Metro 2033

I went into this book wanting some action set in an underground where the surface of the planet was the most dangerous place to be. In all fairness, we did get quite a bit of that but not quite in a way that made me truly terrified.

Due to the nature in the way that the book is written, I kept expecting all the monsters and such to be or have metaphorical meanings but they didn't. This book more discusses how different cultures, religions and mini civilisations might spurt up in a world where there's no guidance from the outside world. The main character had absolutely no personality despite the many long pieces of internal monologues. However, I have come out of this book feeling quite satisfied and intrigued by a lot of the hypothetical religions and mini-cultures that Dmitry Glukhovsky explored in this book

I've read a lot of books recently that have not been up to par. This one lands squarely in that category. I don't even know where to begin. The premise drew me in instantly - so much could have been done with such a strong premise! Instead, what I read was a janky story about an idiot at the end of days. Allow me to elaborate, I spent a long time brewing this review.

The main character, Artyom, is a complete automaton. A slave to the plot in every way, he exists only to serve the storyline and never to drive it. He is entirely characterless and entirely pointless. Devoid of a single characteristic whatsoever, excrutiatingly boring, I cannot stress enough how poorly written he is, and this becomes a pattern with every other character.

It's hard to rank the awful things about this book, because at varying points they all bothered me equally in turn, but the lack of female characters in the book is bizarre enough to merit second place. Are you telling me that this man has schelpped through the entire metro system and failed to encounter a SINGLE woman other than a (1) prostitute that he then considers paying for? The only three lines of dialogue spoken by a woman in the entire 450 page sinkhole of a book are spoken by a comrade's wife chiding her child and then by one trying to hock her child. Absolute piss, Dmitry. Get a grip.

Sexism aside, we also have some abhorrent descriptions of some races in this book as well - hardly a surprise given the track record.

The structure is true to Russian style - enormous walls of text, even the rare dialogue threatens to turn into a chapter-long philosophical monologue and you are lucky when it doesn't. Some of the chapters are used as a thinly veiled opportunity for the author to proselytise to the reader.

Every single side character is a plot device contrived to deliver our passive idiot of a main character to his next destination safely, and then to die immediately after while the moron lives. Each one of these characters would have been a better candidate for the mission our hero is on than he is.

Now for the plot.

Hunter comes to Artyom's home station and asks him to risk his safety and life to get a message to a far flung station. Our main immediately agrees and sets off because he is an automaton. Then, in a long series of episodes that are not linked in any way save by coming one after the other chronologically, the main character goes through lots of trials and tribulations that do not lead to any personal development. By the time we reach the end of the book (a mere few weeks in book time), the trip that took him days in the outset now takes him an hour or so going back the way, and the dangers along that same path are conveniently gone.

The reason I gave it that half star is that the premise is great, and the ending was actually surprisingly good. The rant is over but I could throttle the author.

I'm so happy I was able to get an English version, absolutely loved it.

A strange apocalyptic novel yet infused with the nuclear fears of the 50s. Mankind survives, just, beneath the streets of Moscow. Cowering in the Metro tunnels from the radioactive world above and multiple horrors around them. One man sets of on a journey, his Odyssey, learning about himself, humankind and the terrifying “dark ones”.
What an ending! I'm desperate to get my hands on the next one now.

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time. It is good, I like it and find it very interesting but I think it is a philosophical introspection wrapped in a science fiction book. It goes through many different life philosophies and discussed them from a first person point of view, I think the spectrum is far from complete and the book portraits not the best aspects of each doctrine. The book is about the journey of discovery of a human being framed in a post-apocalyptic underground world and is a very interesting approach to the comfort versus knowledge dilemma.

I would definitely recommend it but I doubt I will ever read the following books in the series.

A dark twisted take on a post apocalyptic world

A Russian tale of horror and dispair in a future after the bombs strike. The hero starts a journey to solve a problem only to discover more than he wants to know.

Libro che tratta un tema caro alla fantascienza, quello del filone “post-apocalittico”, molto classico e molto sfruttato, è sempre difficile trovare qualcosa di veramente innovativo in questa sfruttatissima miniera.
Il pregio di questo autore è stato proprio questo, inventarsi uno scenario originale e molto ben strutturato: i sopravvissuti si riuniscono in comunità molto diverse fra loro, ricreando quella che era la società prima del non precisato evento che catapulta i sopravvissuti all'interno della Metropolitana Moscovita.
Ci sono stazioni, dove vige il benessere, sia culturale che monetario, alcune lasciate alla fame e alla povertà estrema, ai più biechi comportamenti umani; ci sono democrazie, totalitarismi, estremismi fanatici e religiosi, il tutto all'interno delle varie stazioni che il protagonista dovrà attraversare per portare a termine la sua missione.
La trama è accattivante e l'autore, che non fa del “bel stile” il suo punto di forza (prima pecca), passa in rassegna le varie situazioni con uno stile un poco approsimativo, non riuscendo a tratteggiare in maniera incisiva i vari personaggi (seconda pecca), ma riesce a rendere le angosce e le privazioni o i soprusi all'interno dell'ambientazione da lui creata. Lodevoli e inquietanti i passaggi nei tunnel tra le varie fermate, che personalmente mi farà sempre ripensare a questa lettura ogni qualvolta mi recherò nel sottosuolo a prendere la metropolitana.
Dunque il punto di forza di questo libro sono senz'altro gli scenari e la trama di fondo, i punti deboli sono i personaggi troppo poco caratterizzati, la scrittura molto “giovane e acerba”, certe tirate per i capelli per uscire dalle varie disavventure; quello che davvero infastidisce sono le descrizioni dei pensieri del protagonista che non sono proprio il massimo. Una sorta di filosofia spicciola propinata al lettore un po' troppo ripetitiva e molto “populista”.
Dunque una storia particolare, un po' fuori dagli schemi soliti della letteratura post-apocalittica con diversi spunti interessanti.
Molto belli anche i capitoli dove il protagonista si ritrova all'esterno della metropolitana, alle prese con una Mosca devastata, radioattiva, popolata da esseri genticamente modificati dalle radiazioni: mi sarebbe piaciuto leggerne di più, ma probabilmente avrebbe snaturato proprio la tipicità della storia tutta ambientata in una metropolitana. Da notare: il passaggio dove Artyom, il protagonista principale, ritrova rinchiusa una persona ormai mumificata, morta durante l'attacco nucleare, con il diario degli ultimi giorni scritto sulle pareti/rifugio di quello che sarà la sua tomba perenne.
Un po' affrettato il finale, ma essendo uscito il seguito, immagino che le avventure come si suol dire, non finiscano qui.
Lettura a tratti molto piacevole e godibile, da raccomandare sicuramente ai fan della serie post-apocalittica, peccato per le pecche sopra descritte altrimenti le cinque stelle erano d'obbligo.
Leggerò con piacere il seguito.

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