The Doomed City

A critique of the Soviet system transported to a mysterious 'world' - basically a ledge between a towering towel and an abyssal cliff.

I thoroughly enjoyed Andrei's various deployments in different roles in the city and seeing him change from idealistic Marxist-Stalinist and "Experimenteer" to part of the elite and apologist for the new totalitarian regime.

I didn't enjoy, so much, the final third of the book, set out of the city on a great expedition to find the anti-city, where Andrei ends up as an exhausted cynic.

I also didn't enjoy the appalling misogyny. Only three bit-part female characters, who are treated as sex objects.

blog.arkadi.one/the-doomed-city-by-arkady-and-boris-strugatsky
#49

"The Experiment is the Experiment."

The Doomed City is an exceptional work of storytelling. The Strugatskys are able to bend allegory into narrative and vice versa so that one never tires of an overwrought political message.

I liked the fluid dialogue and easy scene transitions but most of all I thought the novel's structure was masterful. I just finished so I'll have to think about its implications but I was struck by the final moments of the story.