Pages : 243
Overall Mark : 9/10
When young programmer Aleksandr Ivanovich Privalov picks up two hitchhikers while driving in Karella, he is drawn into the mysterious world of the Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry, where research into magic is serious business.
And where science, sorcery and socialism meet, can chaos be far behind?
ARKADY STRUGATSKY (1925-1991)
BORIS STRUGATSKY (1931-2012)
The Strugatsky brothers began to collaborate in the early 1950s. Arkady worked as a technical translator and editor, and Boris was a computer mathematician at Puklova astronomical observatory. Their work includes Hard To Be A God, Definitely Maybe, The Snail On The Slope and Monday Starts On Saturday. Andrei Tarkovsky's much admired film, Stalker, was based on their most famous work, Roadside Picnic.
VERDICT
If Terry Pratchett never read this book, I would be amazed. There is so much in here that fans of the Discworld series would enjoy and recognise, and more besides. The humour is dry yet sometimes absurd, and the plot is clever enough to have been one of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently storylines. Well worth the read, and the best of the Strugatsky brothers efforts I’ve read so far.
