Mikki reviewed Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky (Penguin Science Fiction)
Yep, it's aliens
5 stars
This book is very much of its time, and I don't know how else to explain it. If you enjoy Arthur C Clarke and George Orwell, you'll probably like this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's almost like a slice of life, stream of consciousness type of scifi writing, except that the world building is exquisitely executed. There is a sense of dread and danger that looms throughout the entire story, beginning to end, that is built up masterfully, in very few words, rarely referred to directly. The characters are a diverse bunch; the main character, Red, is essentially a working class hero, but we meet him when he's working at an academic research institute. There are undercover agents serving who knows what agency, there's a suffering mom, there are scientists, there are scoundrels and criminals, and some of these qualifiers refer to the same people. Even though there is very …
This book is very much of its time, and I don't know how else to explain it. If you enjoy Arthur C Clarke and George Orwell, you'll probably like this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's almost like a slice of life, stream of consciousness type of scifi writing, except that the world building is exquisitely executed. There is a sense of dread and danger that looms throughout the entire story, beginning to end, that is built up masterfully, in very few words, rarely referred to directly. The characters are a diverse bunch; the main character, Red, is essentially a working class hero, but we meet him when he's working at an academic research institute. There are undercover agents serving who knows what agency, there's a suffering mom, there are scientists, there are scoundrels and criminals, and some of these qualifiers refer to the same people. Even though there is very little adventuring happening, it's an adventure story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, eager to find out how it will end. It's also very political, but mentioning that is almost redundant - it's Iron Curtain era Russian scifi, it would be weird if it wasn't political.
