A review by roach
Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, he felt a wave of despair. Everything was useless. Everything was pointless. My God, he thought, we can't do a thing! We can't stop it, we can't slow it down! No force in the world could contain this blight, he thought in horror. It's not because we do bad work. And it's not because they are more clever and cunning than we are. The world is just like that. Man is like that. If it wasn't the Visit, it would have been something else. Pigs always find mud.

I've heard of the Strugatsky's before but wasn't familiar with any of their work. I wouldn't even have read Roadside Picnic if it wasn't for a book club thing I spontaneously participated in. But I'm pretty glad I did decide to join that and I'm interested in reading other more fleshed-out novels by them now.

This book sets up a very interesting futuristic world that ages very well. None of its mystery and intrigue was lost over the 50 years since it was first conceived.
Even though it was a good read pretty much from the beginning and had me quite interested all the way through, a lot of the first half of the book left me wanting more because there are a lot of interesting things mentioned and thrown around in passing, but barely any immediate interaction or thorough exploration happens. Thankfully that thirst gets squelched pretty well in a later chapter.
My favorite part of the book however ended up being part 3 of the 4 chapters, which, through a perspective change to a different character, builds up a pretty fun almost crime/mystery subplot for a little bit and, more importantly, has a very lengthy scene of two characters theorizing and philosophizing about the world they live in and what the circumstances of the alien visit might have meant. That was very fun and very satisfying to read.

Roadside Picnic has some weaker spots including some more abrupt character actions that I didn't like too much, and it really seems like this whole thing only scratches the surface of the world that was created here, but it's a very fun read with some great, lengthy moments and a really intriguing setting.