"Seven Days to Megiddo" by Sergei Lukyanenko, summary Automatic translate

This book is the first in a fantasy series about an Earth under alien rule, written in 2021. The plot is captivating because the powerful aliens didn’t take over the planet by force of arms: they disabled humanity’s nuclear arsenal, shattered the Moon into a dust ring and two smaller satellites, and then offered humans the chance to trade mysterious organic crystals. The aliens established so-called Nests, where terminally ill children are saved from death by being transformed into the Altered. The story centers on an ordinary Moscow boy who suddenly finds himself embroiled in a deadly confrontation between space factions.

The novel won the prestigious Reader’s Prize in 2022. The film rights were initially acquired by streaming giant Netflix, but following the changing geopolitical situation, the project was handed over to Russian filmmakers, who are continuing to work on the adaptation and script.

The World After the Change

Twenty-five-year-old Muscovite Maxim Vorontsov lives in a city forever changed by the arrival of aliens. The Insecti banned the internet and high technology, limited data transfer speeds, but gave humanity cures for all viruses. Maxim makes a living by searching for Vikrs, Redoks, and Blueks — mysterious alien crystals that appear right on the streets. He sells these stones to Sellers — members of another enigmatic race, housed in strange structures called Lumps. In exchange, he receives food, high-quality household goods, and cigarettes.

One evening, Maxim stops by the nearest Lump on Leontyevsky Lane. There, he meets a reaper named Darina and a doll-like girl named Naska from the local Nest of the Changed. He pays for their chocolates with his tiny crystals. Darina unexpectedly recognizes Maxim as a classmate of her deceased older brother. It turns out that Darina herself nearly died on the day of the Change, when her house burned down, but the Nest saved her from disability by turning her into a Changed One.

Maxim returns home and visits his parents, who are having a hard time coping with the Change and hiding from reality with alcohol. That same night, Darina and Naska come to Maxim’s apartment. While they were going to the Seller to get the mutagen, an unknown enemy quickly and silently slaughtered all the inhabitants of the Nest. Darina asks the boy to hide the doll. Maxim takes his Makarov pistol and goes with the reaper to reconnoiter.

In the ruined halls of the former Ministry of Culture, they find the mangled bodies of hundreds of Altereds, including guards and pupae. A special police unit led by Colonel Likhachev soon arrives on the scene. To prevent the police from taking the mutants’ bodies for experimentation and retreat, Darina declares herself the new guardian. She declares Maxim summoned by the Nest. Now the boy officially serves the Altereds.

The Power of the Nest and New Allies

The summoned status imprints a wave-like effect on Maxim’s body. He begins to feel the call of the Nest and gains superhuman strength within its walls. Darina asks him to go to the capital’s largest Nest, located in the Ramenki district. She suspects that the neighbors may have carried out the massacre. Maxim reaches Ramenki and speaks with the guardian girl and the local keeper. A mutant with eerie white eyes denies the involvement of his charges in the attack. The keeper gives him a tiny capsule containing a phase one mutagen concentrate for emergency use.

The boy returns home, having bought special ammunition from the Seller along the way, capable of penetrating the biological defenses of the Altered. The following night, the attack on the Nest in Leontievsky Lane is repeated. An invisible six-legged monster kills the police officers on duty on the street and breaks inside. The monster attempts to breach the armored door of the secure area where Darina and Naska are hiding.

Maxim, greatly accelerated by the Nest’s power, enters the fray. He uses special ammunition and shoots the monster. The hero suffers severe chest injuries, but the Nest and the life-saving alien substrate instantly heal him. Darina and Maxim become closer, and they become intimate. The Reaper admits that she wishes more than anything that she could be a normal person again.

Maxim decides to report the attack to the Insecs. He heads to the Manezh, where the aliens’ headquarters are located. Near the building, he meets an attractive student, Milana. In the communications booth, a holographic alien suddenly pulls him through a screen into its lunar base. The alien listens to the report and strictly forbids Darina from using the mutagen to transform into a Guardian, calling it "an unconventional action." Returning, Maxim relays this order. Darina, fearing that he will be killed in subsequent battles, revokes his summoned status and forces him to leave.

Left alone, Maxim spends time with Milana. The student suggests a new tactic to Maxim: he needs to search not for the monster itself, but for the clinic where the aliens performed surgical transformations. Maxim turns to senior searcher Vitaly Antonovich for help. He assembles a combat team of elderly people. All of them once gave their terminally ill children or grandchildren to the Change and now want revenge. The team includes doctor Elena, foreman Vasily, and a robust pensioner, Boris.

The group finds a fake plastic surgery center called "De Mutatio." Inside, they encounter alien servants. A seemingly ordinary security guard and administrator suddenly twist their joints inside out and attack the people. It turns out these creatures disintegrate into sand when hit by bullets. The old bandits kill the servants and discover a secret room behind an armored mirror.

In a secret room, half-finished monsters are hanging from hooks, undergoing a horrific transformation. A six-legged fighter guarding the incubator kills pensioner Yuri. A shootout ensues, during which Maxim uses armor-piercing rounds, and Elena finishes off the creature with a shotgun. The hero realizes that all these attacks are being orchestrated by the Former Ones. They are an ancient alien race of reptilians who secretly ruled Earth before the arrival of the Insecs. The Former Ones desperately want to destroy Darina’s Nest.

Battle for the strategist

Maxim tells his father about his discoveries. He contacts Ivan, a high-ranking government official. The night visitor confirms the boy’s theory. It turns out that the Inseks and the Old Ones have been waging large-scale space wars for centuries, using humans and the Altered as obedient cannon fodder. The target of the attacks on the Nest is a little doll named Anna. This girl possesses a rare gift for strategy. Her tactical potential could turn the tide of the entire galactic war. If the Inseks take Anna, the Old Ones could simply burn the Earth to the ground.

Maxim returns to the Nest with Milana. An aggressive crowd of citizens begins to gather near the former ministry. It turns out that agents of the Former Ones have spread a rumor about the mass murder of human children inside the building. The situation quickly escalates. Naska, remembering her time in Ramenki, opens a spatial portal to the neighboring Nest. The girl leads dozens of Altered children into the foyer. The crowd sees the children alive and unharmed, after which Milana orders the citizens to disperse. The servants of the Former Ones, hiding in the crowd, flee in panic.

However, it’s too early to relax. A government official, Ivan, enters the building unhindered. He reveals his true identity: Ivan is a disguised representative of the Old Ones, who has lived on the planet for centuries. Along with him, a new six-legged fighter and a host of small carnivorous creatures called cleaners emerge from the void. Ivan politely but firmly demands Anna be handed over immediately.

Colonel Likhachev attempts to shoot the alien point-blank with a light machine gun, but the lead bullets pass through the body of the Former, who is in a phase shift. Darina, Elena, and Milana engage in an unequal, bloody battle with the monsters.

Maxim realizes he can’t win this battle with firearms. He takes out a hidden syringe and injects himself with a Phase I stimulant. The mutagen concentrate instantly accelerates the hero’s metabolism to unimaginable levels, simultaneously destroying him from the inside. Maxim tears off the fighter’s armored limb with his bare hands, redirects the monster’s deadly energy blast back at him, and miraculously saves Milana. He pins Ivan against the wall, momentarily returning him to his normal physical state.

Anna the doll calmly analyzes what’s happening. The Strategist understands that the Inseks and the Former Ones have reached a deadlock, and this conflict will lead to the destruction of the planet. The girl takes the hand of an invisible entity and voluntarily leaves with the Observer. This Observer is a representative of the Higher Ones — an invisible third force that strictly enforces galactic laws and conventions. Having lost his main pretext for war, Ivan recalls the remnants of his troops and leaves the ruined building. Earth is saved from immediate destruction.

Maxim writhes on the floor in excruciating pain. His human body is unable to withstand the power of the Altered’s mutagen. The Reaper Darina bends over the dying boy and injects him with a dose of a rare reversal substance, specially purchased by Maxim from a cunning Seller in Komok. The medicine works, reversing the genetic transformations. The hero is healed, losing all the acquired abilities of the Altered. The boy remains sitting in the devastated hall with Darina, realizing his ultimate purpose. Maxim firmly decides that he is ready to continue protecting the creatures he loves in any, even the most hopeless, circumstances.