Review: The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist

Bitter enemies become unlikely allies and chart a new course for the shattered remnants of humanity in The End of the World: Rise of the After Lord by H.S. Gilchrist, a stunning work of genre-bending sci-fi.

Cut off from the mind-controlling force that has dominated her existence, a mechanized killing machine wanders the wasteland, reckoning with mortality and nearly forgotten sentience. A brother and sister, horrifically traumatized by their own dark secrets, encounter this enemy on the edge of death, and an unexpected peace is struck. When their mutual enemy comes to collect, however, their uncertain alliance is sealed in grief and blood.

Mica Stone and Animkii are a fascinating pair of characters, one with a deadly power repressed deep within her pain, and the other a liberated warrior who sacrificed half her humanity to biosteel in order to survive. They are both being hunted, and are deeply haunted by the past – the loved ones lost, the humanity stolen, the atrocities witnessed and committed. On the run from cartel debt collectors, maniacal cultists, and an Alphaknot army of mindless drones, the pair are perpetually fighting for their lives, even as others try to take control of them.

Those who wish to bring forth the end of the world believe that Mica’s unique soul may be the key to unlocking their dark lord’s prison, while the technocratic overlords see Animkii as a dangerous aberration – something to be studied or eliminated, but never freed. Battling against impossible odds and sinister forces, Mica and Animkii are indomitable rebels and enthralling protagonists.

The depth of detail behind this futuristic vision of Earth is remarkable and spine-chilling. The Technocrat’s mods are merciless killing machines, a haunting prophecy of what state-sanctioned control and terror could look like in an increasingly chaotic world. The blending of human and machine opens a thematic landscape ripe with potential, one that considers the very concepts of morality, identity, and consciousness. Animkii is the most obvious example of this concept, with her split humanity and mental freedom, but the larger allegorical implications of the Technocrats should ring loudly to more radical readers who have fears about freedom in the future. The writing is punctuated with philosophical and powerfully profound lines that transcend the bounds of this story: “We’re all tools to those more powerful than us… One day, some greater power will come along and then the Technocrats will take our place as dogs.”

On an editorial level, the writing is polished and crisp, striking an excellent balance between exposition, description, plot progress, and character development. Every page overflows with creativity and vivid world-building, such that even this far-flung dystopian Earth can come alive in the reader’s imagination. From the sleeping plague and mechanized monstrosities to merciless wasteland scavengers and abandoned slave-soldiers, the prose summons a mixture of apocalyptic horror and survivalist fascination, while the cultists and their nihilistic obsession with annihilation also add a dark fantasy element to this sci-fi masterwork.

Defying expectations and classification of genre, this mind-bending debut from Gilchrist is unbridled creativity at its best, laced with dire warnings, allegorical nudges, and moments of raw empowerment.