Roadside Picnic

I think this was the first proper sci-fi novel I've ever read. After Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was released I was curious about the novel it was inspired by. I was maybe 14 and didn't like the book much. Wasn't used to this writing style, I guess.

It's very dense and the story is split into four chapters, each skipping some time ahead. A lot of it are main character's monologues in his head but it's well written and well translated so it never got dull, maybe with exception of part 3 which is from different character's perspective and essentially serves as info dump about the zone, it's effects and changes in the world throughout the years since it showed up.

I'm now more than twice that age and on second read enjoyed the book a lot more except for the ending. Even Stephen King writes better ones. But it doesn't ruin the story. It was just more of a whimper than a bang.