I knew the basics of the explosion and the fallout. This book works really well in providing a very detailed account of the technical side while weaving in accounts by actual people. I learnt a lot more about the disaster.

The colour scheme is a little stark, but the deeper into the events the pages go, that too makes sense.

There were several people and a whole system that was behind the start and temporary end of the reactor. I say temporary because it will take a long time for the place to be safe. There are those details as well at the end, the scale of its effect is not something I ever considered before.

This format was surprisingly effective in putting across the entire story Andi would actually recommend it to audiences who are unaware of the history around the disaster.

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Really enjoyed this one! My wife and I were riveted when we watched the Chernobyl miniseries, and I had previously read Adam Higginbotham's book about the disaster, so I felt like I came in with enough background to "play along." I do wonder how beginner-friendly this would be as a first introduction to Chernobyl, though.

Dry text on a page is the most boring way to learn history. Try this graphic work of nonfiction instead! It was informative and interesting enough about a very tragic event; however, one thing that detracted from the reading experience was that the pages lagged quite a bit when loading. I have never had this issue with NetGalley before but the pages were all showing up blank and then taking 30 seconds or more to load. While I do not blame the author of this and the art and information were worth the view and read, the additional time waiting made me realize I was not on the edge of my seat for the next page. (Knowing about Chernobyl already may have impacted this as well.) I think a physical copy would have enhanced the experience, I am glad I read it, and I am sure others would be more attached. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

'Chernobyl' by Matyáš Namai is a graphic novel retelling the events of the 1986 nuclear reactor meltdown and the disaster that followed.

The artwork is bleakly minimalist, using only black linework, the white of the page, and muted yellow & blue - the colours of the Ukrainian flag. The faces of the characters manage to convey an incredible depth of emotion, and the frequent focus on hands, as well as depth of field, is really effective.

This is a brutal, ugly part of history, rooted in a USSR steeped in corruption, cronyism, and saving face. The human (and animal, and plant, etc) lives ruined by the sheer layers of bureaucratic ineptitude are shown in detail, but kept anonymised, while the names of the buck-passers are called out.

The grinding despair felt by those who tried to speak up but were silenced comes through clearly.

This is an important, if painful, book.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing access to an e-ARC for my unbiased review.

This is a nice introduction for anyone who's never read anything on Chernobyl. I absolutely loved the art style and appreciated the color theme. A nice nod to official Ukrainian colors: yellow and blue. However, the narration of the story was lacking - it was too simplistic and clinical. No emotion or depth. It felt like a news anchor reading a story on a teleprompter.

This graphic novel was a well executed and informative account of the Chernobyl disaster. It highlights what went wrong in a way that is accessible for anyone even if they know nothing about the science and engineering behind it all.

Everyone knows about Chernobyl but it maybe less about the negligence and bureaucracy that really caused this nuclear disaster. So many of the people had no clue what was going on and you really feel for them. It is a dark story and such a big failure that it will always be a warning of what can go wrong.

The art style was really good and it fit the tone of the story.

I read this a while ago, so don't remember it well but I remember the art being good and it being an interesting look at the topic of the comic

"Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad" is an eloquent and thoughtful examination of the events that led up to the worst atomic disaster in the history of the world. Focusing on the corruption and gross incompetence that was rampant in the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev period this book details the many mistakes and missteps that eventually resulted in the explosion of reactor no, 4, and the needless deaths and destruction that followed it. As such, it stands as a strong indictment of the Soviet system and a warning against the temptations of sacrificing the common good in in favor of political expediency.

Expect a fair and well researched narrative, solid scientific explanations, well illustrated and accurate depictions of Soviet life, subtle jabs at the corrupt Soviet system and subtle yet powerful artwork.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Palazzo Editions, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The remarkable thing about a graphic format is that it can simplify complex topics and gentle horrific events. Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad achieves both.

Despite my "former history teacher" status, I came to this book with only a vague notion of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. That said, I turned the final page with a true sense of having learned something. What's more, I found myself wanting to know more. The comic's format and color palette added to the narrative in surprising ways, portraying in a few muted frames the stark realities of life before, during, and after this devastating disaster.

Five stars. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Chernobyl: the fall of Atomgrad was a 3.5 star read for me. It is an informative and sad graphic novel that tells the story of how the Chernobyl disaster occurred, from policy failure to human error, and also covers the cleanup and aftermath of the disaster.

This graphic novel uses a very limited colour pallet that I think was very beneficial in telling the story and adding to the story without being gruesome. The story was cleanly told and looks at how many variables truly went into the disaster, while also breaking it down into a digestible format. As someone who enjoys learning about human disasters and morbid history, I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot, but I would have liked it better if it also delved more into the personal, and talked more about the stories of the people affected.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel, and would recommend that anyone interested in the why of what happened in Chernobyl pick this up.

I did like this comic about what took place in chernobyl when the nuclear accident happened, this book tells much more from the political side, and because of that, the human side is a bit lost in translation, as in reality always is… its not hard to understand the terms used on the comic and how little the government understood what happened in the beginning, its a good book to use for school.

Thank you NetGalley and Palazzo Editions, for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

White the intentions of using survivor and documented testimony to tell the story of the Chornobyl (the book uses the Russian spelling of Chernobyl) disaster, this graphic novel is disjointed and lacks any sense of the horror and tragedy and confusion and disregard for life that happened during and after it. The art--in soft shades of blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukranian flag--is not particularly compelling either. For readers interested in the event, I highly recommend Adam Higginbotham's Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster (2019) instead.

Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad is a really interesting graphic novel about, you guessed it, the Chernobyl catastrophe. Visually, I liked the interesting choice of only using the ukrainian flag colors (blue and yellow) coupled with an aesthetic that recalls to the soviet times.

This graphic novel does a great job explaining not just the disaster itself, which mechanics are well explained, but both what lead to it and the cover up that ensued by the government in place at the time. It is a really instructive book to introduce people to the events, even though it feels a little rushed at times. It is only 112 pages long after all, which is not a lot to talk about everything that occurred there and all the consequences that it carried. For example, I felt I learned a lot more about it watching the HBO miniseries, but then again, it's not the same time investment.

I definitely recommend this graphic novel to anybody either interested in the subject or wanting to learn about it, even as an introduction, it's a pretty good one.

A beautiful comic book about the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine, part of the Soviet Union. There is little dialog. Narration is a lot of plain text. The illustrations are wonderful. The colors are very beautiful. The drawings similar to Soviet-era propaganda posters are very nice.
The disastrous end of the Soviet nuclear program, the concealment of the disaster and its consequences are very well described.
One of the most beautiful graphic novels I have read in a long time. An impressive book that makes you rethink about nuclear energy.

I recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Palazzo Editions for the free review copy of Chernobyl in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

<i>***I thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review*** </i>

Informative, simple, and narrative, <i>Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad</i> very nicely briefs on the whole event of the Chernobyl incident, giving backgrounds on the consequences as well as the system.

Just a few months ago, a friend of mine at university did a discourse analysis of the incident on how it was perceived by the public and media versus the then government. It fascinated me and I wanted to read more about it. This graphic novel summarised the historical aspects very well and it was a delight to go through it, for the art matched the grimness of the Chernobyl incident perfectly.

Certainly recommend it to all!

⊹ . ⋆ ☽ ⋆ . ➶

Thank you NetGalley and Palazzo for the eARC!
This was a beautifully composed graphic novel - the art style and colours are just gorgeous!
Regarding the story, it follows the basic events of the Chernobyl disaster without focusing on specific individuals, with a few well known exceptions, so while it may not be that captivating for readers are already familiar with the details, I think it would be amazing as an introduction for those new to the topic.

Thank you NetGalley and Palazzo Editions for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was incredibly educational and was well structured. An explanation into how the disaster occurred and what happened afterwards was clear to follow and the illustrations were incredible. I knew the general gist of the event, but I learnt so much from this and the significant impact it had on the community.

In my opinion, its target audience is 12+.

Originally a Czech graphic novel, this book is all about fallout – the literal stuff that polluted the world around Chernobyl nuclear plant when Reactor #4 blew up, and the secondary meaning, as politics and people were affected for years afterwards. I'm slowly forming the opinion that each and every book about the subject will have a different approach, for I've read about it and couldn't remember the talk of the fatal test being delayed to the hours an unprepared night shift were in the control rooms. However it seems they, and the fact the prep for the test was not undone earlier, all factored into the explosion, which of course meant all of thirty people died, if you believe Russian figures.

This is a book that is fairly heavy on such detail – discussing the flaws with the reactor design, the Soviet-led haste to build it in the first place, the criminal cases against the people fingered for it. At the same time it leaves its world with Cyrillic signs and lettering and doesn't translate them for our ease, so it might not want us to get the complete picture. Either way, the personal story is here to some strong extent, with uncredited voice-over from some of the workers, some kind of attempt to put everything in place as regards the fate of the people we meet on these pages, and so on. By the end the trees are coming up through the cheap cement of Pripyat, and the storks have returned. Of course, life cannot ever hope to go on as before for quite some time to come, and all the reasons for that are here, in a reduced palette and educational yet entertaining manner.

A go to book when you want to learn about, remember or discuss Chernobyl,
Well-presented, illustrated and structured, it talks about what has led to the disaster with heartbreaking facts.
This graphic novel does not touch upon the perspectives of the victims much but it is highly informative otherwise.
4.5 stars

A fun and accessible way to learn about the Chernobyl disaster. The pictures are entertaining and help to really bring to life the events people and experiences.
I didn’t have much knowledge about the Chernobyl disaster before and this has certainly inspired me to go and read more about it.

For anyone like me who knows minimal about this, this is a perfect starting point for your research