Metro 2033 [Paperback]

Great post-apocalyptic novel, a great sense of dark atmosphere and place. The book is set in the near future where the remnants of Moscow have been forced to live in the metro system of Moscow because of the atomic disaster above. It follows the story of Artoym, a young man who is sent on a mission to warn Polis (the biggest collection of stations and a major government power in the Metro) about a new threat to the metro.

To begin the plot is great, the gradual completion of the mission is well-realized and there is a handy map of the Metro on the front page of the novel. Glukhovsky succeeds in creating a tense atmosphere and good characterization of Artoym and succeeds in creating a fresh, realistic post-apocalyptic world with a eastern sense. The environments are very well described and offer the reader a strong visualization of atmosphere. The action is varied, from obvious physical threats to the paranormal; Glukhovsky includes enough action to capture the reader, as Artyom is involved in many encounters with many interesting characters.

The novel includes a number of political themes and has a strong message to the future of mankind, includes strong reference to the history of Russia and of the impact of Second World War on the world that Metro 2033 is set in.

My only problem with the novel is that you can get a bit confused with location and characters because of the Russian setting. Obviously there isn't much you can do about that, but take into account that the book was originally written in Russian and translated into English.

But that isn't really a problem as it's a great book for anybody who is interested in post-apocalyptic books, and I personally thought it was a fantastic read. It also goes great with the new video game set in Glukhovsky's universe.

Anybody who has visited Moscow and its palatial metro stations must surely be enticed by this book. Set after an unexplained nuclear holocaust, Moscow's survivors eke out an existence below ground. The stations have become cities; huddles of human habitation connected by pitch black disused railway tunnels. This is a perfect premise for a geek niche market: - dystopian futures-meets-metro systems. A niche I happily (or maybe sadly) fall into.

From the description on the back cover I had imagined a much pulpier novel; a real page turner, with horrendous creatures, probably undead, running battles, and creepy chase scenes. What I had forgotten that this is a Russian novel, where sci-fi/fantasy cannot come without a slice of philosophy and a huge dollop of introspection. Whilst I enjoyed parts of this novel, I am amazed that it has such universally high praise here on Amazon. For every passage that I enjoyed I found another that was mind-numbingly tedious.

We follow Anton, resident of VDNKh, the metro system's northern outpost. The mysterious dark ones are threatening to infiltrate the station, and from there, take over the whole Metro system. The world, as Anton knows it, is at risk of destruction. But how to fight this shadowy enemy, whose very nature is the subject of dispute and speculation? The mysterious `Hunter' leaves VDNKh, telling Anton that should he not return, Anton must seek help at the legendary Polis station. Hunter, of course, does not return, so Anton must undertake his mission. What would be an easy journey today, completed in under an hour, in Metro 2033, is a harrowing journey lasting many days, through hostile territories held by antagonistic factions.

What follows is essentially an anthology of dystopian folk-tales. Each station has its different version of events, and interpretations of what the dark ones might be. There are almost as many ideologies as there are stations. Anton visits stations held by Stalinists, fascists and capitalists, he even finds one run by Jehovah's witnesses.

Whilst some of the rhetoric Anton encounters is interesting, other parts amounts to little more than dull navel gazing. Anton himself is little more than a mirror for the author's musings. He travels from station to station, reflecting what he learns about the Metro, contributing little himself. As a hero, he is flat, pretty much doing as he is told throughout.

I found the transition between chapters was often abrupt. Characters come and go suddenly, and I sometimes found it hard to follow what was going on. It is only very late in the novel that any unifying story comes together. The final pages are interesting and exciting, making the rest of the novel worth wading through, but only just. Much tighter editing of the philosophical musings would have helped.

The translation does not help the reader. There are a number of badly mangled sentences that make little sense. Similarly, the navigation through the metro system is hard to follow. Moscow's metro is notoriously tricky to navigate for visitors, but despite the inclusion of a map (much to the joy of this metro map geek) parts of Anton's journey did not appear to be physically possible.

Despite 'Metro 2033' not being the unalloyed success I had hoped for, it does have much to recommend it. The cavernous metro stations are described beautifully, strongly evoking their grandeur, greatly adding to the novel's authenticity Thoughtful throughout, this novel is a meditation on the darker frailties of human nature, and is a worthy addition to the dystopian genre, particularly in view of its distinctly Russian flavour. Zamyatin's 'We' gave rise to '1984', is there a new George Orwell sitting out there somewhere, plotting a dystopian masterpiece set on the Bakerloo?

It is a really good book. The author creates its own world which is dark, small, scary and implausible but engrosses a reader totally. I couldn't put the book down and after finishing it I wanted to buy the second part Metro 2034. Unfortunately, it is only published in Russian and German right now. The book is so good that I decided to buy a video game Metro 2033 to confront my imagination with the author's (he was involved in process of developing of the game and metro stations in the game are similar to the real ones)
The story is simple. The main character has to go through the metro to solve a mystery but there are many twists of actions so the simple task is not so simple.
The book is not only an adventure story but also a really good picture of our world, its diversity, philosophy and cruelty.