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Far Rainbow / The Second Invasion from Mars
Two Soviet science fiction novels by the Strugatsky brothers. Introduction by Theodore Sturgeon.
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1967
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455 people want to read
About the author
Arkady Strugatsky
514 books1,888 followersThe brothers Arkady Strugatsky [Russian: Аркадий Стругацкий] and Boris Strugatsky [Russian: Борис Стругацкий] were Soviet-Russian science fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers.
Arkady Strugatsky was born 25 August 1925 in Batumi; the family later moved to Leningrad. In January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad, but Arkady was the only survivor in his train car; his father died upon reaching Vologda. Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He trained first at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955. In 1955, he began working as an editor and writer.
In 1958, he began collaborating with his brother Boris, a collaboration that lasted until Arkady's death on 12 October 1991. Arkady Strugatsky became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1964. In addition to his own writing, he translated Japanese language short stories and novels, as well as some English works with his brother.
Source: Wikipedia
Arkady Strugatsky was born 25 August 1925 in Batumi; the family later moved to Leningrad. In January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad, but Arkady was the only survivor in his train car; his father died upon reaching Vologda. Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He trained first at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955. In 1955, he began working as an editor and writer.
In 1958, he began collaborating with his brother Boris, a collaboration that lasted until Arkady's death on 12 October 1991. Arkady Strugatsky became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1964. In addition to his own writing, he translated Japanese language short stories and novels, as well as some English works with his brother.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 30, 2012
5 stars for Far Rainbow; still uncertain where I'd place The Second Invasion from Mars.
Far Rainbow is my favorite kind of Strugatsky: bizarre physics, incredible characters, a rich and surprising plot, and (akin to PKD) an inability to measure or understand the powerful events sweeping the characters along.. (Personal note: my favorite character, Leonid, gave me words I will strive to live by: (paraphrased) "In over a hundred years of life, I've never met an unpleasant person".)
(PKD versus Strugatsky note, since these are the only two author teams (well, single author and pair of authors) who can capture that amazing quality of real life, where you never really know anything: at any moment you are working with fairly basic models built from past events; if something really wild turns up, you are just probing in the dark, nothing works, what can you do? Anyway, with PKD, the characters involved in the catastrophe are often either weak-willed and sort of buffeted around, try to wing it; or they are egomaniacs trying to control everything, with extreme recklessness. With strugatsky, though, one also encounters competent, humble characters who, while unable to tame these beasts, are able to restore some local amount of sanity, and act as guideposts to everyone else (and the reader). In Far Rainbow, there were Leonid and Camill. If I want to get really meta, it almost seems that PKD characters are typically very selfish, which is not the case with Strugatsky..? I'm simplifying vastly but the basic feel I get from PKD is "we are screwed in the face of this", whereas from Strugatsky it is "this is amazing, we can try to work with it..".)
The Second Invasion from Mars is the kind of Strugatsky which I have trouble with, where satirizing soviet rule is the focus. Of course, it was still made interesting; it is not clear until the last paragraphs of the book whether Martians are involved, or if (as the narrator discusses) it's just a code name for a group performing a coup, and all other strange occurrences are due to rumors and inebriation (either way, it seems that the 1917 communist takeover was The First Invasion from Mars). The choice of perspective (a very old retired man) brings many things to attention which are rather crucial to the message (an effective takeover immediately placates the masses with basic things like bread & beer). Neat story, although not really my sort of thing..
Far Rainbow is my favorite kind of Strugatsky: bizarre physics, incredible characters, a rich and surprising plot, and (akin to PKD) an inability to measure or understand the powerful events sweeping the characters along.. (Personal note: my favorite character, Leonid, gave me words I will strive to live by: (paraphrased) "In over a hundred years of life, I've never met an unpleasant person".)
(PKD versus Strugatsky note, since these are the only two author teams (well, single author and pair of authors) who can capture that amazing quality of real life, where you never really know anything: at any moment you are working with fairly basic models built from past events; if something really wild turns up, you are just probing in the dark, nothing works, what can you do? Anyway, with PKD, the characters involved in the catastrophe are often either weak-willed and sort of buffeted around, try to wing it; or they are egomaniacs trying to control everything, with extreme recklessness. With strugatsky, though, one also encounters competent, humble characters who, while unable to tame these beasts, are able to restore some local amount of sanity, and act as guideposts to everyone else (and the reader). In Far Rainbow, there were Leonid and Camill. If I want to get really meta, it almost seems that PKD characters are typically very selfish, which is not the case with Strugatsky..? I'm simplifying vastly but the basic feel I get from PKD is "we are screwed in the face of this", whereas from Strugatsky it is "this is amazing, we can try to work with it..".)
The Second Invasion from Mars is the kind of Strugatsky which I have trouble with, where satirizing soviet rule is the focus. Of course, it was still made interesting; it is not clear until the last paragraphs of the book whether Martians are involved, or if (as the narrator discusses) it's just a code name for a group performing a coup, and all other strange occurrences are due to rumors and inebriation (either way, it seems that the 1917 communist takeover was The First Invasion from Mars). The choice of perspective (a very old retired man) brings many things to attention which are rather crucial to the message (an effective takeover immediately placates the masses with basic things like bread & beer). Neat story, although not really my sort of thing..
September 29, 2021
Far Rainbow:
This one was pretty intense. It works well as both a disaster novel and a sci-fi novel, and I felt that the characters were well developed considering the time they were given. The Strugatsky brothers do as well to make you feel content and safe in the beginning as they do to make you feel tense and scrambled by the conclusion. My only serious complaint, really, is that there were some aspects that were poorly communicated. I wasn't clear on what The Wave actually is, for example, and if there was an explanation in there then I must have skimmed over it. Still, you just can't beat that final scene where the characters are sitting on the beach waiting for their abrupt conclusion. It felt very strongly of the 2013 film These Final Hours, and it begs the question as to whether or not the film drew some of its inspirations here.
The Second Invasion from Mars:
This was much more of an endearing and pleasantly perplexing read. The characters are just shy of something out of Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, and here the authors did a marvelous job of bringing to the fore these absurdist qualities. It is an approach that worked so well for the narrative, and I often found myself chuckling or shaking my head. I loved the protagonist and his obsession with his pension, and it did well to highlight this curious facet of the modern man: no matter how shocking current events may be, we are, first and foremost, concerned with mitigating our own discomforts. It's a great read, if a bit pessimistic; the Strugatsky vision of humanity is apparently a planet of bemused serfs, and I'm here for it.
This one was pretty intense. It works well as both a disaster novel and a sci-fi novel, and I felt that the characters were well developed considering the time they were given. The Strugatsky brothers do as well to make you feel content and safe in the beginning as they do to make you feel tense and scrambled by the conclusion. My only serious complaint, really, is that there were some aspects that were poorly communicated. I wasn't clear on what The Wave actually is, for example, and if there was an explanation in there then I must have skimmed over it. Still, you just can't beat that final scene where the characters are sitting on the beach waiting for their abrupt conclusion. It felt very strongly of the 2013 film These Final Hours, and it begs the question as to whether or not the film drew some of its inspirations here.
The Second Invasion from Mars:
This was much more of an endearing and pleasantly perplexing read. The characters are just shy of something out of Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, and here the authors did a marvelous job of bringing to the fore these absurdist qualities. It is an approach that worked so well for the narrative, and I often found myself chuckling or shaking my head. I loved the protagonist and his obsession with his pension, and it did well to highlight this curious facet of the modern man: no matter how shocking current events may be, we are, first and foremost, concerned with mitigating our own discomforts. It's a great read, if a bit pessimistic; the Strugatsky vision of humanity is apparently a planet of bemused serfs, and I'm here for it.
September 25, 2011
In a blurb praising another of their novels on the back cover of this book, Ursula K. Le Guin describes the Strugatsky brothers as combining Gogol and Chekhov. You can find Gogol the satirist and Chekhov the humanist in the two novelettes contained here, and pretty evenly divided too.
In Far Rainbow, a calamity is spreading across the planet Rainbow, caused by a science experiment that’s gotten out of control. The science doesn’t really matter; it's important only insofar as any disruption in human affairs that threatens to destroy lives will be important. What matters to the Strugatskys is how everyone reacts; they've taken their characters to a point of extremity to see what they do, and the results are as recognizable as any real-life disaster story you'll read or see, reported with compassion but with no trace of the excess sentiment, attempt at uplift, or glossing over of selfishness and desperation that often mars such accounts.
As for The Second Invasion from Mars, all you really need to know is the title, providing you remember from H. G. Wells that the first invasion from Mars didn’t turn out well for the Martians. Though the tone here is brightly mordant and ironic, the focus again is on the characters. There aren’t more weapons in the second invasion (except perhaps of a psychological kind); there is more wit, and unwitting humor in the characters. This story was deliciously funny when I first read it, in Mexico in 1980--the discovery of a friend who had found it in a British edition--and it’s still deliciously funny. Because lately I incline more to Gogol than to Chekhov, it's my favorite of the two tales, but I'm not sure it's really any better.
Possibly the world abounds in high-quality science fiction that’s not well known in America or even currently in print. Stanislaw Lem's work would be my first example. This book gives further evidence.
In Far Rainbow, a calamity is spreading across the planet Rainbow, caused by a science experiment that’s gotten out of control. The science doesn’t really matter; it's important only insofar as any disruption in human affairs that threatens to destroy lives will be important. What matters to the Strugatskys is how everyone reacts; they've taken their characters to a point of extremity to see what they do, and the results are as recognizable as any real-life disaster story you'll read or see, reported with compassion but with no trace of the excess sentiment, attempt at uplift, or glossing over of selfishness and desperation that often mars such accounts.
As for The Second Invasion from Mars, all you really need to know is the title, providing you remember from H. G. Wells that the first invasion from Mars didn’t turn out well for the Martians. Though the tone here is brightly mordant and ironic, the focus again is on the characters. There aren’t more weapons in the second invasion (except perhaps of a psychological kind); there is more wit, and unwitting humor in the characters. This story was deliciously funny when I first read it, in Mexico in 1980--the discovery of a friend who had found it in a British edition--and it’s still deliciously funny. Because lately I incline more to Gogol than to Chekhov, it's my favorite of the two tales, but I'm not sure it's really any better.
Possibly the world abounds in high-quality science fiction that’s not well known in America or even currently in print. Stanislaw Lem's work would be my first example. This book gives further evidence.
January 18, 2021
Two novellas in one book, both by the Strugatsky brothers, with an introduction by Theodore Sturgeon. Both very different! And neither quite like any of the other Strugatsky brothers books I've read to date (Hard to be a God, Roadside Picnic, Definitely Maybe, The Dead Mountaineer's Inn, Monday Begins on Saturday)
Far Rainbow is sent on a distant colony planet of the same name. It's a science colony, through there are also some tourists and children's colonies on the planet. When a deadly 'wave' approaches, a startship pilot must make some difficult choices with respect to himself, his co-pilot, the scientists on the planet, their vital research, and their children. This story is about 140 pages and more or less straight SF.
The Second Invasion from Mars is a satire, I suppose - much sillier than Far Rainbow, probably to the level of Monday Starts on Saturday. In this novel, the residents of a Greek town (it's never specified that they live in Greece, but all the personal names (Apollo, Hermione, Artemis, Charon, Pandalus, etc.) evoke ancient Greece, and Milesia and Marathon are the two places where reports of events trickle in.
At first, the second invasion from mars seems like little more than a hoax spread by rumour. The Martians themselves are not seen, and the stories that trickle in seem far fetched - that they have quickly taken over the world and the new currency is stomach juice. Our main character, Apollo, a retired astronomy teacher, doesn't believe the rumours and is more concerned with the state of his pension and collecting stamps. At one point, he figures that if the Martians had taken over, the first they they would do is issue new stamps, so he heads to the post office and the lack of Martian stamps seems to confirm his theory. Things get wilder when strange people (are they androids?) show up in strange cars and an insurrection forms, and someone tries to sell the local barkeep blue beer.
If you're new to the Strugatskys, I'd recommend starting elsewhere. But if you're making a point of exploring their work, as I am, or just happen to see it in a book store and are would like a curio, then by all means pick this one up - it's enjoyable enough. But it's not, in my opinion, up there with their best work.
Far Rainbow is sent on a distant colony planet of the same name. It's a science colony, through there are also some tourists and children's colonies on the planet. When a deadly 'wave' approaches, a startship pilot must make some difficult choices with respect to himself, his co-pilot, the scientists on the planet, their vital research, and their children. This story is about 140 pages and more or less straight SF.
The Second Invasion from Mars is a satire, I suppose - much sillier than Far Rainbow, probably to the level of Monday Starts on Saturday. In this novel, the residents of a Greek town (it's never specified that they live in Greece, but all the personal names (Apollo, Hermione, Artemis, Charon, Pandalus, etc.) evoke ancient Greece, and Milesia and Marathon are the two places where reports of events trickle in.
At first, the second invasion from mars seems like little more than a hoax spread by rumour. The Martians themselves are not seen, and the stories that trickle in seem far fetched - that they have quickly taken over the world and the new currency is stomach juice. Our main character, Apollo, a retired astronomy teacher, doesn't believe the rumours and is more concerned with the state of his pension and collecting stamps. At one point, he figures that if the Martians had taken over, the first they they would do is issue new stamps, so he heads to the post office and the lack of Martian stamps seems to confirm his theory. Things get wilder when strange people (are they androids?) show up in strange cars and an insurrection forms, and someone tries to sell the local barkeep blue beer.
If you're new to the Strugatskys, I'd recommend starting elsewhere. But if you're making a point of exploring their work, as I am, or just happen to see it in a book store and are would like a curio, then by all means pick this one up - it's enjoyable enough. But it's not, in my opinion, up there with their best work.
May 24, 2018
The Far Rainbow is a classic Strugatsky book, full of frightening philosophic questions, complicated physics and complex characters. Although nothing could ever outreach their masterpiece “Roadside picknick”, The Far Rainbow is another brilliant example of Strugatsky’s humanism and understanding of our world.
Daruga, a far planet in the Solar system, has been transformed to a playground of extremely unpredictable physical experiments. Science is the most honest attempt of mankind to understand the universe we live in but it’s also our ego that drives us ahead. The line between these two forces is thin and sometimes costs the existence of entire worlds.
What fascinates me the most, however, is the open end of this dramatic story – so much open as inevitable at the same time. We cannot change the tragic destiny of Daruga but maybe we can write our future differently.
Daruga, a far planet in the Solar system, has been transformed to a playground of extremely unpredictable physical experiments. Science is the most honest attempt of mankind to understand the universe we live in but it’s also our ego that drives us ahead. The line between these two forces is thin and sometimes costs the existence of entire worlds.
What fascinates me the most, however, is the open end of this dramatic story – so much open as inevitable at the same time. We cannot change the tragic destiny of Daruga but maybe we can write our future differently.
September 15, 2021
Both wonderful and extremely funny. Such different stories, and such a unique take on extreme disaster and alien takeover. I really enjoyed both of these stories a lot - the Strugatsky Brothers are incredibly original.
December 25, 2018
Both of these short novels are delightful. The Strugatskys have a real gift for writing thought-provoking stories that are also entertaining.
September 26, 2019
3-1/2. Maybe 4; this is one I'm going to have to think about for awhile.
Want to read
July 22, 2022i haven't read this yet but now i absolutely must because i spent at least two solid minutes staring in disbelief when goodreads recommended i read this because i'd read.....batwing issue 9. little did whatever busted algorithm which churns out the goodreads recommendations know, is that i actually would especially like to read two soviet science fiction novels from the 1980s, along with my truly ludicrously random little comic book cross-over event debris. who knows. maybe ye old abacus that is the GR algo actually machine learned some poignant thematic overlap between the two works of literature. Batwing #9 from the 2011 DC event 'Night Of The Owls’ by Judd Winnick and Marcus To may very well have a storied and rich inter-textual confluence with this little russian novelty romp.
August 27, 2012
Far Rainbow is outstanding in its heartbreaking simplicity.
May 5, 2014
Rating 3/5 for "The Second Invasion from Mars"
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews