The Price of Freedom

Metro 2033: The Price of Freedom is the second solo novel by Sergey Semyonov, written as part of the Metro 2033 Universe. The one hundred and fifteenth book in the series, this entry was released in January 2021.

Synopsis
A small colony of survivors exists in the forests of the Irkutsk region, cut off from the world. However, unknown men, arriving by railroad, attacks the residents, takes two friends, Romka and Micah, to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and turns them into slaves. The boys, who have never faced evil before, are about to find out the price of freedom. And perhaps for some of them it will be too high.

Interesting Facts

 * The working title is "The Way Home". The final one was suggested by the series' cartographer, Leonid Dobkach.
 * The second novel in a row, where the cover for which was done by Vadim Karpuk, and the map is turned 90 degrees counterclockwise for better placement on the back cover.
 * There are references to Dmitry Glukhovsky's The End of the Road. Among other thing, there are references to Serafim Antonovich from that story.
 * The idea for Romka's journey is inspired by actual events from ten years ago, when the author served in the army as the escort battalion of military cargo. One of the military business trips over Baikal (Mozhaisk - Svobodny route) made an indelible impression on Sergey Semyonov. The views of Lake Baikal under the blue January sky, mountain peaks of the Eastern Sayan, and the greatness of the Siberian rivers stuck in his memory. He wanted to be sure to reflect these beauties in one of the books, which became The Price of Freedom.
 * The protagonist of the novel at different times sees Lake Baikal from two sides: first from Severobaikalsk, and then from the highway R-258, going along the lake from the south.
 * The main character (Micah) was portrayed on the cover of the novel by a friend of the author, an ornithologist and wildlife photographer from Nizhny Novgorod. When creating the cover, Seregy and his visualizer had to take about 70 photos to find that very facial expression.
 * In creating the images of the old man and the old woman in the chapter "Good Masters", Seregy used the manners and accent of the inhabitants of his native village, where he spent a lot of time in his childhood and adolescence. Much has been copied from the author's own grandfather, who turned 92 in 2020. By this time, there is virtually no one left alive among the native villagers.