Just looked this up myself, sounds like something I'd enjoy, so added it to my list!
Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky
I decided to bump this one up my TBR list after learning that 'Roadside Picnic' was a big inspiration for this.
They are VERY different stories, but some of the surreal supernatural elements in Metro have a 'The Zone' vibe to them.
It's a post-apocalyptic odyssey with some really creative cosmic horror elements set in Moscow two decades after a nuclear war has all but destroyed the human race, with the survivors escaping into Moscow's labyrinthine metro underground to escape the irradiated surface, with all the metro stations turning into small towns.
We follow Artyom, a young man who lives in one of the outer most stations called VDNKh (Viddenkah) who gets sent on a mission to a collection of stations known as Polis, which serve as a de-facto capital for the Metro, to deliver an important message which could decide the fate of the Metro and its inhabitants.
Artyom sets out on his journey through the metro, stopping off at these various stations, braving the dangerous tunnels that connect them, filled with all sorts of out of this world terrors and meeting a cast of interesting and crazy characters along the way.
The world building here is outstanding. Each one of the stations is like a micro-state with it's own governance and alligiences, from trade enclaves, criminal gangs, neo-nazis, new wave communists & religious zealots and everything in between. The inside cover of the book even has a little map of the metro with a legend to help you keep track of Artyom's travels.
The horror elements are also very well done. There's a video game series based off these books, which has you fighting
against mutated creatures and what not. While these exist in the book universe, they are not as front and center, rather most of the horror here is more psychological, playing on the almost abyssal dark of the underground tunnel network. It's all very weird and very creative.
Overall, I loved this. It has that bleak dystopian vibe that Russian writers excel at, great characters,
interesting plot and some genuinely creative horror moments.
Didn't realise the games were based on the book. Having said that I think I may already own this but haven't read it yet!
Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky
I decided to bump this one up my TBR list after learning that 'Roadside Picnic' was a big inspiration for this.
They are VERY different stories, but some of the surreal supernatural elements in Metro have a 'The Zone' vibe to them.
It's a post-apocalyptic odyssey with some really creative cosmic horror elements set in Moscow two decades after a nuclear war has all but destroyed the human race, with the survivors escaping into Moscow's labyrinthine metro underground to escape the irradiated surface, with all the metro stations turning into small towns.
We follow Artyom, a young man who lives in one of the outer most stations called VDNKh (Viddenkah) who gets sent on a mission to a collection of stations known as Polis, which serve as a de-facto capital for the Metro, to deliver an important message which could decide the fate of the Metro and its inhabitants.
Artyom sets out on his journey through the metro, stopping off at these various stations, braving the dangerous tunnels that connect them, filled with all sorts of out of this world terrors and meeting a cast of interesting and crazy characters along the way.
The world building here is outstanding. Each one of the stations is like a micro-state with it's own governance and alligiences, from trade enclaves, criminal gangs, neo-nazis, new wave communists & religious zealots and everything in between. The inside cover of the book even has a little map of the metro with a legend to help you keep track of Artyom's travels.
The horror elements are also very well done. There's a video game series based off these books, which has you fighting
against mutated creatures and what not. While these exist in the book universe, they are not as front and center, rather most of the horror here is more psychological, playing on the almost abyssal dark of the underground tunnel network. It's all very weird and very creative.
Overall, I loved this. It has that bleak dystopian vibe that Russian writers excel at, great characters,
interesting plot and some genuinely creative horror moments.
Possibly one of the most intriguing science fictions stories I’ve ever read.
It was originally written in the 70’s by these two Russian brothers. Soviet censorship meant that only abridged versions were ever released in the west and it wasn’t until 2012 that a full proper translation was released in English. It has a reputation for being a huge inspiration for a number of other sci fi writers.
It’s set 13 years after 6 alien craft land on Earth. They only stay a couple of days before leaving without making any attempt at contact. The areas where they landed have been dramatically changed, with strange and dangerous anomalies occurring there such as gravity traps and electric storms. They have also left behind a number of strange yet highly valuable artifacts.
These areas have all been fenced off and are now known as ‘Zones’
One of these zones has a research complex called 'The Institute' attached, which sends men known as 'Stalkers' out into the zone, at great risk to them selves, to retrieve these strange artefacts for study. We follow one of these stalkers named 'Red' who also has a side hustle of sneaking into the zone to take artefacts out himself to sell on the black market.
It’s only a short read at about 200 pages, but I was absolutely hooked. It stands up fairly well for a 50 year period of sci fi book which is worth mentioning.
There’s also a heavy dystopian vibe to the story and tons of subliminal allegory influenced by the writers lives under the soviet regime.
This was a great read, big recommend!
Ah, a kick of Russian literature too, I see.
Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky
I decided to bump this one up my TBR list after learning that 'Roadside Picnic' was a big inspiration for this.
They are VERY different stories, but some of the surreal supernatural elements in Metro have a 'The Zone' vibe to them.
It's a post-apocalyptic odyssey with some really creative cosmic horror elements set in Moscow two decades after a nuclear war has all but destroyed the human race, with the survivors escaping into Moscow's labyrinthine metro underground to escape the irradiated surface, with all the metro stations turning into small towns.
We follow Artyom, a young man who lives in one of the outer most stations called VDNKh (Viddenkah) who gets sent on a mission to a collection of stations known as Polis, which serve as a de-facto capital for the Metro, to deliver an important message which could decide the fate of the Metro and its inhabitants.
Artyom sets out on his journey through the metro, stopping off at these various stations, braving the dangerous tunnels that connect them, filled with all sorts of out of this world terrors and meeting a cast of interesting and crazy characters along the way.
The world building here is outstanding. Each one of the stations is like a micro-state with it's own governance and alligiences, from trade enclaves, criminal gangs, neo-nazis, new wave communists & religious zealots and everything in between. The inside cover of the book even has a little map of the metro with a legend to help you keep track of Artyom's travels.
The horror elements are also very well done. There's a video game series based off these books, which has you fighting
against mutated creatures and what not. While these exist in the book universe, they are not as front and center, rather most of the horror here is more psychological, playing on the almost abyssal dark of the underground tunnel network. It's all very weird and very creative.
Overall, I loved this. It has that bleak dystopian vibe that Russian writers excel at, great characters,
interesting plot and some genuinely creative horror moments.
The Stalker games are basically re-imaginings of Roadside Picnic. If you've played any of the games you'd be much quicker to familiarise with the environment of the book.
I only recently discovered that the Russians have the bleak, dystopian, sci-fi market absolutely corneredAh, a kick of Russian literature too, I see.
I'm currently reading Roadside Picnic too, although it's taking me longer as I've not had a lot of time.
We have the Metro books at home as the wife's read them, I'll probably kick on to that too soon enough. Russian/Slavic literature tends to be a bit too heavy to keep reading book after book (or maybe it's childhood trauma as we had mandatory reading and Bulgarian literature is, believe it or not, equally as heavy) so I might go to some other things from the goodreads list.
On that note, anyone here read Snow Crash and is it as good as the synopsis for it sounds?
The Stalker games are basically re-imaginings of Roadside Picnic. If you've played any of the games you'd be much quicker to familiarise with the environment of the book.
Yeah, I don't think I'm after a masterpiece in any book (and I certainly don't go into any book with great expectations) - I want to enjoy it, which is ambiguous as everyone likes different things. What I've read about it online is that it's pretty good and it is genre-defining for Cyberpunk, which is just a damn cool concept and as far as I know it deals with a drug/'virus' of sorts, which we're close to making in reality! Yay! It's also how I learned of the book.
Thanks mate!Bleak and/or dystopian is basically all of Russian/Eastern European literature mate. Sci-Fi is more Russian though, we just deal with normal, every day, tragic bleaknessI only recently discovered that the Russians have the bleak, dystopian, sci-fi market absolutely cornered
Am definitely planning to read the rest of the Metro series (2034 & 2035) and want to read more by the Strugatsky brothers as I have heard their back catalogue is equally as impressive.
Also might pick up a copy of 'The Slynx', by Tatyana Tolstaya (she is a member of the Tolstoy family), which I've heard some great things about.
