Metro Book Series

Prior to the 2010 videogame release, the Metro 2033 series was a series of Russian novels, primarily written by (but not limited to) Dmitry Glukhovsky. While never reaching the western audience to the same degree as the video game, the Metro Book Series is nonetheless an ongoing, critically acclaimed series - especially in Russia, Poland, and several other Central and Eastern European countries. All three instalments that make up the Metro Trilogy have now been translated into English. Works from the Universe of Metro 2033 series have been translated into numerous other languages - such as Polish, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Spanish.

Metro 2033
Metro 2033, by Russian journalist/author Dmitry Glukhovsky, tells the story of a young man Artyom who traverses the dangers of his apocalyptic world to save it from the new threat from the north. The book describes the consequences of an atomic war; its only survivors strive for existence in the mazes of the Moscow metro system some two decades after the nuclear Holocaust. Formerly a sci-fi novel, Metro 2033 is in fact a dystopia, in which Russia's 'present-day' society is meticulously analyzed and described.

Metro 2034
Metro 2034 is the first successor to the original story of Metro 2033. Although it is set in Moscow, just one year after the events of the first book, it is not a direct sequel as it follows the adventures of mostly different characters. Widely popular, it has sold some 300,000 copies in just 6 months, making it Russia's biggest local bestseller in 2009. The book has also been published online for free on Metro 2034 Official Web Site, where over a million visitors have read the text. Glukhovsky has turned a book into an art-project, inviting famous Russian electronic performer Dolphin to write an original soundtrack for the novel, while artist Anton Gretchko worked on the oil-painted images gallery.

Metro 2035
Metro 2035 is the direct sequel to Metro 2033 set after Metro 2034, initially it was going to be a novelisation of the video game Metro: Last Light, but in the end follows a slightly different canon and only takes some story elements from Last Light. Nevertheless, it returns to the characters from the original book with Artyom at the lead and brings back some fan favourites from Metro 2034 as well. Thus it is the official continuation of Artyom's story in the fictional universe of Dmitry Glukhovsky's Metro franchise. It has been translated and released in Poland and Hungary a few months after the initial publication in Russia; an English version arrived one year later.

Universe of Metro 2033 Book Series


The Universe of Metro 2033 is a long-running series of post-apocalyptic short stories, novellas and novels, spanning a variety of genres. The project began in Russia some 9 months after the release of Metro 2034 and it has since then grown considerably, attracting the talents of Belarusian, Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, British, and Cuban writers. Many of the Russian novels have also been translated to Polish, German, and Hungarian. A much smaller number of publications are also available in Italy and Spain.

Comic Books


Two comic books set in the world of Metro 2033 have also been published, one an adaptation of an earlier epilogue to the first novel written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, originally released in 2012, and the other a 2016 graphic novel set in the US during the year 2033 - created by Glukhovsky, Diana Stepanova, and Eli Yatskevich. The latter ends on a cliffhanger and was supposed to be continued by a sequel, but this follow-up never materialized and has not yet been published either.