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Spiritual and Biblical Freedom
The End: Omicron follows a young Christian on a mission who joins the Emperor’s youth organization with the intent of making his way into the inner circle so he can kill the Emperor and bring vengeance and justice to Christians. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Well, it’s continuing the story of Sage et al from The End: Alpha, trying to navigate a world with a tyrannical lunatic despot at its head – at least mostly in the United States – in 2113, and they’re all having to carefully thread their way through that. The message I was trying to convey in Omicron is exactly what’s on its front cover: Defiance can be deadly; almost as deadly as obedience.” We see what happens when Sage thinks he’s “doing God’s will” and yet he may have been wrong all along. We see what happens to you when you draw closer and closer to Emperor Nero and the chilling and dangerous effect that has on anyone who does so. On the flip side, however, we see clearly what happens when someone exits that circle and begins to experience the life-changing freedom, grace, and change that Jesus offers us. What happens in Omicron is absolutely chilling in both respects because it’s new and unfamiliar on both sides, and it isn’t just the turn of a dime; both main characters have to learn ’the new way of living’ and have to figure out their new lives. There’s also a bystander in Colonel Thomas Drexler who is somewhat helpless on the sidelines, trying to counter Nero’s every autocratically terrifying move with checks and balances, and he is on his own emotional journey as well through that, given their previous proximity to one another. If Alpha was a story of what happens when one exits Nero’s circle, Omicron is a story of what happens when one enters.
How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
I love action scenes, and my only regret is that they’re over too quickly; otherwise, you can err on gratuitous or overlong sequences that tend to serve as a kind of self-aggrandizement. “Oh, look at what I know, look at all the research I’ve done to make this believable!” And so on and so forth. I try to keep the action scenes crisp, engaging, tense, and somewhat brief. The real story is the real story. The action is not the centerpiece; it’s meant to be a crescendo or peak of the tension mounting, and then….we now return you to your scheduled program already in progress.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
My faith in Christ. I memorized a lot of Scripture as a young adult. The Bible says that the Word of God does not return void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent out. Many of the verses that I’ve held dear over decades have found their way into Alpha, Omicron, and, as you’ll see, Omega. It’s been truly impacting to write something with such spiritual and Biblical freedom, imparting these words of comfort and sharing them with my readers through the eyes, words, and thoughts of my protagonists and tertiary characters.
Can you tell us where the book goes and where we’ll see the characters in the next book?
Eeeek! I’d have to be really careful about that of course. Suffice it to say that there is redemption, conflict, poetic justice and so much more coming in Omega. A powerful conflict is drawing near, and in fact more than one. Characters will return, twists will unfold, and a lot of incredible love will be on display as Sage, Drexler, and Darius continue to thread their way through the mayhem of 2113. I’m VERY proud of how Omega turned out and it’s going to be the fitting and powerful conclusion to this wonderful saga God has given me. I’m truly grateful to be the custodian of “The End.” Cheers!
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Maximillian has defected. The god-king Nero has bled. And now, the High Vassal has stolen an AirGuard and sought shelter among Earth’s last surviving military stronghold: The United Kingdom. But in an unthinkable twist, Colonel Thomas Drexler’s son, Sage, has also switched sides, joining up with the youth organization Friends of Nero. What the Colonel doesn’t know is that Sage desires to infiltrate Nero’s inner circle and kill him, bringing vengeance and justice for all the Christians who have paid the ultimate price. Confident he is carrying out the will of God, Sage has placed himself on a dangerous quest in drawing nearer to the Emperor.
Unbeknownst to any of them, however, Sage has company. He will need it…because The Test is coming.
Will Christian brothers and sisters be able to accept Maximillian into their midst? Will he prove an asset to the Defiance…or a liability? As for Colonel Drexler: will he be able to successfully and publicly unmask Nero’s lies and prove to the world, once and for all, who the Emperor really is? And as for Sage, he is in great danger. Will he emerge from the Friends of Nero training camp scarred for life, or will he succeed in killing the totalitarian ruler hellbent on exterminating Christians?
Indeed, in a world of mandated obedience, defiance can be deadly.
The End: Omicron
Aaron Ryan’s The End: Omicron is a breathless and gut-wrenching continuation of a harrowing dystopian saga. Picking up in a devastated future where a tyrannical leader named Nero hunts down Christians marked by a branded scar, the story follows young Sage Maddox and a ragtag group of survivors struggling against a monstrous regime of mechanoids and propaganda. Meanwhile, former High Vassal Maximillian—reborn as Darius Antone Forrester—defects and seeks redemption, setting the stage for spiritual warfare, betrayal, personal transformation, and rebellion. The world is brutal, the stakes are high, and the faith of every character is tested in fire.
Reading this book was like being pulled behind a speeding train. The pacing is relentless, the emotion runs raw, and the characters are utterly drenched in pain, doubt, and hope. Ryan’s writing is often visceral and unfiltered—sometimes jarringly so—but it’s always from the gut. You feel Sage’s grief claw at your chest. You feel Maximillian’s shame and longing for a second chance. It’s not polished in a traditional literary sense, but that’s exactly what makes it powerful. It’s not trying to be subtle or slick—it’s just honest. And in that honesty, it punches hard. Some of the dialogue feels intentionally unrefined, like real people speaking in the worst moments of their lives. I respected that.
On the flip side, the writing leans heavily into its message. Ryan is unapologetically Christian in theme and tone—this is not a book that hides its worldview. That might throw off some readers looking for a more ambiguous or secular apocalypse. But if you go in knowing that, it delivers with sincerity. I found myself torn between frustration and admiration at times—the moral dilemmas, the extreme stakes, the black-and-white battle between faith and evil. It’s not subtle storytelling, but it is bold. And sometimes bold is exactly what a story needs to break through the noise.
If you’re a fan of Christian dystopian fiction, if you like stories about persecution, faith, rebellion, and endurance under fire, this one’s for you. I’d recommend it for readers who want more soul in their sci-fi, and more fire in their faith. If I had to put The End: Omicron on a shelf with other books, it would sit somewhere between the Left Behind series and The Hunger Games, with a dash of 1984 and This Present Darkness. It’s got that same blend of high-stakes rebellion, faith under fire, and a world cracking under tyranny.
Pages: 263 | ASIN : B0F6VWDM2H
LITERARY TITAN 