Novel review: Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic (1972)

After seeing the awe-inspiring Stalker, I had to try the novel it came from, even if I already knew that the link was tenuous (Tarkovsky was right to not reuse the novel's title). Actually, I counted a bit on that, since I thought the movie lacked a tiny bit in actual Zone shenanigans.

It's a 200 pages novel that I quickly devoured… too quickly, in fact. Such a small piece bordering more on the "large short story" like those of Lovecraft really doesn't give enough space for its super-cool concept - the Zone - to give all its fruits.

In fact, that's my main complaint: the Zone is explored in depth only twice (and spoken about a little), the rest of the novel featuring decent human drama and various elements related more-or-less to the criminal side of stalking. That's just not enough.

The other smaller problem I got is that the ending is a bit too abrupt, giving it an even stronger pulp fiction novelette feeling.

Good but underexploited ideas.