The Final Circle of Paradise

The Final Circle of Paradise (Russian: Хищные вещи века, romanized: Khishnye veshi veka, lit. 'Predatory Things of the Century') is a science fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was first published in the USSR in 1965 and the first English edition, translated by Leonid Renen, was published by DAW books in 1976. The literal English translation of the original Russian title is "Predatory Things of Our Times". This is a line from Andrei Voznesensky's poem Beatnik's Monologue. Machine Riot (1961).

This novel is a sequel of sorts to an earlier Strugatsky novel Space Apprentice (1962). At the end of Space Apprentice, flight engineer Ivan Zhilin gives up space travel for Earth – where "the most important things are" – to make the solar system a better place for the young people of the world. The Final Circle of Paradise takes place a little less than ten years after Space Apprentice, in a medium-sized seaside resort city somewhere in Europe. In the intervening time, he has been working for the security service of the World Council, an international governing body similar to but far more powerful than the United Nations. A few years before, Zhilin fought as part of an international brigade to put down a Fascist uprising in the same city where this story is set, reminiscent of the Soviet experience during the Second World War. This was supposedly one of the "final" wars before universal disarmament, where the last of the fascists were finally defeated. Like other Strugatsky novels, the setting is an internationalized future of advanced technology and world peace. There is no iron curtain, cold war, or arms race. Most of the world is permanently at peace, with the rest on the verge of being forcibly demilitarized.