Scan barcode
A review by daileyxplanet
Hard to Be a God by Arkady Strugatsky
5.0
The edition I read was published by Chicago Review Press under their Rediscovered Classics line and that's what the Strugatsky Brother's novel Hard to Be a God is. I had never even heard of this book until I read a friend's review of the Russian film adaptation on Letterboxd.
There's a planet in our galaxy that sustains life, in fact it sustains humans and their civilizations is stuck in the middle ages. Our protagonist is Don Rumata/Anton a 22nd Century operative who lives in the Kingdom of Arkanar. The Kingdom is going to hell in a hand basket. Think A Song of Ice and Fire's Westeros but without the charm. A Don Reba is waging war against the intellectuals of the kingdom. Anyone literate or creative is marked dead in a good alliteration of the Communist regime, free thinking, etc. Kinda feels like 1984 meets the Black Plague. Definitely a hidden gem and worth your time to read. Check it out.
There's a planet in our galaxy that sustains life, in fact it sustains humans and their civilizations is stuck in the middle ages. Our protagonist is Don Rumata/Anton a 22nd Century operative who lives in the Kingdom of Arkanar. The Kingdom is going to hell in a hand basket. Think A Song of Ice and Fire's Westeros but without the charm. A Don Reba is waging war against the intellectuals of the kingdom. Anyone literate or creative is marked dead in a good alliteration of the Communist regime, free thinking, etc. Kinda feels like 1984 meets the Black Plague. Definitely a hidden gem and worth your time to read. Check it out.