Metro 2033 is written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, and the its first copyright is dated at 2005. The book is based as the name states in the year 2033 after a nuclear war has destroyed the earth, and the surface of earth isn't suitable for humans to live on. Our protagonist is a young man named Artyom who was born in 2013, and lived in the old world for a short time before the war. When the war started he was taken into the metro by the man who became his step-father, he grew up knowing no other family. When he reaches 20 he is forced to take action against the increasingly dangerous mutant attacks against his home, and go on a quest across the metro. As Artyom ventures through the metro he realizes that everyone who survives must cling to one thing in someway or another. Ideology.
The story is told in a third person narrative style, and the reader follows Artyom on his adventures. Our character Artyom has grown to the age of 20 in his home station of VDNKH until he is given a mission by a Ranger. The ranger says that if he doesn’t come back Artyom must travel across the metro to Polis station to warn the Ranger Corps. as to the danger that his home station faces, hoping to gain their help. The book is pointed towards the adult reader, and specifically that who enjoy a post apocalyptic setting. Metro 2033 is apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and the book couldn’t embody the feelings of disparity and brutality that a state of disaster brings any better. The author keeps you interested with his excellent writing style, which employs meticulously drawn scenes, and unique and interesting vocabulary, at times though scenes are grizzly, so it is heavily pointed towards the adult reader.
“Even the apocalypse didn't stop of from killing one another over ideology, even now the Nazis and the Communists are fighting a war for control over the metro.” When things appear most desperate and strange the human mind needs some sense of structure and objective, and in Metro 2033 that structure is ideology. In the book there are three main political factions, the Rangers who want peace and safety for everyone in the metro, the Communists who want unity in the metro but also a very strict control over the people, and the Nazis who who want to eradicate all those individuals who have been corrupted by the radiation.
Whenever I finish a really good book series it leaves me with an empty feeling, a feeling that says “I will never love again”. Fortunately there will always be another good book but this feeling was so deep after I finished Metro 2033 I couldn't speak for a few minutes. It carries a humbling message, we should be grateful for what we have, and seeing the people and what they go through everyday in this world that Mr. Glukhovsky, it truly shows one that. his style of writing and how he shapes Artyom as a character leads the reader to become very attached to him as a character, and because of this the book is filled with tense moments. Mr. Glukhovsky has a very unique perspective in his story, and the closest author to him would be Brent Weeks. If this book taught me one thing it would be that people do have strokes of totally uncharacteristic genius, and this book certainly embodies one of the moments for Mr. Glukhovsky. Unfortunately the sequel to Metro 2033 is a letdown to say the least, and while it still has the same detailed style, it doesn't have Artyom in it, and that in it of itself will be a deal breaker for many, as it was for me.
Metro 2033 is hands down my favorite book, and if you love a good and grimy post-apocalyptic adventure then you're going to live this title. I recommend this book so highly that you should take my copy right now, and if you like it, show it to your friends!
Rating: *****
5/5 Bueno!
