"Hard to be a god" by brothers Strugatsky

[naroshka]

A quick search in the forum archives for the book title returned zero.
Just filling the gap.
The novel is nearly 60 y/o - written in 1964

Hard to Be a God - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It reads really like fantasy. There is a minimum of science that is yet important for the plot.
The main character arrives on a planet with a humanoid society that is far behind his own in many aspects of human life.
Jumping to the core idea: the main character faces the dilemma of how much he should/could influence and modify the local society, and more importantly if he should implement the rules that govern his own society. Does this not sound like what we have in Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Ukraine and etc?
The novel is super-relevant in modern life despite being 60 y/o. Brothers Strugatsky have a few other books around this idea. It is obvious that the topic was of high importance to them. Not surprising and easy to explain why.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I think the book was written, as far as was possible, as a barb against censureship and control in the Soviet Union - that the brothers and many others came across in the 1960s. Soviet SF was being accused of being 'too abstract' among other things and many writers and other artists were finding it extremely hard and perhaps dangerous to continue.

Thus the central plot examines, as Wikipedia puts it, more or less, 'the fate of the intelligentsia in a brutal society'

It is a great novel, the society thr protagonist finds himself in is violent, not controllable and filthy (oh my gawd, see the film for that!)

Roadside Picnic is a bit lighter!