better place for young people struggling to find purpose in the world. At the end of this story, he leaves his work with the World Council to fight "the last war – the most bloodless and most difficult for its soldiers" (p. 170) – that of making life worth living for the millions caught unprepared in an age of affluence, so that they will never need anything like "slug". However, even as Zhilin is saying this, at the end of the novel it is left ambiguous whether he thinks he will be able to resist using the "slug" again. References 1965 novels 1965 in the Soviet Union 1965 science fiction novels Novels by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky DAW Books books Social science fiction