Roadside Picnic – Review
Right away – Read it! This is a sci-fi classic. Sure, it is Russian sci-fi classic, but I’d say it’s on the level of Arthur C. Clarke and others. Disclaimer, I read this in Russian, but the tidbits of translations I’ve seen seem to be good. There might be a few cultural references that will be hard to understand, but the book is still fantastic without them.
The title of the book, Roadside Picnic, is a fantastic analogue for an alien visit that is almost nonexistent in sci-fi: aliens either want to kill us or to make friends. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book, besides this one, where aliens came and went without much interest in us. If you think about it, why would we be interesting? Aliens are aliens, they may find blades of grass more interesting than humans or maybe they’re just not that curious in general.
Any sci-fi fan should read this one!
