The following is slightly edited copypasta from another game community I administrate. Posting it a few places I know of because I feel this is worth advertising a bit.
“They're naked, covered in black, glossy skin, with huge eyes and mouths like gashes... they're striding rhythmically ahead, towards the fortifications, towards death, with reckless abandon, without wavering, closer and closer... there are three, five, eight beasts... and the first among them suddenly throws back its head and emits a howl like a requiem.” Metro 2033
by
Dmitry Glukhovsky
Post-apocalyptica is my favorite genre. Be it books, movies, games, if it's post-apocalyptic chances are high that I will enjoy it immensely. To my shame though, I never got around to actually playing Metro 2033/Last Light much as I'm also the kind of gamer that immerses themselves so much into the game that horror becomes truly horrifying. First-Person Games in particular. What I'd played though, I'd loved but things that were even more interesting to me started taking up my time so I sort of forgot about the games entirely.
Then Metro Redux (a remake of both games with better graphics, gunplay, game modes etc) was announced and the release date was coming up. Currently released in the US and on schedule to be released the 29th this month here in Europe. So this was the perfect time to grab the book and see how it holds up.
It should surprise no one that it held up marvelously. If there's something the Russians can do, it's post-apocalyptic dystopia.
Mankind finally went mad enough to burn the world. Nuclear fire and nuclear winter has almost eradicated mankind and only a few are known to remain alive. In Moscow, people took shelter in the Metro system which was in fact designed to be a nuclear shelter and have survived the last twenty years in the tunnels. Some stations have been populated and have become towns of sorts, others are abandoned and are only haunted by rats and ghosts. A hundred different philosophies and ideologies have taken root in different parts of the Metro and even when on the brink of extinction mankind wages war and professes loyalty to every cause and religion available.
At one station, Artyom who barely remembers anything from the surface finds himself carrying the responsibility for the entire Metro system as he is chosen to fulfill a mission of critical importance. The dark ones are attacking his station and a message must reach the very center of the Metro.
Our Odysseus must pass a number of stations, countless tunnels and the horrors contained within them to fulfill his mission and if he'd known what he was going to face he may never have taken the first step. Fascists and communists, educated and dullards, hunters and prey, philosophers and the fanatically religious all await him on his journey.
Dmitry Glukhovsky got the idea for the book as he traveled the Moscow Metro system extensively in his work, realizing the potential of the place and learning about its dual purpose as transportation and protection from nuclear devastation. During Artyom's odyssey he explores some of the ideologies and politics we know today and mercilessly cuts them down as the flawed creations they all really are.
Adding the supernatural terrors, mutants and savagery of desperate humans to the mix, he creates a world that feels truly oppressive and bleak. When Artyom's journey takes him to the surface, the tension is so high my pulse was racing until I could finally put down the book and take a break.
Dmitry's character building and pacing can leave something to be desired and some report that they find the book dragging itself out too much. I personally don't agree with it too much as I was riveted throughout the entire book, but I can certainly see Artyom lacking defining and interesting features beyond being the set of eyes you get to explore the Metro system through. This I feel is quite okay. The real content of this story is the journey and the world he's crafted, not Artyom himself.
The tension is palpable, the world is vividly realized and the terror is ever-present.
Then the end comes along and punches you in the gut. I will say no more about it but the twist at the end along with the very Russian result of Artyom's odyssey was one of the finer moments I've ever had at the end of a book. I had to sit for a while and just digest the implications of what had just happened and how much had just been explained in the last ten pages.
This is another solid
9/10 in my library and I can't wait to read Metro 2034.
“There was nothing: just an empty, dark tunnel he was supposed to plod his way through, from “Birth” station to “Death” station. Those looking for faith had simply been trying to find the side branches in this line. But there were only two stations, and only tunnel connecting them.” English version, Paperback, Kindle and Hardcover is available on Amazon.
Author
Topic: Metro 2033 [Book] by Dmitry Glukhovsky (Read 500 times)