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The End Is Here! An Interactive Apocalyptic Adventure
The end is here! And there are 39 of them in this interactive adventure book. Fair warning: Not all of them will save you from the apocalypse.
You are Noa.
And you wake up in a world that’s on the brink of destruction.
Fear not! Use every skill and resource you have to get through civilization’s collapse, a zombie apocalypse, an alien invasion, an eternal winter,
a vanishing sun, or an AI revolution, and you may survive the apocalypse yet.
Make good choices and live to tell that tale with your sanity—and hopefully all of your limbs —still intact.
Choose badly, and you’ll get a fate worse than death in the end times.
In this interactive apocalyptic adventure, the fate of the world is in your hands.
Only YOU can choose how the story will end.
344 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2024
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Mica De Leon
7 books68 followersMica De Leon is the author of six books published by Penguin Random House SEA. Her first novel, Love on the Second Read, is a rom-com set in the Philippines about two Filipino book editors. She is also the author of the Seedmage Cycle Trilogy books—Winds Of War, Veins Of Power, and Seeds Of Conquest—which is an epic, high fantasy trilogy inspired by Philippine myths and folklore.
She is a Filipino author of swoony romance comedy novels and epic fantasy novels, and she has won the Don Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature in 2019 and 2022 for her essays on romance, feminism, history, fantasy, and the Filipino identity. She is also the Executive Editor of one of the leading publishing houses in the Philippines and has produced over 200 books in her ten years there.
She likes walking on the beach, dogs, cats, swoony and spicy romance novels, epic, sci-fi-fantasy novels, Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere books, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, and Taylor Swift. She is still trying (and failing) to meet all the impossible deadlines she gave herself five years ago.
Connect with her on Instagram and Tiktok at @micadeleonwrites and on Threads and X at @micadlwrites.
She is a Filipino author of swoony romance comedy novels and epic fantasy novels, and she has won the Don Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature in 2019 and 2022 for her essays on romance, feminism, history, fantasy, and the Filipino identity. She is also the Executive Editor of one of the leading publishing houses in the Philippines and has produced over 200 books in her ten years there.
She likes walking on the beach, dogs, cats, swoony and spicy romance novels, epic, sci-fi-fantasy novels, Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere books, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, and Taylor Swift. She is still trying (and failing) to meet all the impossible deadlines she gave herself five years ago.
Connect with her on Instagram and Tiktok at @micadeleonwrites and on Threads and X at @micadlwrites.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 17, 2025
For a story that highlights its "39 endings" or something along the back cover, the quantity undermines the quality of this book. It's innovative, though it lacks depth that makes the reader dissonant from the dire situation our main character and side companions are in. All across the five storylines.
Plot
There are five apocalypse storylines you can choose: (1) a zombie apocalypse, (2) an eternal winter, (3) a vanishing sun, (4) a "religious cult" takeover, and (5) an alien invasion. There's no A.I. revolution whatsoever like A.I. vs humans, despite this being explicitly mentioned in the book's back cover; all stories were organics vs organics like humans vs humans, humans vs zombies, or humans vs aliens. Without delving into spoilers, each of the storylines had no distinct elements other than your character Noa is a chosen one, there's an artifact you need to secure, some religious cult uprising is fighting against military forces, then you have unmemorable side companions because their names are so similar to one another. Bart and Brian. Zane and Zy. Judy and JJ. Nir and Nebula. Cas and...the Caeles HQ. Surely the numerous post-apocalyptic media have shown other ways that apocalypses cause destruction among humankind...but having similar character names and plots allude to the illusion of choices that this book offers. Because of the minimal sections each storyline is restricted to, all of them resort to exposition--which is a clear discrepancy with one page stating that "Showing is better than telling." It's a chore to read and browse page to page just to push through the plots.
Choices
My review comes from my deep intrigue and experience with the whole "choices matter" genre. I've played games such as Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3; Detroit: Become Human; Baldur's Gate 3; Dragon Age Origins, DA2, DA Inquisition, DA Veilguard; Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2; I explored different gameplays of The Walking Dead 1, 2, 3, 4; and The Wolf Among Us. I was also a selected beta tester for a recent video game with branching choices, so I feel like I've had a fair share of sci-fi and fantasy that merit my criticism of this book. I commend the attempt of trying for an interactive fiction. Nevertheless, the book's choices is either of the following choices (pun intended): (a) there's only one good ending, while the rest are all bad endings, (b) no choice is a good ending, and (c) there's a set binary good vs evil ending early in the beginning storyline. I finished reading the each of the book's five storylines with a sour taste in my mouth because of how deceptive my choices actually were all throughout. When you do get to the "best" or "good" endings, it's all anti-climactic because it felt rushed and unmerited due to the plot conveniences it received. For example, you went ahead and found the cure for the "zombie virus" and...that's it. Well done, good job, like screen cuts-to-black, type of ending. It's unsatisfying for the reader who barely established any connection with the side companions, the expository worldbuilding, and the shallow ethics/moral dilemma/philosophy that it tries to impose...when it's clear that good and evil in each storyline is binary and shortsighted.
Characters and More Plot
Noa, the main character, is insufferable because it's either she's too stupid or too shortsighted in whatever storyline she chooses. Think about every cliche you saw in horror, chosen one, hero stories you've perused, and Noa is an embodiment of all of them. My pet peeve was Noa always being the "chosen one" when she could've been a regular person pivotal to progressing the plot...not 'cause of plot convenience. Anyway, here's an example: *Hears a banging door with growling sounds* Noa's choices are either shout if they need help (to attract more zombies) or intrude the door (only to get bitten). *Gets saved by a child against a military attack* Noa's choices are either to leave the child (why is this even a choice?) or shoot guns while the child is unsafe (which she is underexperienced to utilize a gun compared to her military companion). Every plot point is shallow and disconnected and doesn't impart its intended story or existentialism to the readers. Maybe if this is the first time a reader reads this book, it would be a cool experience. But for me, this book is a very disorganized way of telling a story because they barely show it. What I *did* like in this story is the integration of a secret ending where Noa uncovers why she has to go into the 5 storylines. But that one is unfortunately not fleshed out either. The story could've gone like Netflix series "The Hollow (2018)" or the video game Split Fiction (2025) if they want to incorporate the theme they were going for in this book. There are also plot points that didn't need branching storylines if eitherway, Noa is going to end up dying in either choice. Perhaps if all side companions were the same for all branching storylines, then that would've built more on each companions' personalities, psyche, and relationship with my main character, Noa.
Story Ranking
Personally my ranking is (1) The Remnant's Last Hope, (2) Twisted Galaxy, (3) Whole White World, (4) The Midnight Call, (5) Vanishing of the Sun, and (6) *Secret Choice.* Without spoilers, The Remants storyline had amazing branching storylines where each choice leads to different outcomes (whether good or bad). The Twisted Galaxy has lesser branching stories, but it only has one good ending (and resorts to copy-pasting paragraphs from other branch paragraphs--which is jarring imo). Whole White World lacks depth with the world-building because of its most expository nature, though the dread of the apocalypse was most prevalent here. The Midnight Call is just a whole illusion of choice, plus there's a typo in page 128, where the branching choice was incorrectly typed to a wrong page. Vanishing of the Sun is an utter disarray of story plots with THREE different branching stories that doesn't bring a cohesive story; it's like a mixture of the whole 4 storylines but decided to heavily rely on plot convenience as a savior. There's also a typo in page 280, where the page link is on page 280 itself, and page 294's typo on why there was a need for an A and B choice where it was awkward placement All endings in all storylines were just superficial and unrewarding.
Final Thoughts
I feel like this book struggled a lot on picking what should be their target audience. It's too sanitized for an adult apocalyptic story, but it's also too grotesque for a teenage coming-of-age set in an apocalypse story. This doesn't fit the usual Young Adult genre because it doesn't satisfy the niche of say, being the right balance of coming-of-age, friendship oriented, relationship stuff, philosophical lessons, etc. The story is shallow and disorienting, it took me months to come back reading to this book before finishing each storyline day per day. It's a struggle to read with no lesson or emotion invoked in my role as a reader. The book would've benefited if each storyline was actually interconnected with one another, so that I could learn more about my character Noa, my companions, and the reason why these five "simulacra"of the real world need (or don't need) to exist. This way, it would've been possible to build more into this world into a sequel that actually provides more answers than questions. This book keeps bringing plot twist after plot twist without really answering any of the mysteries it forces to establish--which is a bad habit to develop for a science-fiction and fantasy where world building is important first and foremost. Overall, I still recommend this book if readers and aspiring writers are interested to see how a choices matter genre reflects in a book. However, I don't recommend this for the chaos it ensued to other possible choices-matter enthusiasts like myself. Your choices don't matter, and the only "interactive fiction" it creates is the illusion of choice. All five storylines are cookie cutter cliché apocalypse stories from series, books, video games and films you've consumed that were done far better than the restrictive pages each of this book's storyline tried to expand in its own fictional universe.
Plot
There are five apocalypse storylines you can choose: (1) a zombie apocalypse, (2) an eternal winter, (3) a vanishing sun, (4) a "religious cult" takeover, and (5) an alien invasion. There's no A.I. revolution whatsoever like A.I. vs humans, despite this being explicitly mentioned in the book's back cover; all stories were organics vs organics like humans vs humans, humans vs zombies, or humans vs aliens. Without delving into spoilers, each of the storylines had no distinct elements other than your character Noa is a chosen one, there's an artifact you need to secure, some religious cult uprising is fighting against military forces, then you have unmemorable side companions because their names are so similar to one another. Bart and Brian. Zane and Zy. Judy and JJ. Nir and Nebula. Cas and...the Caeles HQ. Surely the numerous post-apocalyptic media have shown other ways that apocalypses cause destruction among humankind...but having similar character names and plots allude to the illusion of choices that this book offers. Because of the minimal sections each storyline is restricted to, all of them resort to exposition--which is a clear discrepancy with one page stating that "Showing is better than telling." It's a chore to read and browse page to page just to push through the plots.
Choices
My review comes from my deep intrigue and experience with the whole "choices matter" genre. I've played games such as Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3; Detroit: Become Human; Baldur's Gate 3; Dragon Age Origins, DA2, DA Inquisition, DA Veilguard; Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2; I explored different gameplays of The Walking Dead 1, 2, 3, 4; and The Wolf Among Us. I was also a selected beta tester for a recent video game with branching choices, so I feel like I've had a fair share of sci-fi and fantasy that merit my criticism of this book. I commend the attempt of trying for an interactive fiction. Nevertheless, the book's choices is either of the following choices (pun intended): (a) there's only one good ending, while the rest are all bad endings, (b) no choice is a good ending, and (c) there's a set binary good vs evil ending early in the beginning storyline. I finished reading the each of the book's five storylines with a sour taste in my mouth because of how deceptive my choices actually were all throughout. When you do get to the "best" or "good" endings, it's all anti-climactic because it felt rushed and unmerited due to the plot conveniences it received. For example, you went ahead and found the cure for the "zombie virus" and...that's it. Well done, good job, like screen cuts-to-black, type of ending. It's unsatisfying for the reader who barely established any connection with the side companions, the expository worldbuilding, and the shallow ethics/moral dilemma/philosophy that it tries to impose...when it's clear that good and evil in each storyline is binary and shortsighted.
Characters and More Plot
Noa, the main character, is insufferable because it's either she's too stupid or too shortsighted in whatever storyline she chooses. Think about every cliche you saw in horror, chosen one, hero stories you've perused, and Noa is an embodiment of all of them. My pet peeve was Noa always being the "chosen one" when she could've been a regular person pivotal to progressing the plot...not 'cause of plot convenience. Anyway, here's an example: *Hears a banging door with growling sounds* Noa's choices are either shout if they need help (to attract more zombies) or intrude the door (only to get bitten). *Gets saved by a child against a military attack* Noa's choices are either to leave the child (why is this even a choice?) or shoot guns while the child is unsafe (which she is underexperienced to utilize a gun compared to her military companion). Every plot point is shallow and disconnected and doesn't impart its intended story or existentialism to the readers. Maybe if this is the first time a reader reads this book, it would be a cool experience. But for me, this book is a very disorganized way of telling a story because they barely show it. What I *did* like in this story is the integration of a secret ending where Noa uncovers why she has to go into the 5 storylines. But that one is unfortunately not fleshed out either. The story could've gone like Netflix series "The Hollow (2018)" or the video game Split Fiction (2025) if they want to incorporate the theme they were going for in this book. There are also plot points that didn't need branching storylines if eitherway, Noa is going to end up dying in either choice. Perhaps if all side companions were the same for all branching storylines, then that would've built more on each companions' personalities, psyche, and relationship with my main character, Noa.
Story Ranking
Personally my ranking is (1) The Remnant's Last Hope, (2) Twisted Galaxy, (3) Whole White World, (4) The Midnight Call, (5) Vanishing of the Sun, and (6) *Secret Choice.* Without spoilers, The Remants storyline had amazing branching storylines where each choice leads to different outcomes (whether good or bad). The Twisted Galaxy has lesser branching stories, but it only has one good ending (and resorts to copy-pasting paragraphs from other branch paragraphs--which is jarring imo). Whole White World lacks depth with the world-building because of its most expository nature, though the dread of the apocalypse was most prevalent here. The Midnight Call is just a whole illusion of choice, plus there's a typo in page 128, where the branching choice was incorrectly typed to a wrong page. Vanishing of the Sun is an utter disarray of story plots with THREE different branching stories that doesn't bring a cohesive story; it's like a mixture of the whole 4 storylines but decided to heavily rely on plot convenience as a savior. There's also a typo in page 280, where the page link is on page 280 itself, and page 294's typo on why there was a need for an A and B choice where it was awkward placement All endings in all storylines were just superficial and unrewarding.
Final Thoughts
I feel like this book struggled a lot on picking what should be their target audience. It's too sanitized for an adult apocalyptic story, but it's also too grotesque for a teenage coming-of-age set in an apocalypse story. This doesn't fit the usual Young Adult genre because it doesn't satisfy the niche of say, being the right balance of coming-of-age, friendship oriented, relationship stuff, philosophical lessons, etc. The story is shallow and disorienting, it took me months to come back reading to this book before finishing each storyline day per day. It's a struggle to read with no lesson or emotion invoked in my role as a reader. The book would've benefited if each storyline was actually interconnected with one another, so that I could learn more about my character Noa, my companions, and the reason why these five "simulacra"of the real world need (or don't need) to exist. This way, it would've been possible to build more into this world into a sequel that actually provides more answers than questions. This book keeps bringing plot twist after plot twist without really answering any of the mysteries it forces to establish--which is a bad habit to develop for a science-fiction and fantasy where world building is important first and foremost. Overall, I still recommend this book if readers and aspiring writers are interested to see how a choices matter genre reflects in a book. However, I don't recommend this for the chaos it ensued to other possible choices-matter enthusiasts like myself. Your choices don't matter, and the only "interactive fiction" it creates is the illusion of choice. All five storylines are cookie cutter cliché apocalypse stories from series, books, video games and films you've consumed that were done far better than the restrictive pages each of this book's storyline tried to expand in its own fictional universe.
Displaying 1 of 1 review