Metro 2035 by Dimitri Glukhovsy (book review)
‘Metro 2035’ is the third book in a series about forty thousand survivors of a nuclear war who live and work underground in the Moscow Metro System. As far as they know, they are the only people left alive on Earth because the surface is a radioactive wasteland, so they have to make the best of their lot. The stations have evolved different political regimes. The richest is the free-market capitalist group known as the Hansa. Most ruthless and brutal is a contest between the Reds and the Reich. Some outlying parts of the Metro live in relatively free regimes and manage by trading with Hansa, which benefits from control of key stations near the centre. Electricity is made with bicycles and the food is mostly mushrooms, pigs and chickens, but teams of stalkers venture up to Moscow, braving mutant enemies, both animal and human, to salvage tinned food and luxury goods.
The protagonist of ‘Metro 2035’ is Artyom, who was the main character in ‘Metro 2033’ and also appeared in ‘Metro 2034’ as part of the Order, a paramilitary force that deals with inter-state disorder that might threaten the whole system. He is now retired and married to Anya, daughter of Miller, the chief of the Order, in his home station of Exhibition. Artyom goes to the surface every day, climbs the stairs of a high tower and sets up a radio to listen for signals. He’s convinced there are other people alive somewhere out there. Everyone thinks he’s crazy. Then Homer, the historian of the Metro, turns up and tells Artyom he has heard there are people still alive at Polar Dawns, an old nuclear power station that was a joint military and civilian base. Artyom’s mission is to save the human race from living underground forever. They set off into the Metro to find proof that Polar Dawns exists.
The Metro is a microcosm of the world and so not very nice. There are good people but they seem few and far between. The Reds and the Reich both operate brutal regimes in the manner of Stalin and Hitler, their heroes. Hansa is a little model of the USA with free market capitalism, where every man grabs what he can and to hell with anyone who can’t cut it. One station makes a living entirely from prostitution, a brothel for everyone in the Metro, as long as they can pay. Full of good intentions, Artyom battles his way through all this, marginally aided by his Order connections and slowly uncovers a few unpleasant truths about who runs things and how. There are several stunning revelations, mostly about characters who turn out to be flawed, weak, misguided or just plain rotten.
It’s a great story, again. As with the preceding books, I found it a bit overwritten but that might just be how Russians tell stories. It has love, death, adventure, suffering galore and hope where none should reasonably exist. But we are not reasonable creatures. The theme, apt for Russians but applicable to every country is that blind patriotism can lead you into foolishness.
Having read all three ‘Metro’ books straight through, I’ve been immersed in the post-apocalyptic Russian world for about two months now. It’s enough, though I do highly recommend the series. Author Dimitry Glukhovsky writes well, with a variety of interesting characters, some likeable, convincing political and economic systems, and thorough descriptions of the foul underground environment and boy does he know how to make his heroes suffer!
Eamonn Murphy
June 2026
(pub: Gollancz, 2026. 480 page hardback. Price: £25.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-39963-950-7. Ebook: £12.99 (UK))
check out website: https://store.gollancz.co.uk/products/metro-2035
