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dinsdale 's review for:
Metro 2033
by Dmitry Glukhovsky
Metro 2033 is post-apocalyptic goodness! I listened to the audio book and narrator Rupert Degas did a fantastic job with all the different voices and varying Russian accents. He perfectly sets the mood and differentiates the characters.
The setting of the book is the Moscow Metro (subway system). The earth, or at least Russia, has been ravaged by war leaving the surface radioactive and pretty much destroyed, and seemingly unlivable for human beings. The surviving humans have retreated to the Metro and are eking out livings by growing mushrooms and breeding and maintaining populations of chickens and pigs which they scavenged from the surface. Oh yeah, there are plenty of rats to eat also. The stations have become their own little fiefdoms, with passports required for travel to some. There are odd ideological factions controlling some of the stations - the Reds, the Fourth Reich, Polis (an advanced knowledge preserving group), and a number of others. Every station has different levels of resources, some have very little, and most have armed guards keeping undesirables or hostiles out.
The plot follows the trials and tribulations of protagonist Artyom, who in the beginning of the book is involved in a breech of his station's security which results in him going on a quest to another Metro station which lasts the balance of this twenty-hour long book. During his journey he visits numerous other stations and meets a number of interesting characters. He also encounters some of the odd life forms which have sprung up as a result of the radiation and chemical warfare. The most interesting of these are the librarians, some sort of sub-human mutants who roam the stacks of the Moscow library. They are creepy and bizarre.
After Artyom's journey began I got confused about the stations he was visiting as I am not familiar with the Moscow Metro. I printed out a map of the Metro so I could keep track of the stations he visited and determine his direction of travel. Later, I found an image someone created showing his path and the groups which controlled the stations he visited which made the book easy to follow.
The narrative moves along nicely and the setting is always claustrophobic and sometimes dark and terrifying. I listened to some of this walking my dogs through the woods at night which creeped me out and had me double-checking suspicious looking shadows. Probably not the optimal choice of media for walking through dark woods.
Overall, a really good post-apocalyptic book that moves along and is never boring. The complaint I read most about before starting the book was that the ending was weak. I rather liked it. I'm looking forward to eventually continuing on to Metro 2034 and Metro 2035.
The setting of the book is the Moscow Metro (subway system). The earth, or at least Russia, has been ravaged by war leaving the surface radioactive and pretty much destroyed, and seemingly unlivable for human beings. The surviving humans have retreated to the Metro and are eking out livings by growing mushrooms and breeding and maintaining populations of chickens and pigs which they scavenged from the surface. Oh yeah, there are plenty of rats to eat also. The stations have become their own little fiefdoms, with passports required for travel to some. There are odd ideological factions controlling some of the stations - the Reds, the Fourth Reich, Polis (an advanced knowledge preserving group), and a number of others. Every station has different levels of resources, some have very little, and most have armed guards keeping undesirables or hostiles out.
The plot follows the trials and tribulations of protagonist Artyom, who in the beginning of the book is involved in a breech of his station's security which results in him going on a quest to another Metro station which lasts the balance of this twenty-hour long book. During his journey he visits numerous other stations and meets a number of interesting characters. He also encounters some of the odd life forms which have sprung up as a result of the radiation and chemical warfare. The most interesting of these are the librarians, some sort of sub-human mutants who roam the stacks of the Moscow library. They are creepy and bizarre.
After Artyom's journey began I got confused about the stations he was visiting as I am not familiar with the Moscow Metro. I printed out a map of the Metro so I could keep track of the stations he visited and determine his direction of travel. Later, I found an image someone created showing his path and the groups which controlled the stations he visited which made the book easy to follow.
The narrative moves along nicely and the setting is always claustrophobic and sometimes dark and terrifying. I listened to some of this walking my dogs through the woods at night which creeped me out and had me double-checking suspicious looking shadows. Probably not the optimal choice of media for walking through dark woods.
Overall, a really good post-apocalyptic book that moves along and is never boring. The complaint I read most about before starting the book was that the ending was weak. I rather liked it. I'm looking forward to eventually continuing on to Metro 2034 and Metro 2035.