Post by Lawnmower Joe on Aug 10, 2013 10:12:55 GMT -5
Last month we got the direct sequel to Andrei Dyakov's "Towards the Light": "Towards the Darkness". This new book again takes place in the radioactive ruins of post-war St-Petersburg and uses many of the characters we saw in the first book.
So far I find Dyakov's books have much better characterisation than Glukhovsky's. The characters are all very likeable and varied, from the hardened stalker Taran to the hulking mutant called Smoke. The mystical/paranormal element present in Metro 2033 is entirely absent from Dyakov's books, having been replaced with some of the most horrifying mutants I've ever seen in this setting.
The St-Petersburg metro also has its own factions:
-Tekhnologuichesky Institut (called the "Oilies" in the French version): the metro's technocracy. They produce all the metro's electricity and most of its machinery.
-The Coastal Alliance: one of the most powerful factions. They follow a set of strict rules and laws and have a strong hatred for mutants.
-Vegan Empire: I found this one rather misleading. They definitely stand out as the most evil faction thanks to widespread slavery, abuse and horrible human experimentation, but their name is very weird and doesn't seem to fit. Maybe the translator made a mistake?
-Commies: a bunch of communists who take the metro's criminals in to be used as slave labour. They're digging a tunnel to Moscow.
-Surface Trash: a tribe of degenerates who live in St-Petersburg's war memorial. Very primitive and suffering from mutations and difformities, they're viewed with a lot of disgust and suspicion.
The surface is also more present in Dyakov's novel, with Towards the Light taking place almost entirely on the surface.