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{{Infobox book series | {{Infobox book series | ||
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| image_caption = | | image_caption = Final Great War titlecard, Season 1 | ||
| author = Mychal Geronato | | author = Mychal Geronato | ||
| country = [[Urcea]] | | country = [[Urcea]] | ||
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'''''Final Great War''''' is a series of epic {{wp|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 {{wp|post-apocalyptic}} setting brought about by a digital [[Great Wars|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 {{wp|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. | '''''Final Great War''''' is a series of epic {{wp|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 {{wp|post-apocalyptic}} setting brought about by a digital [[Great Wars|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 {{wp|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. | ||
The series is comprised of six novels, five of which follow a consistent narrative and one of which is a prequel (2020's ''Beast | The series is comprised of six novels, five of which follow a consistent narrative and one of which is a prequel (2020's ''Beast of Seven Heads''). Geronato subsequently condensed material from ''Beast of 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 {{wp|nonlinear narrative}} with {{wp|unreliable narrator}}s to convey an uncertain sense of events within the world it creates. This format, now known as [[Arts_and_literature_of_Urcea#Contemporary_literature|Geronatic literature]] for ''Final Great War's'' author, has become widely emulated throughout Urcean and global literature. | The series is well known for its unique narrative structure, which combines a {{wp|nonlinear narrative}} with {{wp|unreliable narrator}}s to convey an uncertain sense of events within the world it creates. This format, now known as [[Arts_and_literature_of_Urcea#Contemporary_literature|Geronatic literature]] for ''Final Great War's'' author, has become widely emulated throughout Urcean and global literature. | ||
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===''All That Remains'' (2011)=== | ===''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'' 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. | 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. | ||
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''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'' 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. | ''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'' (2020)=== | ||
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===''Next Great War'' (2022)=== | ===''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]] (Nationalite and Fiannobond), 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== | ==Themes== | ||
===Coping with loss=== | ===Coping with loss=== | ||
The novels deal generally with human coping mechanisms. They examine them not only on their face, but also to what extent human beings will go to rationalize their experiences, and whether or not they are able to transmit that into survival techniques. The first novel deals extensively with the six main characters coping from loss related to the Third Great War or the period in its aftermath; the three characters who form the Survivors Union eventually overcome their trauma and set aside some coping mechanisms while the three that disappear are eventually overcome by their rationalizations, leading to their death. The theme remains throughout the novels and becomes especially prominent again in the later novels, as external threats to mankind wane in favor of inter-survivor conflict and war. | |||
===Value divergence=== | ===Value divergence=== | ||
The latter novels of the series approach how individuals who shared many goals and attributes initially inevitably diverge into different factions and point of view. Geronato used existential threats like zombies and starvation in the early novels to demonstrate the lengths to which people will unite against external threats, and then uses that same phenomenon later to show the "disappointment" of old alliances and friendships breaking down as conditions change. | |||
===Subjectivity of history=== | ===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?". | 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=== | ===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 {{wp|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 {{wp|presentism}} and some of the implications of {{wp|Whig historiography}} by demonstrating a consistent human nature. | 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 {{wp|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 {{wp|presentism}} and some of the implications of {{wp|Whig historiography}} by demonstrating a consistent human nature. | ||
==Reception== | |||
''Final Great War'', upon its initial publication, immediately became the most popular contemporary novel in [[Urcea]], and was a [[Levantia Times Union]] best seller for twenty eight consecutive weeks. In addition to audience reaction, critics were very high on the novel and most of its sequels, praising Geronato's pioneering use of narrative form to convey the story as well as his reinterpretation of some traditional Urcean social views as the central themes of the series. Of the five mainline story novels, only ''All That Remains'' (2011) was viewed as somewhat disappointing by critics, with the remaining four receiving extremely high marks for the quality of its storytelling and accessibility for all readers. Geronato's prequel, ''Beast of Seven Heads'' (2020) received mixed critical and audience reviews, but critics still found Geronato's storytelling ability to be "highly engaging", even if they found the content questionable. | |||
The open-ended style of Geronato's writing immediately led to large scale fan discussion about possible "true endings" of the stories. The narrative style encouraged high levels of enthusiasm and fan participation with the story, and in [[2015]] Geronato reported receiving over 10,000 fan suggestions in the mail per day. According to a [[2027]] study, the ''Final Great War'' television series and novels were the most popular item for {{wp|watercooler discussion}} in the country aside from politics and religion. In [[2028]], the novel and television series were considered a social phenomenon in Urcea by some social scholars, and in [[2030]], the novel and series became popular among international audiences. | |||
==Derived works== | ==Derived works== | ||
===Television series=== | ===Television series=== | ||
In [[2021]], [[Roseview]] approached Geronato regarding acquiring the rights to create a television adaptation of the ''Final Great War'' series as a direct-to-streaming show. It had not been the first time Geronato was approached, but as the written version of the series approached completion, he felt more comfortable finally agreeing to the participate in a television adaptation, and signed an agreement in December 2021. Throughout [[2022]], Roseview assembled a team including prominent [[Caphiria]]n showrunner [[Canilo Vostrata]] to create the show, with Geronato signing on as a mostly nominal {{wp|executive producer}}. Filming on the first season began in late [[2022]] but faced issues due to [[Final War of the Deluge|wartime considerations]]. The first episode debuted at 9 PM on Thursday, September 11, [[2025]] on [[Roseview#Roseview_Red|Roseview Red]], the network's streaming service. Throughout its run, season debuts and finales were also simulcast on Roseview's terrestrial television network, preempting other programs. The show was very popular, but reached a major crescendo in popularity by the time of its third season in [[2027]]. Beginning with the third episode of the fifteen episode second season, it was the number one program (streaming or television) until the series finale in December 2030, gaining over a hundred million viewers per episode in season three. The success of the television series led to Geronato writing a number of new spinoff material to be made into a movie series, and rapidly accelerated the sale of the book form of the series. | |||
The television series directly adapted the book form, with some alterations of storylines in order to work better in the visual medium. Many of the one-off vignettes of the novels were removed or altered into side plots for existing main characters, and many were combined to create new supporting characters to increase the runtime of the show. The first season of the show was directly based off of ''The Time of War'', the [[2021]] abridged combination of the original ''Final Great War'' novel and its 2020 prequel, ''Beast of Seven Heads''. Season two of the show was primarily based off of 2011's ''All That Remains'' and some tertiary material from ''Beast''; additional material from the "Stories of the End" novel ''Surviving the Last War'' by Vivian Geigh was also included to provide enough content to make a season. Seasons three, four, and five were all directly based off of ''Into Ploughshares'', ''Presented On High'', and ''Next Great War'', respectively. Geronato and Vostrata had a strong working relationship throughout the series, with Vostrata working carefully to respect Geronato's vision and storytelling style while presenting his own spin on the story. Geronato views the television series highly, and has compared its canonicity to "a familiar story told by an energetic old spinner of yarns". | |||
===Movie series=== | ===Movie series=== | ||
The significant success of the television series led to [[Roseview]] signing an agreement with Geronato to write four movies set in the ''Final Great War'' universe. Geronato has stated the movie series will largely be new stories set in the ''Final Great War'' universe, though he has also stated his intention to eventually make a full movie adaptation of ''Beast of Seven Heads''. The first film written by Geronato, ''These Northern Shores'', is more or less a direct spin-off of ''Final Great War'', and deals with characters living in the former [[Fiannria]]n states of Nationalite and Fiannobond. It was a box office success, and was the number one movie on its opening weekend in February [[2032]]. | |||
===''Stories After the End''=== | ===''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. | 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. | ||
Geronato has publicly stated, insofar as a {{wp|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. | Geronato has publicly stated, insofar as a {{wp|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. | ||
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