It is very difficult to call Sergei Lukyanenko’s audiobook “Knights of the Forty Islands” science fiction. Here is the backstory, to which only a few pages are devoted — yes: in the boundless expanses of space, a scout ship of the Lotan civilization creates a miniature testing ground — an archipelago of forty islands — and populates these islands with Earthlings: boys and girls, and even very young children.
The purpose of this undertaking is to study human behavior and psychology, to prepare for the upcoming colonization of our planet. The main part of Lukyanenko’s book Knights of the Forty Islands is about the relationships that develop within a small closed group. For there is one nuance: in order to survive, the islands must wage war against one another, and this is not a game at all — here, people die for real.