S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Captives of the Zone (diary#1) Kindle Edition

I don't usually read graphic, apocalyptic, adventure novels, but I'm glad I did. This story helped to open my eyes to a whole new entertaining genre. This story grabbed me from the start, and I thought it was uniquely entertaining how the author skillfully used, as another reviewer wrote, "diaries, letters and pictures to put the reader right in the middle of the action." The illustrations were perfect for inserting us into and making us feel a part of the setting in the Zone. I look forward to reading more in this series. Kudos to the author, Artur Frank, for an excellent start.

I am a huge fan of what I view as the incredibly underrated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series. I could go on about why, but that doesn't belong in a review of the books.I downloaded (legally) the PDF books written by a group of writers looking to create 'official' S.T.A.L.K.E.R. novels (the Southern Comfort and Northern Passage novels). I was disappointed in the writing styles, focus, and other aspects of those novels. This novel, however, brought back everything I adored about the STALKER (removing the '.''s for ease of writing) series. The graphics added in were clearly just 'artified' screenshots, but that was okay. They still got the point across. The plot was amusing, too- even incorporating the games as misleading information.The downsides: Each danger in The Zone is only presented once. Its as if they are included to simply introduce the games, never to be mentioned again except in passing. This includes anomalies as well. Speaking from experience with the 'prime fiction', this is most definitely not the case. Excepting massive dangers that are rare, most dangers are very common and prevalent. Still, an enjoyable read.

The only reason I can justify three stars is the small contribution to the metagame that the story makes. Being a huge fan of the game series, I am left hungry for more... this book is hardly a snack in that sense. If you want to read a quickie that fleshes out the STALKER story, go for Roadside Picnic instead. This "graphic novel" is not particularly well-written. Both the story structure and English form are poor for lack of development. The story is short, and ends abruptly with a "to be continued" sort of ending, that is not a climactic cliffhanger that I would expect from a story told in installments. The characters are flat, and there is no description of feeling from any of them. What are the motivations? Surely more than collecting artifacts and finding fortune. There has to be something keeping them in the Zone. Without motivation, there is no story. The lead character simply wakes up in the Zone, devoid of emotion, and is drawn through the 15 pages of real text under contrived circumstances without any thought of resistance or reason to do anything at all.I won't say you shouldn't read it, the price is right if you love the Zone. I can't promise you won't be wincing from the awful writing page by page, either. Glad I read most of it from the toilet on my smartphone- the setting was fitting.

Though i have never played the computer game this is based on, i thought the story was well done and made me really want to play a video game, of something similar to this one. The story isn't overly complex, it's really simple and matter of fact, much i suppose like the game is. But the writing is well done, little to no errors and the tone is carried through in a fashion that doesn't cheapen the story or your enjoyment in it.it's a bit on the short side, but really it's a story to get everything started, setting everything up for future tales.

In 1979 Andrei Tarkovsky directed a film called "Stalker" based in a screenplay by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, based on their novel Roadside Picnic. At the movie is told a history about an area of the Earth called Zone that which had its physics properties altered as a result of meteor attack.In this movie a guide (a stalker) goes at expedition with a writer and a scientist to bring them in a room in a old house in The Zone that supposedly can realize all kind of wishes. Not everyone has sucess because there are a lot of traps at the zone (a complex system) that changes all the time. The movie leaves the action scenes for background, highlighting the dialog of the expeditioners and the hunter (stalker) about society, human desires. The end is a lot reflexive.It's not clear at this first volume of presented book if the author is based in the original Tarkovsky's history, because at this version, there are a lot of coincidence of situations but I couldn't to find references in presented book about Arkady or Strugatsky screenplay, what give feeling that the book could be an original idea, what it's not true.In the book The Zone is created by an a malfunction in Chernobyl powerplant. It wouldn't be a problem if the plot wasn't so weak compared with the film of Tarkovsky. Maybe because there are other volumes, the author brings at this first volume, a frenetic plot describing a sequence of actions that leave impression that we are watching a videogame match.It's clear here that "... Captives of the zone" it's a superficial plot for teens. I didn't feel motivation to continue reading other volumes.

This book turned out to be much better than I expected. You have to agree you can't expect much when it comes to video game novelizations but this one, apart from being well-plotted and competently written, had the added touch of a graphic novel to it. I just liked it! It felt like reading someone's diary - entertaining and exciting (not that I read other people's diaries, you understand :-))). Highly recommended!

Normally, I wouldn't read a graphic novel but I like paranormal and horror books and bought this book a day when it was free. I thought the story was well written with only a few, very minor, flaws. The story was engaging, where I was eager to read more even when it ended. I found the pictures and diary style with different fonts refreshing. Would I recommend this book to others? Yes, and when my teenager son is looking for another book, I plan on sharing this one with him.

This book was a real surprise ,I love books based on the Chernobyl extrusion Zone .S.T.A.L.K.E.R. etc, and the Zone Alfa game . I knew I`d give this book a look at, what I didn`t see, was what a total new idea it would be and how the book would deliver the story. The book takes the form of a Diary, and is at first written all in hand writing and features the most grand coloured pictures of items (guns) , places, and monsters from the characters adventure in the Zone. As the character gains access to a typewriter, the hand written word changes to type. Illustrations continue throughout the book and with the story give a very good picture of the Zone. This is one of the latest "New" books on the Zone, and in this new format and style, complete with a very different story line, does not spoil the originality of the Zone. I hope for many more in this series. Cheers Geoff Maybury

Very good. But short. Part 1 and 2 should have been one book.

Ich finde es toll, das man am Projekt S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wenigstens Literaturtechnischt festhält, nun wo auch das Videospiel S.T.A.L.K.E.R. II endgültig eingestampft wurde.Super finde ich auch den Preis :) Jedoch finde ich selbst für jemanden der gutes englisch kann, ist ein komplettes Buch auf englisch eher unzweckmäßig, da man sich ja schon anstrengen muss um durchgehend englische Sprache zu dechiffrieren. Lesen soll ja einspannen, mitreißen, fesseln. Das klappt nicht ganz, wenn die Hirnleistung größtenteils für das übersetzen draufgeht.Bitte auf Deutsch übersetzen :):)

good

This is described as a graphic novel: it certainly is not, in any conventional sense. What it is, is a supposed facsimile of someone's journal, along with the accompanying letter by the friend to whom the diary was supposedly sent. This could be quite an interesting idea, if it was carried out cleverly - I am reminded of the "Hogwarts school textbooks" that were published as tie-ins to the 'Harry Potter' novels (with the proceeds going to charity).Unfortunately, it has not been. The execution is poor; the illusion is broken almost immediately, with the inclusion of a photograph - it is supposedly of someone the witer is nervous of, and trying to ignore - so how could (and why would) he have taken a photograph of him, with an ordinary tourist camera? With such clumsy inconsistencies - this is only the first - the necessary immersion in the concept is lost, and one is simply left with the fact that one has to plough through handwritten text, instead of a clear font. It seems to be being done merely to pad out what is otherwise obviously rather short "novel".Now, anyone who has any experience of the moody, gritty and downright chilling ambience of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games is probably wondering what the heck I am doing comparing a S.T.A.L.K.E.R tie-in with a Harry Potter one! Unfortunately, this is the analogy that seems most apt, as that appears to be the demographic that this book is aiming for. The limited vocabulary and linear "I did this, then I did this, and then I did this..." style of narrative appears targeted at a pre-teen age group, rather less sophisticated than the Harry Potter fans. That seems a strange choice, for a tie-in to a game that has an 18+ rating! Now we all know that chronical age is of limited value in assessing actual maturity, but the fact that those gamers, of whatever age, who have opted for a game renowned for its challenge, and set in a foreign country - and whose devotion to the game is frequently such that they have learnt sufficient Russian to understand the shouts of the NPCs - are unlikely to appreciate being patronised in this way.So, ignoring its antecedents with the video game, how does the novel stand up in its own right? Perhaps the levels of violence are such as might attract in those pre-teens who normally reject books? Maybe, but the poor grammar and bad spelling create unnecessary difficulties for such readers. Of course, since this is the diary of a Swede (or "Swed", as he calls himself!) such errors can be explained as simply adding to the air of authenticity - but only at the cost of raising another jarring question - why is one Swede writing to another in English - a language in which it is evident that neither are at home?!Ignoring the link to the game, for the moment, what remains is a short SF/thriller. It is not the worst I have read, and considered apart from the game, the plot is adequate, but not exceptional. However, the writing style is so poor, and the format sufficiently irritating, that I could hardly recommend it either.However, there are fans of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R game who will not care how poorly it is cobbled together. They are used to having to patch the game; they will be prepared to mentally edit the text into something readable - and they will do it because this is an official release by the company that brought them the games. The attraction in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games lies, for me and many others, in its carefully constructed world, inhabited by believable characters, with a detailed rationale for the strange environment. It is hard SF at its best. Such fans, disconsolate at the news of the cancellation of the long-awaited "S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2" , may rush to buy this book, hoping for revelations of new lore, perhaps gleaned from the aborted project? To any true fans of the games, I would say: "Do NOT read this!" Without going into spoilers, all I can say is that this adds NOTHING to the lore - instead it trashes the world established in the games, in favour of a garbled alternative that seems cobbled together from the plots of a few fashionable current films.