''Piter'' (russian: Питер) is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

written by

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

author

Shimun Vrochek Shimun (Syriac alphabet: ), also transliterated as Shemʿon or Shimon is the form of Simon (given name), Simon used in Syriac language, Classical Syriac and other Aramaic languages. Mar Shimun may refer to any of the following Patriarchs of the Chu ...

. ''Piter'' is part of

Universe of Metro 2033 ''Metro'' (russian: Метро) is a franchise consisting of novels and video games, which began with the release of Dmitry Glukhovsky's ''Metro 2033'' novel in 2005. Although it began in Russia, the project enjoys plenty of popularity in Poland ...

, a long-running series of

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

short stories, novellas, and novels, spanning a variety of genres. The works are written by several different authors. ''Piter'' was originally published in February 2010. Although there is currently no English version of the book, ''Piter'' has been translated into a number of other European languages, such as German, Polish and Spanish. The novel was translated to Polish by Paweł Podmiotko. The book itself is different from

Dmitry Glukhovsky Dmitry Alekseyevich Glukhovsky (russian: Дми́трий Алексе́евич Глухо́вский, born 12 June 1979) is a Russian author and journalist best known for the science fiction novel ''Metro 2033'' and its sequels. As a journal ...

's original works, giving the reader a look at what happened after the Catastrophe in another part of Russia, whilst maintaining the original ideas and atmosphere behind

Metro 2033 Metro 2033 may refer to: * ''Metro 2033'' (novel), a 2002 novel by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky * ''Metro 2033'' (video game), a 2010 first-person shooter video game based on the novel See also * ''Metro'' (franchise), originating from t ...

. It is one of the longer novels in the Universe series. ''Piter'' is featured as an

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

in the video game adaptation of Metro 2033, where a 3D model of the book can be found laying on the rail cart near the end of the level ''Armory'', during chapter 3 of the game's story.

Synopsis

Just like the people of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in the fictional world of

, a fraction of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

's citizens fled to the tunnels of their hometown's

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

moments before the nuclear bombs were dropped on the city. ''Piter'' (Russian slang for St. Petersburg) tells the story of Ivan Merkulov, a twenty-six-year-old fighter and stalker who experiences many trials and adventures as he travels through places both within the subway system of Saint Petersburg, as well as those above on the surface of post-apocalyptic Earth. The novel begins with the protagonist about to get married. The ceremony is interrupted when the

engine-generator An engine–generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine (prime mover) mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an ''engine–generator set'' or a ''gen-set''. In many contexts ...

that powers the necessities of life on

Vasileostrovskaya Vasileostrovkaya ''(russian: Василеостро́вская)'' - is a station on the Nevsko–Vasileostrovskaya Line in St Petersburg. It is named after Vasilyevsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́ст ...

(Ivan's home station) is stolen. Sozonov - friend and member of Merkulov's team of stalkers - believes that the residents of several nearby stations, who originate from Moscow, are responsible for the crime. A war begins between those stations and an alliance that Vasileostrovskaya is part of. As is revealed later on in the story, things are much more complex than Ivan thought. He is dragged into something much larger than the local conflict between the two factions, and the lines between friend and foe become very blurry as he continues his task. Merkulov's mission takes him to various locations, through numerous dangers and oddities, as he travels through the metro and beyond.

Reception

In Russia, ''Piter'' was received with mostly positive feedback from critics and fans of the book series alike. Although some believed that it was written in a very similar style to that of the original author of

, others thought the exact opposite and claimed that the novel was "teenage drivel" (even though Shimun Vrochek is older than Dmitry Glukhovsky). ''Piter'' was also met with positive responses from Polish readers. Critics from the Fantasta.pl website claimed that ''Piter'' is "a worthy representative of post-apocalyptic literature" and is easy to read for those who have never read a book from the Metro series before. Editor Monika "Katriona" Doerre, from kawerna.pl, recommended Piter for fans of the

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

and Hellgate video game series.

Legacy

Shimun Vrochek published the sequel novel ''Piter. War.'' (''Вселенная Метро 2033: Питер. Война.'') in 2018, followed one year later by ''Piter. Battle of the Twins'' (''Вселенная Метро 2033:'' ''Питер. Битва близнецов'').

References

{{Metro 2033 2010 novels 2010 science fiction novels Novels set in Russia Metro 2033