Grab your gas mask and cartridges. It’s time to return to the metro.
‘Metro 2033‘ is one of my favorite books that I’ve reviewed. It was an incredible – if horribly depressing – story that established the characters and the world of post-nuclear Russia, with an ending that blew me away. ‘Metro 2034‘ was a solid sequel, offering an equally grim adventure with a new set of characters.
Now it’s time for the finale: ‘Metro 2035‘. Which somehow manages to be an even bigger downer than either of its predecessors! All while putting a perfect little ribbon on the trilogy.
War is brewing within the metro. The Reich and the Red Line are at each other’s throats, and their conflict threatens to drag every other station down with them. Worse: a plague has ruined the mushroom supply, leaving the metro’s denizens starving and desperate.
Caught in the middle of it all is Artyom. Still haunted by the horrors of two years ago, as well as some new ones in the time since, he spends his days tuning into the radio in desperate search for other survivors. Though his efforts have ruined his reputation and his marriage, he refuses to give up hope. For if he does, he has to accept that he’ll spend the rest of his life buried beneath the earth, trapped in the metro.
Hope which is kindled when the old storyteller Homer comes to him with a rumor. According to him, an associate in the Red Line has caught a broadcast from someone beyond the metro. Slim as this thread is, Artyom is desperate enough to abandon everything to pursue it.
This book clears up some confusion I had in the last one. When Artyom showed up in ‘Metro 2034‘, I thought that Dmitry Glukhovsky was retconning the ending of ‘Metro 2033‘. Which bummed me out, because that ending was my favorite part! But as it turns out, that original ending is still canon. It’s just that Artyom survived…
…taking his mask off and walking into nuclear fire. Sure. Alright.
‘Metro 2035‘ explores some deeply uncomfortable and intriguing themes. My favorite one being the idea of settling roots. Artyom desperately wants to leave the metro, for humanity to go back out onto the surface like they were meant to. In any other story, he would be the hero.
Indeed, that’s how Artyom sees himself. Dude develops one hell of a savior complex. He literally calls his companions his ‘apostles’. The book makes you wonder if he’s actually a good person, or simply a traumatized lunatic gradually losing his mind.
Everyone else in the metro have already made up their minds on the matter. When Artyom tries to convince them to leave the metro, they all respond with a rude gesture and a firm, “Fuck off!” Even when he finds evidence proving that the surface is still habitable, none of them are receptive to the idea. Why would they? Though the bombs drove them down there, it’s since become their home. What good would leaving do?
It also answers an important question for the series: where the fuck did the Russian government go? The answer is simple: underground. They gave up on controlling the metro with law and order, choosing instead to manipulate the populace from the shadows. When Artyom tries to overthrow them and ‘free’ the metro, they don’t defeat him with power, but by stripping him of his allies. Not by killing them, but by giving said allies what they want.
What better way to destroy someone with a hero complex than tearing their delusion to pieces?
Another far more horrifying idea this book presents is bigotry. Humans will always find a way to hate each other, so how would they do that in an underground post-nuclear world? Would it stay the same, or would it devolve with them?
To answer this question, we turn to the Reich. When Artyom and Homer wander there, the station almost seems like an ideal paradise. People are well-fed, sheltered, and happy. But a Nazi is still a Nazi; they don’t encamp those of different religion or color, but those afflicted by radiation. If you’ve got cancer or a mutation, it’s straight into a concentration camp for you.
Or if you’re a political prisoner. Again: a Nazi is still a Nazi.
Of course, Artyom isn’t our only character. We also get to catch up with Homer and Sasha from book two. Surprise! They didn’t get happy endings either. Who could have guessed?
Homer makes for an interesting mirror to Artyom. Whereas he wants to change their reality, Homer seeks to escape it altogether. To put his head in the sand and write his book. He doesn’t want anything to do with politics or conspiracies or wars. All he wants are fables.
As for Sasha, she wants nothing to do with anything anymore. Her time with Hunter came to a horrible end, and she has no place in the rest of the metro. So she becomes a whore, falling in love with a man who can offer her a life of luxury though he’s a scumbag. Better be used and abused than live through more horrors like she saw in ‘Metro 2034‘.
All of this culminates in the series grand finale. Returning home with the rest of the metro out for his blood, Artyom makes one last desperate plea for his neighbors to come with him to the surface. But again, they reject him. So he abandons it all. He just leaves. Does he find his paradise before his cancer kills him? Or does he come to some grim fate in the wasteland? That’s for you, the reader, to decide.
I love this ending. It’s a satisfying farewell to the universe of the metro, quite literally. Though it isn’t as shocking or impactful as the first book’s conclusion, it is still a near perfect note to end the trilogy on.
All in all, I liked ‘Metro 2035‘ a lot! It was as compelling as it was depressing! With this, the Metro series has been solidified as one of my new favorites!
But I’m gonna need something a little more uplifting to read next. Books like these tend to leave me down in the dumps…
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