Saengard's The World Ender

A Book Review

All of you: “So, Jimbo, what advice would you offer to someone who was about to read Saengard’s The World Ender?”

Jimbo: “The same advice I offer to people who get into my car. Get in, sit down, hold on, shut up.”

Emphasis on the shut up part, because I don’t want to hear any of you whining about how easy it is to get caught in The World Ender or how hard it can be to keep up with it. Seriously, this is a novel that could have been a series. It takes place in less than three hundred pages. It covers well over a decade in elapsed time. There are some time jumps and every chapter starts with a date/countdown to the world ending asteroid that is coming to destroy the Earth if our plucky heroes can’t manage to either knock it off course or build the habitats that humanity will need to have to survive the collision.

Yeah, The World Ender wasn’t a randomly selected title. It sounded a little generic when I first heard it but, looking back on it, Saengard probably put a lot of thought into the title he gave his novel and that I may not have been one hundred percent in my assumptions. It’s also possible that I’m a turd for reacting like I did, but I think it only fair that we table that suggestion for future consideration.

There’s a lot of science in this Science Fiction, and I don’t have the technical or scientific background to evaluate it all. The World Ender has everything from orbital mechanics to advanced physics and engineering and some high level medical stuff that would be really cool. I’m not sure how much of all of that would make sense to the guys who make the actual real world advances, but I loved all of it. The story only makes sense with the advances in the book, so it also doesn’t feel like the author was only showing off. He made things make sense. Or maybe he made things that make sense, but either way it works.

Speaking of which, if you’re a fan of near future Science Fiction, The World Ender is definitely the book you’re looking for. The world at the beginning of TWE is easily identifiable as our own. The world at the end of the book, not so much. A lot happens over the course of the decade plus of the story. But the tech that they develop in the book is insane. The speed of technological progression in TWE is probably faster than the one that took humanity from its first flight in 1903 to the moon in 1969. Things move quickly but they make sense and the pressure to invent is immense.

George Guess, protagonist of The World Ender goes through a pretty amazing character arc. I don’t want to spoil too much but let’s just say that George starts off the book leaning heavily on the naive side, but he doesn’t finish it that way. One might even be tempted to believe that he ends up the teensiest touch bitter. I mention this because I facepalmed a few pages into the book when I first picked it up. I thought perhaps the author had a bit of a naive attitude toward an organization which I am not really a fan of. It turns out that I was mistaking the character’s attitudes for the authors but George figured things out soon enough.

George has a truly indomitable spirit. Even in the face of an asteroid strike that has the ability to pretty much wipe out all life on Earth, he manages to get married, have a child and basically live the closest thing to a normal life that he possibly can given circumstances. He does a good job of trying to make his life work under duress. I’m impressed by this guy.

Keep your head on a swivel while reading The World Ender. The twists and turns come fast and furiously. In a way, this book reminds me of the fourth season of Babylon 5. It has the feeling of a story that doesn’t quite fit comfortably within its bounds. The author (whether JMS or Saengard) therefore decided to make things fit by making events happen at a pace that is not comfortable either. In both cases, it works. I’d rather have things come at me at a breakneck pace than be bored. And you won’t get bored.

I will warn you about this much though: If you are a conspiracy theorist, take some Benadryl before reading The World Ender. Your nerves might just make you break out in hives if you don’t. I have a cousin who’s always talking about the Illuminati, and the Rosicrucians, and I forget what other stuff and I’m afraid to let him get his hands on my Kindle because there’s a good chance he’ll lose his mind if he ever does. Don’t get me wrong, neither one of those organizations is actually in the book, but there’s enough conspiratorial weirdness in here to make your hair stand up if that’s the way you’re predisposed.

The World Ender is a book crying out for a sequel. You’ve heard of Post-Apocalyptic fiction, right? TWE is closer to Pre-Apocalyptic fiction. I’ve already gone further than I’m comfortable going down Spoiler Road by revealing that much, so I’m not going to give the details as to why I’d say that. Suffice it to say that there is a new world a-borning and a hero that is capable of adventuring within it. George’s first few goals should be fairly obvious to anyone who has read the book, and a good author (and Saengard is one) could easily find a way to add a few more along the way. I really hope that we haven’t heard the last of George Guess, regardless of what he happens to call himself at any particular moment. I’m following Saengard on Amazon now. I’ll be keeping an eye on my email to find out when the next one drops. Hopefully.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Crooked Politicians

The World Ender
Saengard
Self-published, 2025

The World Ender is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

The World Ender