In his first novel, Water Music (1981), Boyle employed a dual plot in order to dramatize the fragmented nature of civilization. In that novel, Boyle alternated between Great Britain and Africa in order to show how history was evolving from the Enlightenment to the Romantic Age. In World's End, Boyle again employs a dual plot, but this time he alternates between two centuries instead of between two places. As in his first novel, Boyle continues to confuse fact and fiction in World's End.

For example, some of Boyle's characters are descendants of Ichabod Crane, a fictional character created by another author, Washington Irving. On the other hand, the cast of characters of World's End includes Paul Robeson, who actually lived in the twentieth century. Paul Robeson's inclusion in World's End also serves to introduce music into the novel, and all of Boyle's novels deal with music in...