The Kremlin remains in the ruins of Moscow, which is almost completely destroyed by nuclear war. A lonely figure, carrying a radio, walks across the road towards the remains of Tricolor Tower, one of the highest buildings in the Russian capital.
This is the plot of the Metro 2035 novel – the third and last part of the post-apocalyptic trilogy Metro 2033, written by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Metro books tell the story about people surviving in the Moscow subway after a nuclear war with the United States.
The first two parts of the trilogy Metro 2033 and 2034 were translated in English, the translation of the third part is expected in summer.
It’s been two years since the main protagonist of the trilogy Artyom Chorny saved the inhabitants of Moscow metro from the black mutants (Metro 2033 plot). During the final battle with black creatures, Artyom heard the strange radio signal and since then he has been trying to catch the signal again to prove there are survivors besides Moscow metro.
Together with Homer, a character from the second book (Metro 2034), Artyom discovers the frightening secret deal of Metro Government and law enforcement agency Order. Authorities settled jamming stations across Moscow in order to cut radio signal and persuade metro inhabitants that they are alone in the world. Meantime survivors in other countries slowly recover from the nuclear war.
However, other metro inhabitants don’t believe Artyom and prefer to stay and suffer underground rather than risk and go to the surface.
“I wanted to show the choice between freedom and order, intelligentsia’s futile efforts to tell common people uncomfortable truths, and people’s willingness to believe in rulers’ primitive but inspiring lies,” said Glukhovsky to the Kyiv Post.
Glukhovsky sees his creation as a rude dystopia, full of parallels to the current situation in Russia and the state of minds in the Russian society. However, the authorities of many countries have been using the practice of immanent enemy creation to control the nations for ages.
The writer denies the same story could happen in Kyiv Metro. According to him, Ukraine has chosen freedom and chaos while Russia has opted for order and silent obedience. Ukrainians aren’t afraid to fight for their rights.
Russians still behave like subjects, while Ukrainians are becoming citizens.
“The story of the Kyiv metro would be a whole lot different. Not necessarily optimistic, you know, but after all, I am not a big specialist in utopias,” said Glukhovsky.
In Metro 2035, Glukhovsky turns the plot of the first two parts of the trilogy (Metro 2033, Metro 2034) upside down, turning what used to be a romantic young adult survival story into a harsh political manifest.
“Imperial nostalgia, imminent search for enemies, naiveté with which Russians trust blunt propaganda, their reluctance to outlive clichés of the past and live in an open world, along with complete cynicism of their rulers can be found in Metro 2035,” said Glukhovsky to the Kyiv Post.
His experiment found mixed feedback among the readers. Glukhovsky said half of those who read the book hated it while the other half adored. Literary critics have mostly omitted and ignored the novel, although it ranked #4 in Russia’s national best sellers list in 2015.
“But literary critics have never been my target: these stubborn as…les won’t like me whatever I’d do,” said Glukhovsky.
Not all the critics ignored the novel. The journalist of Russian Forbes magazine Sergei Medvedev in his review called Metro 2035 an ideal model of modern Russia. “ It is a closed space of self-isolation, that lives in fear of a total war and closes all the hermetic doors, cutting itself off from the Western world,” wrote Medvedev.
The third book in the trilogy, Metro 2035 was already published in Russia, Hungary, Germany and Poland. The author hopes to see English translation of it in summer 2016.
Glukhovsky’s fiction trilogy has become an international bestseller. The first part of the trilogy, Metro 2033 was published in 2005 and translated into 37 languages, including exotic tongues such as Thai or Farsi.
Ukrainian production company “4A Games” has made the video game by the same name, which has also been a hit with gamers around the world.
German edition of Metro 2035 can be bought for $14.99 here.
Russian edition can be bought for Hr 326 here.
