The setting is basic and the premise is simple. The main character is on a journey that will determine the future of human existence in the dark underground world. The book deals with themes of death, fear, consciousness and politics in a way through the journey of the main character. I found the pace of the book to be slow at first but it got faster as the story developed. I would recommend to anyone that wants to read fiction that is more than a simple narrative but has the reader thinking deeper about the themes itself.

Post nuclear Russia with Nazis and mutated irradiated monsters set in a claustrophobic metro system. What's not to love? This is a unique post apocalyptic novel and well worth a place on any sci-fi/horror fans bookshelves. The desperation and paranoia makes it an intense read but an enjoyable story, one which inspired the very popular video game series.

Well, this could have been a really cracking tale.... it has all the right ingredients: life in the Russian metro system after an apocalyptic war, mutants and monsters, claustrophobic dark and society breaking down. But totally let down by a really poor translation. What was the translator thinking of? Paragraphs that just don’t make sense, sentences that last whole paragraphs that are so convoluted that you have to read them four or five times (and then still don’t make sense) and a bizarre use of terminology (‘he scratched his noggin’ - really? In Russia of 2033?) The novel could have also done with a little more input from the editor. It charts the hero’s progress between stations in the metro but through this he has a series of bizarre (and often totally unrated) experiences which derails the story. Oh - and the journey in the book doesn’t match up with the tiny detail of the map of the metro at the front of the book, which is confusing. I wanted to like this book - I can see why the idea was taken for the games - but all the above conspired against me. I’d read it again, but only after a better translation, a proofread that picked up mistakes and an editor who boiled down the story to make it tighter and more involving. A disappointment, I’m afraid!