Roadside Picnic

Published 2023-09-08

Scifi with an original premise: the aliens have already come and gone, barely even noticing the inconsequential humans, but leaving piles of refuse scattered at their landing sites. Some of it is useful, much of it is hideously dangerous, and none of it is understood.

In the wake of this springs an entire industry — scientists trying to understand the detritus, companies selling the items to the scientists, and “stalkers” illegally entering the closed zones to scavange what they can.

Despite the interesting setup, I did not like this book. Perhaps it suffered in the translation from Russian, but I didn’t like any of the characters, much of the dialog was vague and confusing, and the conclusion was unsatisfying. I know it’s a well-respected classic, so maybe I’m just missing something.