JH Lillevik

As is tradition in Norway, you need to read a crime or suspense novel during the Easter holiday and my choice this year was Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Now granted, it is not your typical Easter story, but boy was it suspenseful.

Metro 2033 revolves around the post-apocalyptic society in the Moscow underground and one of its young inhabitants, Artyom. He is an orphan and he lives with his stepfather at the metro station VDNKh. This is one of the outermost stations in the system and they have been plagued by so-called dark ones for some years now after Artyom and two friends accidently let them into the metro system. The world above has been destroyed by the last war mankind started and it ended with several atomic weapons being deployed over Moscow. One day, a mysterious man, Hunter, visits VDNKh and he learns of the truth of where the dark ones come from. He charges Artyom to head for Polis, the last place where people with the knowledge to defeat the dark ones lives.

I did not know anything about the novel before I started and I had never read any Russian literature before this book. It was a weird attempt to understand the Russian frame of mind, as we in these days seem to be on the brink of conflict. The book guides you through a society where fascists, communists, Satanists, Christians, mutants and cannibals all fight each other over the last pieces of civilization. It was scary at sometimes and it did not seem to leave much hope for humankind, but I think it is a great window into the Russian frame of mind.

I can highly recommend Metro 2033 and I feel it should be read by as many people as possible.