Метро 2033 (Metro 2033) - Dmitry Glukhovsky

This is a disappointment. A futuristic, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi novel where the only survivors seem to live in the metro of Moscow could make for a thrilling read, right? Oh, you would be wrong... "Metro 2033" tells the story of Artyom, who gets the mission to get to Polis to alert of a non-very-clear danger that can kill everyone that lives in the Metro, the poor, lonely survivors after everyone else died in a kaboom end of the world full of nuclear bombs, where soldiers were always calling home to ask about their wives and daughters and the only hope was to hide and survive in the stations underground... These poor souls still alive eat mushrooms and pigs (?), survive on filtered water (really?) and have some kind of electricity and the economy is based on the exchange of cartridges. Artyom has this very difficult mission to cross different metro stations walking (cough cough) given to him by Hunter, you know, cool name, because the 'Dark Ones' are invading his station and probably the whole world. Cue Artyom saying, yeah, why not, and going to the next station with a group of people trying to put a telegraph between both stations (bear with me). Pretty soon a dark and mysterious sound almost kills everyone and only Artyom can save them. The group ends getting to the station where another random character tells Artyom to join him to go to another station. End of the story. Or it could end here. Because Glukhovsky's lame attempt at a novel is based on this pattern: Artyom meets a person in a station, they walk from one station to another and along the way a mysterious, dark and magical force tries to stop them, but they finally get to the next station, where, for some mysterious reason, Artyom parts with his previous partner to join forces with another for the next trip to another station where... A loop. A boring, lame loop where it is all always the same. Ironically Glukhovsky thinks he is making some groundbreaking novel where the metro represents the real world because he talks about Communism or Socialism or Nazis that have taken over some of the stations. But instead of the book showing, the characters developing and things happening, all goes: shoots, this group is blah blah blah because, I, the author, is telling you so, and they represent blah blah blah... It is a mess, it is boring, it is repetitive. And that without getting into the absence of female characters (like, just one, close to the end of the book) and the constant messages about them being wives and daughters and the need to protect them (hu?). Horrible. Worse than the metro at rush hour (I know, lame; like this novel). The best: well, I have a soft spot for sci-fi, but here... The worst: everything: character construction and development, plot development, that women are 'wives and mothers', the 'I meet someone, problem, we part, I meet someone, problem, we part' way the novel develops, the idea that humanity would have changed so much in so little, no one could believe that anyone would have survived in a so poorly organized metro, the magical elements, the sci-fi elements, the militarism, the in-your-face messages that the author telegraphs and writes to show how deep the story is... I could go on and on for ever... but it's almost 2033. Oh, and the poor translation, littered with spelling and grammar mistakes. Instead of this: Read "Dune", "The Forever War", "Stranger in Strange Land", "Cryptonomicon", "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", "The Handmaid's Tale"... If you want some funny and silly sci-fi, try Shinichi Hoshi's short stories. There are too many options to lose time with this one. 3/10 (English translation by Natasha Randall)

終着駅(ターミナル)殺人事件 - Kyōtarō Nishimura (西村 京太郎)

Another Nishimura novel; it must be that time of the year when I want to read about train timetables. "終着駅(ターミナル)殺人事件", or "The case of the murder at the terminal station", is your quintessential Nishimura novel: Totsugawa and Kamei (here Sakurai or others don't have more than a passing mention) investigating some mysterious deaths that have a lot to do with trains. Here, it is a group of seven friends from Aomori who get killed one by one, the first one dying at Ueno Station just before the start of a trip of the group together back to their hometown. Kamei, who is also from the north, is one of the first policemen at the crime scene and pretty soon Totsugawa and the team are investigating the case. Curiously, though, in this case we get little of the investigation, as Nishimura expends a lot of time with the group of friends, starting from the very beginning of the book, when we get the chance to see them meeting again, getting on the train, etc. It is a very good start to the novel and shows that Nishimura knew how to create fleshed out and interesting characters. Unfortunately for the reader, this doesn't translate through the length of the novel, as we get bogged down with too many unnecessary conversations and too many pages around the speed of trains, or the stops a train makes along the way. This is your basic problem with a Nishimura novel: if you don't like trains, you will hate him. He expends always too much time talking, describing, contemplating trains, time tables, ways to go from point A to B to explain the mystery, instead of expending time developing characters, making a good mystery or making things thrilling. For example, there is a moment when there is a possible 'closed room murder'. Instead of dwelling onto it, he goes back to his trains. This doesn't mean the novel is boring, no, because it is one of his best, starting with the group of suspects/victims and following with our policemen Totsugawa and Kamei. But knowing that he can create amazing set-ups, it is a pity that he seems to be unable to deliver on the expectations he himself creates. The best: it is not your average Nishimura novel with hundreds of conversations about train tables (I mean, it is, but not as much as others); it is also not so repetitive as some of his other novels; the beginning, as always, is great, and introduces the mystery and the characters nicely; Totsugawa, Kamei and company are always fun to be with The worst: it is still about trains; the answer to the mystery... well, it is not much of a mystery Alternatives: any of his other novels if you like this one or anything like this; you have other options in Japanese mystery novels: Higashino Keigo, Kirino Natsuo, Miyabe Miyuki, Kishi Yusuke, Akimitsu Takagi or the grand Edogawa Ranpo; you can also go to other languages and places like Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie or more modern ones like Val McDermid, Camilla Läckberg or Henning Mankell. Options, too many options... 6.5/10 (Original Japanese Version)