Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, summary

Dmitry Glukhovsky’s post-apocalyptic novel was published in 2005. The book is the fruit of a unique online experiment, where early readers directly influenced the plot, correcting technical details and suggesting logical steps to the author. The action takes place in the Moscow subway after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization on the planet’s surface.

The novel launched a media franchise, serving as the basis for a series of highly successful video games that sold millions of copies worldwide. The novel also won the Eurocon European Literary Award in 2007 for Best Debut.

Threat from the North

VDNKh station is famous for its special tea and relative well-being. Recently, mutants — the "black ones" — have been attacking it from the abandoned Botanical Garden platform. These creatures affect the human psyche, throwing the defenders into panic. Twenty-four-year-old Artyom is on duty at the northern cordon, 250 meters from the station, and suffers from recurring nightmares. Around the campfire, the sentries reminisce about the destruction of neighboring platforms and the giant rat infestation at Timiryazevskaya, during which an unnamed soldier saved little Artyom.

An old friend of Artyom’s stepfather, a mysterious Stalker named Hunter, arrives at VDNKh. The Stalker accuses his stepfather of defeatism, refusing to accept the idea that the "blacks" have become a new stage of evolution. Hunter decides to head north to the mutants’ lair. Before leaving, he makes Artyom promise. If he doesn’t return within two days, the young man must reach central Polis at any cost and deliver a message to a man nicknamed Miller. Hunter disappears, and Artyom secretly prepares to leave.

Through dark tunnels

Under the pretext of escorting a humanitarian aid shipment, a young man joins a caravan heading to Rizhskaya Station. While crossing a tunnel, the people hear a strange hum coming from a burst pipe. The sound unnerves them and nearly drives them insane. Artyom miraculously maintains his sanity and pulls the motorized handcar with his paralyzed companions to safety. At Rizhskaya Station, he meets a stern shuttleman named Bourbon. He offers Artyom to become his partner in traversing the anomalous tunnel to Sukharevskaya Station in exchange for machine gun ammunition.

En route, Bourbon dies from an inexplicable psychic influence, muttering terrifying phrases about ancient tomes. Artyom is saved by a wandering philosopher named Khan, who claims to be the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. Khan declares that heaven and hell have been destroyed by radiation, and the souls of the dead are now doomed to wander the subway tubes. At Sukharevskaya Station, they witness a frenzied crowd chasing a man suspected of being infected with the plague. Khan uses his hypnotic authority to lead some of the crowd away from the dangerous station.

Warring factions

Near Turgenevskaya, the philosopher senses mortal danger and insists on crossing into a parallel tunnel. A crowd of refugees refuses and perishes in the darkness at the hands of an unknown force, while Artyom escapes with Khan. Soon, the young man’s path crosses with the old man Mikhail Porfiryevich and the sick boy Vanechka. Together, they attempt to pass through Pushkinskaya station. The Fourth Reich has established itself there — a state of neo-Nazis who measure skulls and exterminate foreigners.

During a search, a fascist officer cold-bloodedly murders the feeble-minded Vanechka. In a fit of rage, Artyom shoots the killer with a machine gun. He is captured, subjected to a lengthy beating during interrogation, and sentenced to death by hanging. As the sentence is being carried out, a combat unit of revolutionaries from the Red Line bursts into the station. They rescue Artyom and take him away on a handcar. The young man swears not to harm the cause of the revolution, and the partisans drop him off at Paveletskaya station.

Escape and new companions

To get onto the Circle Line, controlled by the wealthy Hansa trading bloc, Artyom contacts a gambler named Mark. They lose a rat race bet to the stationmaster and are forced into slavery. After five days of gruelingly cleaning toilets in the Hansa’s secure compound, Artyom simply gets up and goes into a tunnel, narrowly escaping the guards’ attention. At Serpukhovskaya, he falls into the hands of sectarians — Jehovah’s Witnesses.

After listening to Elder John’s sermons about nuclear war being the biblical Armageddon, Artyom flees from the fanatics. In the tunnel, he experiences a severe panic attack but finds refuge at the abandoned Polyanka station. There, two strange smokers discuss the Invisible Observers and the destiny that guides a person. The conversation helps Artyom regain his will to live, he gathers his strength, and reaches Borovitskaya.

Secrets of the Polis and the Library

Polis is the last stronghold of culture, where power is shared between the military and the priests. Artyom finds Melnik and reports the threat. However, the Council refuses military assistance to VDNKh. A secret caste of Brahmin priests intercepts the young man and offers him a deal. He must ascend to the surface to the Great Lenin Library and find the mystical Book of the Future. In exchange, they promise to impart knowledge to save his home station.

Artyom, Melnik, and the brahmin Danila ascend to the dilapidated Library. The place is swarming with dangerous, ape-like mutants — "librarians" — who don’t attack if you look them straight in the eye. In the book depository, one of the monsters tears Danila apart. Before dying, the brahmin gives Artyom an envelope he found in the archives. The book is not found, and Melnik orders Artyom to return to the metro via the surface, heading for Smolenskaya station.

Avoiding packs of mutant hounds and winged predators, Artyom makes his way along Novy Arbat. In one of the abandoned apartments, he finds an old photograph of a woman with a child and hides it in his chest. After a fight, he manages to reach Smolenskaya Street, where Melnik and the fighter Ulman are already waiting for him. Opening the Brahmin’s envelope, the stalker discovers the coordinates of a surviving missile base and a secret passage to it through the secret D-6 system.

Ancient Evil and Metro 2

At Kyiv station, Artyom meets Anton, a rocket scientist, and his son, Oleg. That night, savages who worship the Great Worm kidnap Oleg. Artyom discovers a secret hatch in a tunnel leading to the Metro-2 system. Soon, he himself is captured by the cultists. They kidnap children to instill a hatred of technology and practice cannibalism. Melnik’s squad storms the lair, rescuing Artyom and the other captives.

Having destroyed the fanatics, the soldiers descend deeper into the D-6 government network. At a former station beneath the Kremlin, they encounter a massive biomass possessing powerful telepathic abilities. The creature attempts to lure the squad into its depths, and little Oleg voluntarily jumps into the living quagmire. The child’s death sobers the soldiers. After blasting the creature with a flamethrower, the soldiers break free from the mutant’s hypnosis and reach a fork in the tunnels.

Missile strike

Melnik and Anton leave for the missile base, tasking Artyom and Ulman with reaching the Ostankino TV Tower to guide the missiles. Artyom briefly returns to VDNKh to say goodbye to his stepfather, Sukhoi. The station is holding on by its last strength, with many defenders driven insane by mental attacks. After leaving his stepfather, Artyom and his partner climb hundreds of steps to the tower’s observation deck, 300 meters above the ground.

From there, a panoramic view opens up of the Botanical Garden and a gigantic mutant hive. Ulman transmits the coordinates by radio. As the missiles are ready to launch, Artyom has a revelation. The Dark Mind contacts him, and the young man realizes his terrible mistake. It turns out the mutants didn’t want to destroy the remnants of civilization. They were trying to establish contact, to offer cooperation. Artyom had been chosen by them since childhood as a link capable of uniting the two species for survival on the poisoned planet.

The epiphany comes too late. Before the young man’s eyes, rockets rain down on the Botanical Garden, reducing the Black Ones’ lair to ashes. Feeling the telepathic connection break and all hope for humanity’s salvation vanish, Artyom rips off his gas mask, takes a deep breath of the frosty air, and returns to the metro in despair.