Incendiary

The fires didn't end the world. They just ended the illusion that it could be saved.

Whole cities fell in days. Flames swallowed streets, homes, and lives with nothing more than a hiss and a crackle. In the ashes, someone had to stay behind — to contain it, clean it, pretend it could be controlled.

That's where the Spatesmiths came in. We were supposed to be the line between order and collapse.

We told ourselves the world still needed saving. That we could rebuild something from the ruins.

But the fires weren't the real enemy. It was the fear. The doubt. The slow, grinding realization that survival doesn't mean anything when there's nothing left worth surviving for.

Every day, the lines between right and wrong blur a little more. Orders get followed because it's easier than asking questions. We put out the flames, erase the evidence, and move on — until one day, there's nothing left to move toward.

In a world built on ash and silence, every step forward feels like sinking deeper into the ruins.

We fight to keep going.

We fight because we remember.

We fight to try and forget.

And somewhere out there, the fires are still burning.

©2025 Matthew von Lindenberg (P)2026 Matthew von Lindenberg

Intense, Powerful, and maybe a bit Insane

Wow. Just… wow. This book completely pulled me in within the first couple chapters and refused to let go.

This isn’t my usual genre, but something about the story grabbed hold of me immediately and had me hooked. I didn’t just want to keep reading… I needed to know what happened next. The pacing, the tension, the way everything unfolded—it all kept me fully invested from beginning to end.

And the audiobook? Absolutely phenomenal.

The narrator was the perfect choice for this story. He didn’t just read the book, he brought it to life. Every emotion, every moment, every character felt so vivid and real. It added an entirely new layer to the experience that made it even harder to step away.

Safe to say, I’ll be picking up more from this author and looking for more audiobooks narrated by him 👀

We all have the same question.

What is your government willing to let you suffer for their cause. Would they create toxins? Perpetuate it to kill off the working class? Von Lindenberg definitely brings fourth this question throughout while weaving a tale of woe and despair.