From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:07:56 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:606 alt.books.reviews:3571 rec.arts.books:88852 rec.arts.sf.written:64658 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: danny@cs.su.oz.au (Danny Yee) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,alt.books.reviews,rec.arts.books,rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Book Review - Roadside Picnic / World's End Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 11 Jun 1994 19:14:54 GMT Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, Sydney University, Australia Lines: 56 Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu Originator: mcb@remarque.berkeley.edu title: Roadside Picnic by: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky translated: Antonina W. Bouis publisher: Penguin 1979 subjects: science fiction other: 160 pages summary: aliens litter Earth title: World's End by: Joan D. Vinge publisher: Tom Doherty Associates 1984 subjects: science fiction other: 284 pages _Roadside Picnic_ is the novel on which Tarkovsky's film _Stalker_ was based. Aliens have visited the Earth, leaving behind the Zones, places of immense danger where incomprehensible technological wonders can be found. A frontier culture has developed around these areas, where "stalkers" risk their lives in illegal expeditions to extract items. This is a powerful but understated portrayal of mankind facing the unknown. _World's End_, a sequel to the Hugo award winning _The Snow Queen_, has an very similar setting. World's End is a localised area where ordinary physics is warped and reality is somewhat unstable, and where down-at-heel adventurers try to make their fortune prospecting. In this case the plot is rather different, with the focus on the individual quest of the protagonist to find himself and an ongoing plot rather than the broader view of the Strugatskys. Whether Vinge copied from the Strugatskys' novel is not clear, but _Roadside Picnic_ is, in my opinion, by far the better novel. %A Strugatsky, Arkady %A Strugatsky, Boris %T Roadside Picnic %I Penguin %C Harmondsworth UK %D 1979 %G ISBN 0-14-00-5135-X %P 160pp %O paperback, translated by Antonina W. Bouis %A Vinge, Joan D. %T World's End %I Tom Doherty Associates %C New York %D 1984 %G ISBN 0-812-52368-7 %P 284pp %O paperback -- Danny Yee (danny@cs.su.oz.au) 10 June 1994