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In Far Rainbow, a calamity is spreading across the planet Rainbow, caused by a science experiment thats gotten out of control. The science doesnt really matter; it's important only insofar as any disruption in human affairs that threatens to destroy lives will be important. What matters to the Strugatskys is how everyone reacts; they've taken their characters to a point of extremity to see what they do, and the results are as recognizable as any real-life disaster story you'll read or see, reported with compassion but with no trace of the excess sentiment, attempt at uplift, or glossing over of selfishness and desperation that often mars such accounts.
As for The Second Invasion from Mars,though the tone here is brightly mordant and ironic, the focus again is on the characters. There arent more weapons in the second invasion (like from the first invasion from Mars by Wells, except perhaps of a psychological kind); there is more wit, and unwitting humor in the characters. This story is deliciously funny.