybernetic plague zombies at all.
Most critics were very pleased with the intending, believing that Geronato successfully closed the narrative on the characters while giving a sense that the world will always go on, which was one of the main themes of the series.
Themes
Coping with loss
Value divergence
Subjectivity of history
All of the Final Great War novels include descriptions of major narrative events that have contradictions, sometimes blatant, in how they are described by the characters. While initially jarring for the reader, by the conclusion of the first novel most readers are able of determining the specific consistent biases of the individual characters. On this topic, Geronato has stated that "It is evident most of history is remembered completely differently, not only major world events, but the conversation you had with your neighbor this morning. I felt that level of subjectivity was not properly reflected in literature in our country (Urcea) at the time of writing the first book." In some of the novels, major in-world events are called different names by different individuals depending on their affiliation; the narrative uses this to build a reader's expectation of different events (i.e. the same battle being called a glorious victory of one place name or the massacre of a different place name), only for that event to be revealed as the same occurrence later on. Geronato has called this the "battle name effect", and stated in an interview "It allows you to compartmentalize what your favorite character is up to. Only when the twist comes do you have second thoughts; is he a heroic knight or a rapacious butcher?".
The continuity of time
A major focus of the latter Final Great War novels is the continuance of human history. Beginning with Into Ploughshares and culminating in Next Great War, the characters and world of the series begin to lose the general importance of the cybernetic plague and third great war. The characters begin to focus more on contemporary issues with other survivors and the future, with the organizations and states they create entirely moving past it by the end of Next Great War. Geronato explains that his intention was to explicitly reject the notion of a man-made apocalypse as being possible entirely, instead stating that "So long as man persists, history continues...there are no chapters or books of history, only a continued thread of those still living". Geronato also stated that "The eschaton will be a divine event, not a human one, and humans will continue as we always have and always will until that day." Scholars have noted that Geronato's novels reject both presentism and some of the implications of Whig historiography by demonstrating a consistent human nature.
Reception
Derived works
Television series
Movie series
Stories After the End
In 2023, Geronato signed an agreement with Enterprise Publishing for other select authors to be able to publish stories within the Final Great War universe. The agreement stipulated that Geronato had final veto power over any manuscript using the Final Great War property. In 2024, these stories received the Stories After the End branding. Beginning with 2024's
Geronato has publicly stated, insofar as a canon for Final Great War can actually exist due to the unreliable narration, that Stories After the End series books are canonical as far as they don't contradict anything written in his present or future works. There have been twenty eight novels released under this label since 2024, beginning with that year's Surviving the Last War by Vivian Geigh.