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foxpuffery97's review against another edition
4.0
"The Doomed City" is a great, thrilling, and philosophical book. I think everyone would be interested in reading it.
The book is the longest work than any other Strugatsky's books, as Boris explained in the afterword that it took three years for him and his brother to plan it; they finally wrote it for another three years. But it was not published until sixteen years later, due to the dangerous time in the 1970s.
The book contains some allusions of the Soviet Union, where the people behind the Experiments act as the communist government, the City is their playground, and its inhabitants are their guinea pigs. According to the foreword, Dmitry Gluskhovsky, the author of "Metro 2033," relates how the City is like St. Petersburg. He explains that St. Petersburg went through periods of rough time, from the Bolshevik Coup to the Nazi blockade and to the communist regime. He describes that is how the City goes through during the course of the narrative, like the revolution where the farmers started a war against their government for not explaining why the sun could not turn on for the past week.
I would recommend it for anyone who is a Strugatsky fan or a newcomer to read it. This book is very philosophical at the last chapters of the book, and it would leave you surprised at the end.
The book is the longest work than any other Strugatsky's books, as Boris explained in the afterword that it took three years for him and his brother to plan it; they finally wrote it for another three years. But it was not published until sixteen years later, due to the dangerous time in the 1970s.
The book contains some allusions of the Soviet Union, where the people behind the Experiments act as the communist government, the City is their playground, and its inhabitants are their guinea pigs. According to the foreword, Dmitry Gluskhovsky, the author of "Metro 2033," relates how the City is like St. Petersburg. He explains that St. Petersburg went through periods of rough time, from the Bolshevik Coup to the Nazi blockade and to the communist regime. He describes that is how the City goes through during the course of the narrative, like the revolution where the farmers started a war against their government for not explaining why the sun could not turn on for the past week.
I would recommend it for anyone who is a Strugatsky fan or a newcomer to read it. This book is very philosophical at the last chapters of the book, and it would leave you surprised at the end.
mezentine's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
drakman's review
4.0
Strangely this book becomes more relevant and engaging if one reads the Afterword first.
galinette's review
3.0
Man, this book. Either the authors were high on something for the last chapter or I'm not philosophical enough (or know enough for political stuff) to fully understand what was going on. Honestly, I almost feel like I need to go look up the wiki entry for this book to know what was the allegory there besides the "man vs man" and "the main nemesis of man is man himself" that's there on the surface.
expendablemudge's review
5.0
Somewhere along the line I had a major brain fart. I reviewed this book at my blog and never posted it here? What kinda noddycock am I anyway?
Five stars. Translation excellence. Publisher sent and I send thanks back.
Five stars. Translation excellence. Publisher sent and I send thanks back.
jaydeereading's review
4.0
This would be three and a half stars if goodreads did half-star reviews, but I'm rounding up because even though it doesn't really have much of an ending, there's so many ideas bouncing around this book and it's so well-written and full of vivid little details (credit going to trans. Andrew Bromfield, I would guess) that the final pages were more of a reassessment than an outright letdown.
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