Muos: Purgatory

Muos: Purgatory is a novel by Zakhar Petrov, written as part of the "Metro Universe" and the Muos: Dark Future series. Released in December 2018 as part of the Metro 2035 Universe, this is the eleventh book of the premium series.

Synopsis
Muos are the dungeons of a now ruined Minsk. For decades, the people of this universe fought a desperate agony for the right to survive. Mutants, predators, disease, starvation, radiation, and incessant wars turned the lives of these survivors into hell. It seemed that history was already counting the days when Homo sapiens would cease to exist as an independent species, becoming an appendage of the parasites which attacked them. But when Muos was on the brink of an abyss, its people were given another chance. Out of nowhere, a Sent One came to them, leading them into the Last Stand. The united army of a united people wrested the right to life... or maybe just a reprieve from the bloody grin of death in a monstrous battle.

But, after the victory, people realized that the breath of death had not weakened. It came upon the smoldering life in the dungeons with a furious whirlwind. The enemies have not gone away, they are taking revenge. And the most terrible among the enemies of Man is himself...

Story
In the Great Battle, the Ribboners were defeated and most of Muos (except part of the non-metro settlements) is united into one state formation - the Republic. The main character, Vera Prudnich, who was born in a peaceful Minsk settlement after the Shoah, witnesses the destruction of her settlement as a child and is the only survivor of it. She has a dream: to become someone who among the population of Muos enjoys perhaps the greatest respect - an investigator. As a result, Vera has to go through the steps, impossible for an ordinary person, to visit different roles - a digger, a soldier, a special forces officer, to be trained at the University and become a special forces officer, after which she finally becomes an investigator. All the while, Vera tries to understand what is good and to find the corresponding meaning of her life; in each of the roles her views change.

At this time, Vera falls in love with an university teacher named Vyacheslav, and learns from him about the scientifically proven Crash, the gradual degradation and feralization of the entire population of Muos, and that Vyacheslav has found a way to preserve humanity's accumulated knowledge and carry it through the "dark ages" by the time Muos population begins to evolve again. It's also during this time that Vera learns of a Digger prophecy that speaks of the Warrior Maiden; many who are well aware of Vera's extraordinary achievements consider her to be that very "Warrior Maiden". Often Vera is visited by the Sender in the guise of the Go-To-Muos, giving her advice and soothing her pain.

Later, it turns out that both the scientists' predictions about the collapse and the Diggers' prophecy are true. The collapse begins, and the last task of Vera and her associates becomes the realization of Vyacheslav's idea of preserving the knowledge accumulated by mankind.

Interesting Facts

 * The first volume of the network novel of the same name. The second volume (Muos: The Fall) is scheduled for release in April 2019.
 * The author wrote the novel from 2009 to 2013. He finished it in September 2013 and posted it in its entirety on his website. In 2014, it was edited by the former head of Metropedia, Vladislav "Skorp24" Zamkovets.
 * The novel was suggested for publication by Leonid Dobkach, lead mapmaker of the Metro 2033 Universe.
 * The time frame is approximately from March 2048 to September 2057.
 * The time frame is retained, but this is done as an exception. For everyone else, only the years 2033-2035 (and earlier times, starting in 2013, in flashbacks or the main text) are still available.
 * Although Muos: Purgatory is positioned as a sequel to Muos, while chronologically and geographically it is, the main character is quite different, namely Vera Prudnich. It's she who is pictured on the cover.
 * Igor Kudryavtsev, the protagonist of the previous novel, aka Radist, also appears glimpsed in the sequel. Here he is referred to as the Sentinel, the legend of Muos.
 * At the end of the Last Battle, the leaders of the main states of Muos signed a treaty of alliance and created the Republic, but this didn't solve all the problems.