It is probably impossible to find a reader in our country who loves science fiction and is not familiar with the Metro 2033 universe. The first book was published over 10 years ago and today it boasts two official additions from the author, as well as computer games and dozens of books, the plots of which are developed in the described world. Of course, reviews of the Metro 2033 books vary greatly: they were written by different authors, and not everything can be called positive. But still, everyone should learn more about this universe.
General concept
The plot of all books published in this series, as the name implies, unfold in the subway or in the immediate vicinity. Moreover, cities can be very different - most often it is Moscow, but there are also books about the metro in St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Kiev, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, London, Rome, Milan, as well as other cities of Russia and all of the world.
The familiar world was completely destroyed as a result of a nuclear war. The most accurate date for what happened is July 6, 2013 (we recall that the first book was published in 2007, so this date still referred to the future). Most of humanity was destroyed immediately or died in a matter of weeks and months due to radiation, radioactive fallout, and burns. Only a few "lucky" managed to hide underground, mainly in the subway. They have to fight for their survival, saving every cartridge, a sip of clean water and a piece of food. And often the survivors have to seriously envy the dead, some of whom died quickly and almost painlessly, instantly burned by a nuclear flame.
Each metro has its own rules of behavior, a unique economy, often even religion and ideology. Thanks to this, reading gives so much pleasure to fans of the series.
How many books are in the series?
The author of Dmitry Glukhovsky himself owns 3 books of Metro 2033, the first of which gave rise to the entire series. However, the fictional universe turned out to be surprisingly interesting to readers. And their appetite of just 3 books, published over ten years, obviously could not satisfy. Therefore, it is not surprising that quite a lot of other authors of different levels of talent appeared, who decided to continue the series, creating their own stories about life in the subway. Thanks to this, the geography of the universe has grown significantly.
In three complete books, “Metro 2033” by Glukhovsky, the action took place only in the Moscow metro, and also, a little, on the surface, in the city itself. Other settlements and countries were only briefly mentioned.
But thanks to other writers, books appeared that talk about life in the subway of other cities and even countries. So, readers have the opportunity to learn more about the survival in the subways of other settlements.
Today, the number of all books in the Metro 2033 universe is close to a hundred. Moreover, not only full-length novels appear here, but also storybooks, which are also very popular among fans of the series.
And here we are talking only about those works that have been officially released and entered the series. But, in addition, a huge number of fan fiction was written (mainly from amateurs who are not real writers), further expanding geography, adding new facts and characters to the universe. The total number of such works is generally impossible to calculate, and their number is increasing almost every day.
Of course, to make a list of books "Metro 2033", taking a couple of sentences of each book, you need to write an additional article. Therefore, we better focus on books that laid the foundation for a fictional universe that came out of the pen of the talented writer Dmitry Glukhovsky.
It is advisable to read the books "Metro 2033" in order, although the author in one of his interviews stated the opposite. Otherwise, to understand the plot, understand and feel the characters will be simply impossible. Therefore, we will briefly talk about the plot of each of these books.
"Metro 2033"
As the name implies, it was this work that became the first in the series, giving it a name. The book "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky was published in 2007. Publishers immediately realized that the book would find its reader, and made sure that everyone could purchase it. The first circulation amounted to 100 thousand copies, which against the background of many other venerable writers, with circulations of about 10-15 thousand, looked more than solid. However, this was not enough! All books were sold out in just 3 months. During the year, two more print runs were printed - for 100 and 50 thousand copies. They also dispersed fairly quickly.
First of all, the full version of the book "Metro 2033" introduces the reader to a new, unfamiliar and frankly sinister, frightening world of a far from beautiful future. Twenty years have passed since the nuclear war. On that terrible day, about 70 thousand people managed to take refuge in the Moscow metro. Alas, in the following years it was reduced to 50 thousand - famine, illness, radiation, numerous mutants, and primarily the constant wars between survivors, affected.
All people in the dungeons of Moscow were divided into several groups - mainly by habitat. Individual stations, or alliances of stations, received new names - the Red Line, the Fourth Reich, the Hansa, the Policy and others. Each had its own economy, ideology, often even religion. This, combined with a shortage of resources, has led to constant wars, rapidly reducing population.
Here the reader gets acquainted with the main character - Artem. His mother died many years ago, shortly after a nuclear war, like many others. The child was brought up by a man living at the VDNH station, who soon became its leader. About twenty years have passed since then.
Artem lived at the station, was part of it, tried to just survive, like many others. In general, the VDNH station did not live in poverty, it could boast even a better standard of living than some. Here, almost everything necessary for life was produced, and a substitute for tea made from mushrooms was made for export - a very popular commodity that brings considerable profit to the station. Alas, once everything changed.
The station was attacked. And the enemies were not people or familiar mutants. Now a new danger has come - Blacks. Reasonable mutants who did not even need to approach people to kill them. As telepaths, they drove people crazy, turning bold, strong fighters into limp paralyzed vegetables.
Neither Artem, nor his relatives could even think that it was this simple guy who would play a key role in the war between the people and the Blacks. But for this, he will have to go on a risky journey throughout the metro, as well as Moscow destroyed by the war.
Needless to say, the book "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky received excellent reviews from critics and ordinary readers, laying the foundation for a completely new universe.
Metro 2034
This book appeared on store shelves two years after the first, in March 2009. According to the author, she was supposed to be final.
If the book "Metro 2033" received positive reviews for its ease of presentation, action and an unusual world, then the continuation turned out to be even more gloomy, serious.
Artyom - the hero of the first part - has ceased to be the only main character. Now he will have to share this pedestal with Homer, an old man who worked as a train driver before the war. He loves to chat, wants to compose a book in which he will tell about all the stories he heard. Another important character is Sasha. Exiled with her father to an abandoned station, she is forced to watch how the only loved one slowly dies.
Now the storyline is not one, but three. Each of them tells about a specific character, and sometimes the lines converge in order to disperse again. Only at the very end of the book do all three lines merge together to become the logical conclusion to the plot.
Hunter also remains one of the current characters. A courageous fighter, one of the best warriors of Sparta (an order that protects the entire metro from dangers, not getting involved in wars between stations) survived after the events of the first book, became even more unsociable, skillful and cruel man. It is he who accompanies Homer, and later Sasha, on their dangerous journeys.
In this book, the metro is again in serious danger. Perhaps even worse than Blacks. Now you have to fight against a terrible epidemic. There is no cure for it, but you can become infected with it at the slightest contact with the patient. Will it be possible to save people at several infected stations, or will I have to resort to the last measure - a complete sweep? Perhaps this is the only way - to destroy several hundred people in order to save tens of thousands of survivors throughout the metro.
The second book in the cycle "Metro 2033" by Glukhovsky turned out to be very grim. To add more tragedy, the writer decided to dilute the plot with a frank “blackie”: demonstrative cruelty for the sake of cruelty. Desiring to clothe human flaws, he purposely flaunted them. This was not to the taste of all readers. If the first book of the series received the highest marks - mainly 8-9 points on a ten-point scale, then the second did not reach this level, receiving grades in the region of 6-7 points.
Metro 2035
The final book "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky. She became the last in this universe, out of the pen of the author himself, who created an almost new direction in literature. She came out after a significant break - fans of the universe could read her only in June 2015. In this book, the author was able to finally bring together all the main characters of previous books, successfully completing the trilogy. But still, the last book in the Metro 2033 series received very mixed reviews, but more on that later.
The main character again becomes Artem, sharply coming to the fore. Recent events have strongly crippled him. First, the events of two years ago, when the Blacks were destroyed with his help. After that, he almost lost his mind. Last year, in front of his eyes, a whole station with infected people was completely destroyed. Feeling guilty of everything that happened, he clung to the last opportunity to atone - to find a place on the Earth’s surface where you can live normally, without hiding from underground radiation.
To do this, he leaves the station every day, his stepfather and wife (Anna, daughter of Melnik, the commander of Sparta) and climbs one of the surviving skyscrapers with a bulky army walkie-talkie. For several hours he is in conditions of hard radiation, trying to catch at least some signal from the survivors. No one understands it, believing that you can only survive in the subway - on the surface, all people are doomed.
It is in this state that Artyom finds Homer, who arrived at the VDNH station in search of a famous hero. Gathering a variety of stories about the metro, he wants to learn more about the destruction of the Blacks, and therefore visits the VDNKh. True, instead of the brave hero who saved the remnants of humanity, who hid underground, he finds a crushed by grief, misunderstood, embittered man who does not want to make contact at all, to talk about how he destroyed the nest of Blacks, perhaps the last hope of mankind.
However, Homer, knowing a lot of stories, bribes Artyom, promising to bring him to a radio operator who managed to establish contact with other surviving people who managed to establish life on the surface. Encouraged by possible success, Artem goes with him to the “Theater” station. After experiencing several serious dangers, of which they managed to get out only thanks to Artyom’s old membership in Sparta, they get acquainted with another character - Lech, a "dung broker" who acquires raw materials for fertilizers and immediately resells them.
Soon, without realizing it, the heroes find themselves embroiled in a multi-way strategy. After all, the metro is in danger. And now the evil does not come from mutants or terrible diseases. Everything is much worse - human nature itself, greed, love of power, cowardice, lead to the fact that a new war will begin in the metro, capable of destroying the last bastion of humanity. Indeed, almost all influential groups are gathering troops to declare war on all opponents, while at the same time blasting the weak and neutral. Ordinary people, embittered by constant hunger, illness, uncertainty about tomorrow, are ready to follow anyone if he announces that he knows the right path.
The last book of the universe "Metro 2033" received the most mixed reviews. One liked the abundance of an outspoken “chernukha”, allegedly showing all the depravity of man and human society. Others quite rightly estimated the book's irrationality and deliberate cruelty. Therefore, she received the grades not the best - mostly from 7 to 8 points, bypassing the second book of the series, but losing to the first.
In addition, the author decided to show many positive and simply neutral characters from the worst side, ascribing to them properties that they had not previously possessed. Of course, this did not add to the book of optimism and faith in humanity. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that the final book "Metro 2033" received not very positive reviews.
Important advantages
But is it worth it to understand why the universe has gained such popularity in our country and abroad?
First of all, thanks to thoughtfulness and a great atmosphere. The author managed to create a new, very believable and completely unusual world.
Survival conditions in unusual conditions affected humanity, its economy and livelihoods. For example, the main ration in the Moscow metro began to be mushrooms and pork. The first grow well on any waste products, not needing sunlight, which is very important in conditions of survival underground. Well, they managed to save several piglets from the surface at one time by bringing them into the subway, propagating and giving the survivors the opportunity from time to time to indulge themselves with pork skewers. In the St. Petersburg metro with pigs no luck. But managed to get a few guinea pigs, which are also actively used in food. If you talk about all the books of "Metro 2033" in order, then you can learn about other delicacies in other countries.
However, they feed here and the rat. Huge rodents not only pose a serious danger to people, but also supply cheap meat, albeit not always safe. Radiation and parasites make it particularly difficult to inspect and process meat. Some of the wealthiest can also afford fresh vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers and others grown underground in special greenhouses.
Of course, rubles, euros, dollars and even gold have lost their value. And some kind of replacement for ordinary money was urgently needed. Switching to regular barter is not a good idea, even in an apocalypse. Therefore, pretty quickly people found a suitable replacement - ordinary cartridges. Compact, valuable and rather rare, they began to fulfill the role of money. They can be not only freely exchanged, but also used for their main purpose. True, there are some figures who intentionally spoil them, boiling for several hours in the water so that they do not lose their appearance, but stop shooting. They deal with such "counterfeiters" quite quickly and toughly. Well, a cartridge is a very reasonable substitute for currency, unlike the same caps from Fallout. Thanks to such reliability, Glukhovsky’s first book “Metro 2033” received positive reviews.
The entire population of the metro quickly divided. Separate stations and entire unions appeared. The separation took place both on territorial and ideological grounds. There were even certain religions, often very interesting. For example, the Brahmins from Polis firmly believe that the highest value in the world is books, and there is one (lost in the library on the surface) that tells the whole future of mankind. And in the Kremlin stars real demons are imprisoned, providing power to the Soviet Union in exchange for bloody sacrifices. Sectarians living at Victory Park station, cut off from the rest of the metro, believe in the Great Worm, which has done all the underground tunnels so that people can live in them.
Such detailed descriptions make the fictional universe surprisingly atmospheric, realistic and interesting. Reading page after page, learning more and more about him, really looks like exploring a creepy, scary, but addictive world.
Criticism of the universe
Alas, not all reviews of the Metro 2033 books were positive. Many readers did not like the abundance of "chernukha" (this has already been mentioned above). Quite often, scenes of cannibalism, feeding pigs the remains of people, look not only terribly, but also disgusting, frankly far-fetched, just in order to overtake the reader with more fear. But from the general canvas created in the first book, which many readers love, it is strongly knocked out.
Also, critics of Metro 2033 quite justifiably say that society is not realistic. Of course, the model of a society divided into completely new religions is of serious interest. However, it is worth noting that only about 20 years have passed since the nuclear war. That is, many of the people who were adults at that time. But, having moved to the subway, they almost instantly forgot about their past life. As a result, young people who were born and raised underground do not at all believe in the existence of life on the surface, not to mention the achievements of mankind (airplanes, metro, high-rise buildings, etc.). Of course, it’s quite difficult to believe in the realism of this.
Of course, not all books of the Metro 2033 universe have such shortcomings - many are worked out simply excellently and lack such shortcomings.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the consequences of nuclear explosions. Residents of Moscow, mostly the metro population, strongly believe that the world around them is completely destroyed and completely radioactive. But it is widely known that when an area is infected with radiation from modern nuclear bombs, its level decreases to safe in a matter of days, a maximum of a week. So, over the past 20 years, leaving the shelter can be relatively safe - this is unequivocal. Of course, not forgetting the danger from mutants and people. But most residents of the metro are still confident that staying on the surface is associated with the danger of radiation. Yes, and Artyom, going to the surface in the Metro 2035 book, gets radiation sickness quite quickly.
High popularity
Although not all books in the Metro 2033 series of the universe are equally good, the fictional world itself appealed to many fans of post-apocalypse, action, and science fiction. Not surprisingly, the rights to create computer games were quickly bought out. For several years, two full-scale shooters were released, as well as an application on social networks. In the near future, the third part of the game is scheduled for release, in which Artem and a group of fighters finally come to the surface and head east, in search of uninfected lands suitable for life.
The board game "Metro 2033" was also created. It survived several reprints and is in great demand among connoisseurs.
But with the film adaptation of books no luck. Glukhovsky several times negotiated on the film version, both with domestic and foreign producers. However, it was not possible to reach an agreement. It is not known whether it will be possible to see at least one film made from popular books.
Popularity Abroad
It is worth saying that positive reviews about the book "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky leave not only in our country. The books have been translated into many languages: German, Czech, French, Thai, Chinese and others. Of course, the universe interested foreign writers, who also tried to create books on it. So, books appeared, the action of which takes place in London, Milan, Rome and other cities.
Conclusion
Now you know more about the popular universe generated by the Metro 2033 book. And also found out a brief description of the three most famous books in the series. So, you can easily decide to get acquainted with this fictional universe or not pay attention to it.