A Review of Metro 2033

I will describe my impression of this book without mentioning any plot spoilers; whether you consider general descriptions of themes and ideas of a book, descriptions of the pacing and wordiness, or my feelings about parts of it to be spoilers is up to you.

I recently finished Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. It is a somewhat–dystopian post-apocalyptic fiction novel set after a global nuclear holocaust, where surviving humanity has hidden underground to avoid the deadly radiation that has spread on the surface. The book is set within the Moscow Metro and focuses on the Muscovites who managed to survive underground so far for the better part of two decades.

I really enjoyed reading this book. For someone who revels in worldbuilding and lore, this book did not disappoint in the slightest. There are so many imaginative creations in this fictional setting, so many unexplained things let your mind wander as you read the book. One aspect of the mysteries that I found well done was the variety; the author was able to come up with many distinct and unique ideas which perfectly frame this particular post-apocalyptic world. You do have to suspend your disbelief to an extent to enjoy this book, but I think that’s to be expected from a post-apocalyptic work of fiction; the reality is that in real nuclear war there would mostly be just death and people struggling to survive, no mutants or weird creatures created by radiation or anything of the sorts. The perpetual mystery of this world very effectively creates tension and a constant unnerving feeling of something being very, very wrong. This atmosphere is present throughout almost the entirety of the book, and the author has done an excellent job to make all this fit together cohesively. I can give what I think is the highest praise to the author regarding the worldbuilding; I want more.

The protagonist didn’t resonate with me much. He’s very naive and, whilst not necessarily stupid, lacking in knowledge and experience. It makes logical sense considering the environment he’s inhabiting and his young age, but I just couldn’t emphasise with him. Many of his actions left me thinking You really are a fucking idiot, huh. Even thinking back to when I was his age I wasn’t nearly as naive about the workings of the world. The protagonist also doesn’t have much character in general; he isn’t particularly funny, creative, smart, nor skilled in combat. The author does develop the protagonist quite well over the course of the book and you do get a real sense of growth as a person, but again I couldn’t relate much with him.

I was particularly surprised by the philosophical aspects of the novel. I, frankly, wasn’t expecting such a large focus on philosophical ideas and how they affect and shape people during a time of suffering. Whilst some of the subtexts are quite subtle, I was able to reasonably understand them and they didn’t feel too hidden. I did find some of the subtext to be almost too obvious and cliche; there were moments where I thought Yeah, yeah, I get it. You [the author] don’t have to force this so much. I can’t say I found any particular message in this book very enlightening. Most of the commentary was on human nature which I was either already familiar with or immediately agreed with after reading, and it didn’t make me greatly question anything. It did however, in a way, strongly resonate with me. One of the sub-themes presented by the book is the idea of the meaning of life, framed in the situation of humanity living underground having been banished from the land by their own invention. Over the last half a year or so I have struggled a bit with my mental health and this was one of the questions on my mind. Obviously, there is no real objective answer to this question, but the book nontheless framed this mental fight in an eloquent manner.

The conclusion was a bit of a let-down I thought. Whilst if you look at it from the philosophical perspective the climax at the end had quite a profound meaning, it was quite lacklustre from the perspective of the plot/action. I was genuinely expecting a grander reveal of something and a bit more of an impactful action to finish the book. In this sense I think there is a real missed opportunity in this book. Whilst the worldbuilding and mystery create an excellent atmosphere, the book progresses and the questions keep growing yet hardly any of them receive a satisfactory answer. Some of the characters do explain certain phenomena but you can hardly trust them since a lot of the people in the metro show definite signs of madness, not that you could blame them after being trapped underground for so long. I would’ve preferred for there to be more concrete answers to the weirdness, even if that would have just been something along the lines of—humanity secretly developed magic, but it went out of control because of the collapse of society. Honestly, any fantastical answer would’ve been better than no answer at all. I do enjoy a book which leaves you pondering some questions at the end, but I think this book leaves maybe a bit too much open-ended.

I found this book quite long; it took me a few weeks to finish. With my e-reader font settings it was a lengthy 1,300 pages, which makes it the longest book I’ve read. I think that easily about 300 of those pages could’ve been cut; either descriptions which were unnecessarily long, exposition or dialogue which didn’t affect the plot, or entire small arcs that didn’t add any value to the final story. The book is heavy on description and monologue/dialogue, so if you’re looking purely for an action-packed adventure this book likely won’t be for you.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this long read. Compared to the books I’ve read over the last few months, this novel was refreshing in a number of aspects and really captivated my imagination. I would wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who enjoys dystopian and post-apocalyptic settings or excellent worldbuilding.