Tag Archives: dystopian

Review of “Resan till Ljuset” (Towards the Light) by Andrey Dyakov

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metro-universum-01-resan-till-ljuset-andrey-dyakovTitle: Resan till Ljuset
Author: Andrey Dyakov
Translator (Swedish): Ola Wallin
Series: Metro Universe #1
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic
Pages: 313
Published: 2010, Coltso (translated 2012)
My Grade: 4 out of 5 cannibals

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION (translated to English by me)

SANKT PETERSBURG YEAR 2033.
The Earth is desolated and the few survivors have searched for refuge in the Metro’s deep tunnels. Isolated from the rest of the world, humans are struggling and make rare exhibitions to the ground to hunt for food, fuel, and ammunition. One day, some mysterious light signals are observed from the marine base Kronstadt, located on an island outside of the city. A group of stalkers get the mission to investigate the reason behind it. Are there more survivors, and perhaps some untouched storages in the marine base’s gigantic bunker system? Or can it be the sign that the sect of Exodus priests is preaching about?

The world on the surface is an unknown wilderness and the party gets ready to face the faceless dangers that can lurk anywhere in the city’s ruins where barely any human have set its foot in over 20 years.

 

MY REVIEW

I am so glad that Dmitry Glukhovsky opened up his world of Metro 2033 so other amazing authors could write their story. Like Andrey Dyakov and his novel “Towards the Light” which takes place in St. Petersburg. But unlike Metro 2033, this one takes place above ground when a party of stalkers are going out on a mission to find out why the lighthouse all of a sudden is lighting up the city.  It does not quite meet Metro 2033 at a 5, but it was still really good and totally worth reading. It was darker and more eventful than Metro 2033. Gross things happened every now and then (especially in the end) which made me frown and it truly kept me on edge with excitement throughout the whole book.

It doesn’t really meet a 5 and that is only because I didn’t feel as satisfied at the end of it, which I do after books like Wool (by Hugh Howey), or Metro 2033 for that matter. Resan till Ljuset was incredible, but not as amazing and I didn’t finished it with any special emotions. I don’t really know how to explain why I “only” give it a 4, because it was really good. So I definitely think you should read it, but I wasn’t speechless at the end. It was a satisfying ending and kinda predictable. And since I know there is a second one, I wasn’t really expecting such an ending as in Metro 2033. I am glad there is a sequel, because I am not done with the surface of St. Petersburg in 2033.

Anyway, with this rather poor explanation for my grade, I strongly suggest you to read it. It is like Metro, but on the surface. It is really cool! Read it!

Review of “Metro 2034” by Dmitry Glukhovsky

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metro-02-metro-2034-dmitry-glukhovskyTitle: Metro 2034
Author: Dmitry Glukhovsky
Translator (English): Andrew Bromfield
Series: Metro #2
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic
Pages: 320
Published: 2009, Gollancz (translated 2014)
My Grade: 2.5 out of 5 flutes

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

It’s the year 2034. After a devastating war much of the world lies in ruins. Moscow is a ghost town. A few survivors retreated into the depths of the underground network to build a new civilization. They found only darkness…

At the Sevastopol station, cut off from the Metro, a man appears. Colonel Hunter. He fights a lonely war against the dark, journeying deep into the monster haunted depths of the tunnels. At his side is Homer, an old man who knows the legends of the Metro like no other and will write its history. When the two meet the 17-year-old Sasha, Homer believes he has found the found the perfect pair for his epic poem. But will they live to write the tale?

These are the voyages of Hunter.

 

MY REVIEW

I kind of want to say: finally! It took forever to read this book and I am honestly disappointed. Metro 2033 was soooo good, and this one fell flat in comparison. The first two thirds were weird. There were strange descriptions that didn’t really lead anywhere, a strange language that was gone in the last third. The story didn’t really move forward in that first section either. I just wanted it to end. I was excited to read about the mysterious Hunter, and sure he went through some stuff, but he is a totally different person in a bad way. He is not intriguing nor mysterious anymore. And I don’t feel like this is the voyages of Hunter, this is a book about Homer and his stupid imaginations that he will become like the old real Homeros. That old man is annoying and has a strange point of view in life. He is however a man with an interesting past, and I enjoyed reading about what happened to him before life in the Metro began.

Then there is the side story about Sasha, the exiled girl who finally gets to see the Metro. I don’t really know what I think of her. In some passages I found her very annoying, sometimes pretty cool.

The last third of the book was good though and it was gone in two days. Stuff happened and it was written in a whole other way which made it easier to read. Even if the ending was good, I still don’t feel like I can give it a 3. A 2 is too litte, but I did feel like some time was wasted while reading it. So a 2.5 feels reasonable.

I think this is a book I will reread one day, but the Swedish translation. I have heard that the Swedish ones are better than the English when it comes to this series (and maybe Russian books in general?).

Review of “Metro 2033” by Dmitry Glukhovsky

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metro-01-metro-2033-dmitry-glukhovskyTitle: Metro 2033
Author: Dmitry Glukhovsky
Translator (English): Natasha Randall
Series: Metro #1
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic
Pages: 458
Published: 2007 (translated 2009), Gollancz
My Grade: 5 out of 5 rats

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

The civilization most northern outpost, a lonely metro station, attacked by mysterious creatures that somehow have awoken in the recent war. The world lies in ruins, the surface is contaminated, and a prey to the sun’s deadly rays. One last human remnant have sought protection in the Metro, the world’s largest nuclear bomb secure bunker, where stations have been transformed into small city states with their own ideologies and governments.

Everywhere there is a constant struggle for living space, water filters, electric heaters and fungal cultures, all while darkness and terror reigns in the tunnels.

A young man is forced out on a dangerous journey through the subterranean maze of tunnels, shafts and sidings, where nobody knows what to expect around the next corner.

 

MY REVIEW

Last night when I finished this, I was both speechless and couldn’t stop saying what the fudge at the same time. Even just a few chapters in I knew I would give this a five out of five, but after reading the last four pages, I want to give it more.

I don’t really have anything to compare to (since I don’t speak Russian), but I am satisfied with the translation. As always when reading a new book, by a new author, of a different style, it takes some pages to get used to the language. And something I really really liked about this book was that the conversations between people felt so real. Usually the author gives the ability to ‘always say the right and smart thing at the right time’ to all of his or her characters. It is sometimes too perfect. But these dialogues felt real. The descriptions of the environment also were incredible. It was so easy to picture myself in the metro of Moscow, living under the horrible circumstances that Artyom and all his travel companions did.

I don’t really know what to write to make you understand the greatness of this book. It was easily one of the best ones I have ever read! And the ending just made it perfect. I am not sure I am happy with it and it was indeed a very very surprising ending. But it fit so well with the rest of this kind of miserable story.

If you haven’t read it yet, but are into post-apocalyptic stories, you have truly missed something! If you haven’t read it and don’t really like dystopian stories, read it anyway. I kinda got the feeling that Metro 2033 is this time’s 1984. I undoubtedly give it the highest grade, and I even want to give it one more rat for being so sickly awesome!!

Review of “The Fever Code” by James Dashner

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The Fever Code - James DashnerTitle: The Fever Code
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #0.6
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Pages: 347
Published: 2016, Delacorte Press
My Grade: 5 out of 5 subjects

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

Once there was a world’s end.
The forests burned, the lakes and rivers dried up, and the oceans swelled.
Then came a plague, and fever spread across the globe. Families died, violence reigned, and man killed man.
Next came WICKED, who were looking for an answer. And then they found the perfect boy.
The boy’s name was Thomas, and Thomas built a maze.
Now there are secrets.
There are lies.
And there are loyalties history could never have foreseen.
This is the story of that boy, Thomas, and how he built a maze that only he could tear down.

All will be revealed.

 

MY REVIEW

Yes, everything was definitely revealed. And it was shocking! One sentence on the second to last page made me see the whole Maze Runner trilogy completely different. When I finished this in the middle of the night last night, I couldn’t fall asleep until I had grasped what the three original books was about. And how all that changed with just that one sentence. It is crazy! It is klunking crazy!

I loved the Maze Runner series. It is up there with The Hunger Games and Divergent. Dystopian adventures for young adults. I guess Silo is the same but for older people. Anyway, the Maze Runner is amazing, loved all four books (The Kill Order, Maze Runner, Scorch Trials and the Death Cure), though the Death Cure was not as good as the rest. When the first prequel came out I was so excited to finally find out why the Maze Trials was a thing. But it didn’t really cover why WICKED did what they did, the Kill Order just described what happened during the flare and up until WICKED. The Fever Code takes place right after the Kill order and explains exactly everything that happened between the Kill Order and Maze Runner. Everything is now clear and it is more understandable why Thomas acted the way he did in the last parts of the series, even though he never recovered his lost memories, which is basically this book.

This bookis very similar to the rest in the series, which describes itself. They are really really really really good. So I recommend everyone who is into this genre, to read it, but only after the other four are read. It would not be as fun to read the original series and knowing what is revealed on the second to last page in this book. It is an easy five out of five!

Review of “1984” by George Orwell

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1984-george-orwellTitle: 1984
Author: George Orwell
Series: –
Genre: Science Fiction, Political Fiction, Dystopian
Pages: 328
Published: 1949, Penguin Books
My Grade: 5 out of 5 posters

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell’s prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of “negative utopia” -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel’s hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.

 

MY REVIEW

Wow! Just wow. It has truly been a delight to read this extremely dark dystopian novel. After about ten pages I felt connection to this book because of the way it was written. It has now been 67 years since this book was first published, it came out right after WWII, it’s forever ago!! But you couldn’t tell (like with Lord of the Flies). I don’t know how to describe it, but the words Orwell used, the sentence structure, it just made so much sense and I felt the flow when I was reading it like I have never done before.

And then comes the story on top of that. Wow again! It is not a story in a way that the characters move around and do stuff all the time, not like Lord of the Rings for example, or Maze Runner. This is just simply about a man in a big-brother society who questions big brother. You get to follow his line of thought, you get to see him fall in love, and seemingly getting away with it all. I can’t really say anything that won’t spoil, but most of the book was just a long way towards the end where everything happened. I still don’t really understand how or why it ended like it did. The last page and what happened there, I totally get, but not the part before that. It was really a mindfuck-read. I didn’t expect it to be, but it really was. This book kind of reminded me of the movie Shutter Island (I haven’t read the book yet, Patient 97, but it is on my list).

It’s scary to think about really. I know it is a made-up story, but how can a country (or empire maybe? I don’t know what they called it) just so easily buy everything that Big Brother says? One day the news sadly announced that the chocolate ratio had gone down from 30g per week to 20g. And literally the next day the news announced that the chocolate ratio had increased to 20g and everyone is super happy about it. No questions whatsoever about the news the day before! It is the same with everything Big Brother tells them. Winston (the main character) understands how, but not the why. The end of the book explains why, and it is scary because that is probably true in reality too.

It is hard to write reviews without spoiling. To sum it up, it is an easy and very enjoyable read, you kind of have to be focused while reading it to not miss something, lots of things happen in the end and after it is all done, you can’t stop yourself from asking “what the fuck?” Definitely one of the best books I have ever read, so I strongly recommend everyone to read it, especially people who love dystopian future novels. Crystal clear five!