This is an stark portrayal of the tragedy of Chernobyl nuclear accident.. It is a brief but unflinching examination of the dysfunctional and corrupt system that brought it about and ruined so many lives in the aftermath. The narrative and illustrations work as one to produce a compelling history. The book wouldn't have as much impact without both. I often rue the fact that in schools history only fits as overview so that people think it’s boring. History is interesting in the details and this book is a fine example of the way details present the evidence of the whole.

Rating it 3 stars as it was difficult to read. Like physically difficult. They did say the file quality wasn't the best, but it was too blurry to read on my device. I'll read it some point in the future and review it on GR/SG.

This is a moving and very beautifully drawn record of Chernobyl and the people who were affected by the accident. By now I’ve read and watched many accounts; the event remains bewildering, and this graphic novel does not record any new facts that will make it less so for you. In fact, this account is fragmentary, but the powerful visuals do tremendous work.

Necessarily, because of the medium, some detail is of course lost, so a suggested companion read is Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham, although the two cover much of the same ground. Still, there’s something about a graphic novel that brings immediacy to the subject matter; per the proverb, a picture is worth a thousand words. This graphic novel certainly is. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Palazzo Editions and to NetGalley for early access.

"Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad" is a gripping graphic novel that offers a comprehensive and nuanced portrayal of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Through an extremely detailed timeline of events and beautiful illustrations, it delves into the causes, consequences, and aftermath of the catastrophic explosion at the Lenin reactor. The artwork, characterized by its unique style and a yellow and blue color palette reminiscent of the Ukrainian flag, effectively captures the tragedy and honors those affected by the disaster.

With a balance of technical detail and human perspective, this graphic novel is a powerful educational resource suitable for mature high schoolers and adults alike, offering a poignant exploration of one of the most significant events in modern history. This would be a great option for reading in the classroom!

Thank you Net Galley for the e-ARC! I wish all the success for this graphic novel.

This graphic novel completely captivated me. While the disaster it portrays is widely recognized, I believe many aren't aware of the full depth of the story, and this work beautifully captures its essence. It's a definite must-read, shedding light on a narrative that deserves wider understanding.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really liked it, stuck with me & would recommend
I've watched quite a few documentaries about Chernobyl, so I do know a bit about what happened. However, this graphic novel managed to make me see a different aspect of the catastrophe. Namely, that this was bound to happen because of cost cutting and shortcuts in the manufacturing. The story starts way before the story starts, mind blown. 

The drawings are so artful and beautiful, in the style of Russian propaganda posters, but with an entirely different color palette, in the vein of Ukrainian flag colors.   It was gorgeous! I truly enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone interested in history.

Thank you to Palazzo Editions, NetGalley, and author Matyáš Namai for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad is out May 7, 2024.

This is a graphic novelization of the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), Reactor No. 4, near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, in the Soviet Union. Writer and illustrator Matyáš Namai created the work in the Czech Republic, and Palazzo Editions published it in the UK. It relates the events, the causes and other contributing factors, and consequences of the accident in a very approachable graphical style. The blue and yellow artwork make an interesting color palette, given the colors of the Ukrainian national flag. The signage depicted in the drawings is primarily Cyrillic, and it enhances the experience if you can read words like “ХЛЕБ” along with the English text in the boxes and balloons.

This story opens with the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1986, the same year as the accident, and implies that the accident was a product of hubris during Gorbachev-era Perestroika - which would be a bit of an oversimplification. ChNPP construction began in 1972, and the plant was commissioned in phases with its four reactors between 1978 (No. 1) and 1984 (No. 4). The defects in construction and the rush into service had already happened, although the complicating factors of administrative corruption and denial were ongoing. After the 27th Congress, the story immediately and unclearly switches to the 1970 back story of planning and construction.

The story gives a more detailed account than I have read before, of the suspended test and night-shift resumption that triggered the accident. It follows through with many aspects of what happened – the explosion itself, the management denial, the evacuation of the surrounding communities, the subsequent deaths by radiation poisoning, the use of forced labor to clean up, the construction of a containing sarcophagus, and reconnection of the three remaining reactors to the power grid. Besides the action within the plant, the story also illustrates the impacts on local residents in a poignant way.

The story closes with the show-trial of 1987, when several of the plant managers were sentenced. Namai places the blame on “an insidious cycle, a deceitful system that caught up with us eventually. The Chernobyl explosion exposed its corruption. It has much to teach us at the cost of dozens of lives and hundreds of thousands of destinies.”

An ending positive note is that even though the contamination persists, the unveiling of truths was enabled by the collapse and reform of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. I was an adult in the West during these actual events, and I learned from this book. However, the story ends without telling the next chapter - events in the vicinity of Chernobyl during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

I read an Advance Review Copy of Chernobyl in Adobe Digital Edition format, which I received from Palazzo Editions through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 7 May 2024.

PS – I hate ADE. 10-30 seconds per page turn.

I was a teenager when Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded. Living in the UK there was scant information about what was actually happening, but we knew it was bad. We panicked about poison rain and whether we could still eat Welsh lamb, as the radioactive cloud headed across Europe.
Namai's graphic novel sheds light on what was happening away from the news headlines as the notoriously secretive Russian government tried to play down the size of the disaster, while dealing with an unprecedented world-threatening event. Colourised in the blue and yellow of Ukraine, it's a terrifying look at how bad things got, how the disaster happened and the toll on human lives - from the displaced residents of Pripyat who were "temporarily evacuated" never to return to their homes, to the firemen who were dispatched on the night of the disaster and who received fatal doses of radiation that led to brutal deaths, to the cleaners brought in to clear up the toxic fallout from the reactor explosion...
An excellent telling of a hugely significant moment in history.

In a Nutshell: A hardhitting graphic novel about the world’s largest nuclear disaster. As horrifying as you can imagine, though the artwork luckily tones down the gruesomeness thanks to the chosen colour palette. A bit rushed in execution, but still, a good starting point to know about the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.

When blind nationalism supersedes common sense, the result is disaster. Chernobyl is the biggest proof of this.

This graphic novel retells the events of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in April 1986 and the aftermath of the same. It covers the impact on the first respondents, the ordinary citizens and the responsible parties, while also highlighting the series of illogical decisions that led to the disaster.

The book begins with a spine-chilling reference table indicating radiation levels and their effects. This indicates how radiation is actually everywhere, what constitutes a dangerous or a fatal dose of radiation, and what dose was received by the people in Chernobyl on that fateful day. The numbers are enough to induce nightmares.

But the main nightmare is when you see not just the disaster unfolding on the page, but the events that led to the disaster. What can one say when people who know nothing about nuclear energy are put in charge of building and running such huge nuclear power plants? Or when deadlines are made so crucial that quality is compromised for speed? Or when the general population is considered expendable for the larger good of proving your country’s worth to the world?

I have watched the brilliant miniseries “Chernobyl” and though I had vaguely known about the disaster even before, it is the TV series that first showed me the actual terrifying nature of the event. If you have already watched the series, the book doesn’t offer much new information. It would anyway be tough for a graphic novel to compare with an audio-visual medium, but to a certain extent, this book succeeds in its purpose of reminding us of that haunting calamity.

What I especially liked was how the novel depicted the “socialistic” approach towards getting work done. The author doesn’t hold back in his criticism of the Russian oligarchy, being quite blunt about how their uppity attitude, their blind adherence to party dictates, and their overconfidence in their skills created a goof of such a monumental scale.

Another thing I loved was its simplified analogy of how exactly the reactor exploded. This was a clever way of explaining the cause to general readers without going too jargonistic.

At the same time, the book feels somewhat rushed. It is only 112 pages long, including the initial publisher material: too short for such a topic. Some pages have graphic panels without any text. As such, the content, while accurate and comprehensive, also feels superficial, with only a brief glimpse of the trauma that awaited the Chernobyl victims. It flits across various issues without going deeper into most. The main focus of the book is to point fingers at those who created the disaster, directly or indirectly, but I would have liked an equal focus to be on the victims as well. The human, animal, and environmental cost of the disaster is still being paid today, but this isn’t covered in that much detail.

The illustrations work in favour of the storyline. The blue and yellow colour palette, probably to doff a hat to the Ukrainian flag colours (with Chernobyl being in present-day Ukraine), also serves to lessen the visual brutality of the more severe effects of the explosion and subsequent radiation. The scenes are scary enough to watch even with this muted colour tone. A few of the words in the background illustration are in Russian; I wish the English edition had the translated version of these as well.

In short, this is a heartbreaking yet impactful graphic novel depicting a catastrophe that took place almost four decades ago but that continues to affect lives today. To those who have already read nonfiction novels on Chernobyl such as Adam Higginbotham’s ‘Midnight in Chernobyl’ or Svetlana Alexievich’s ‘Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster’ (both of which are on my TBR list), or have watched the HBO miniseries, this graphic version might not add much. But it would be a great option to readers seeking broad information on the catastrophe without wanting to invest too much time.

Needless to add, this graphic novel is only for adults. Too many disturbing events in here for younger hearts.

4 stars.

My thanks to Palazzo Editions and NetGalley for the DRC of “Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Pretty cool art, used to tell a fascinating story. However, if you aren't already familiar with some of the people and background of the Chernobyl disaster, you may find yourself a bit lost in places. It's difficult to tell who is who in the drawings, and there's a bit of jumping around which adds to the confusion. Still, a neat graphic novel.

Firstly, the illustrations in this graphic novel are incredible. The limited colour palette works perfectly and I really liked the level of detail, particularly in the buildings. This drawing style alone would be enough to send me looking for more work from Matyáš Namai.

I am aware of the Chernobyl disaster and know a little about what happened but I had no idea about the level of corruption and deception involved in the planning and building of the plants, though I can't honestly say I was surprised. I was also appalled, though again not surprised, at the lengths officials went to, in the early days after the explosion, to cover up the scale of the disaster and the complete disregard for the lives of the plant, rescue and clean-up workers involved.

I found this a really informative and interesting read.

For as long as I can remember I have been intrigued with the events of Chernobyl, so when I saw there was a non fiction graphic novel I knew I needed to pick it up and I was not disappointed. The blue grey yellow colour pallet was perfect and the graphic impact of radiation poisoning was portrayed perfectly without being too graphic.

I think this would be the perfect book for a younger audience to be introduced to the events of Chernobyl or as a starting point for someone wanting to learn more.

This was my first but hopefully not my last non fiction graphic novel, I highly recommend!

Thank you to @netgalley for a review copy

3.5 Stars

Really interesting piece of history, and this graphic novel is a really easy way to understand the basis of the disaster.

For me, I didn’t love the art style but I liked that it was a non fiction graphic novel - I’ve not come across one of those before.

I think I would recommend this, however not as much as the tv drama.

Thank you Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

It was an interesting story, but sadly it's not my type of story.
I mean the art and the characters among other things.

A Goodreads friend, born in what was then the Soviet Union, of course knew all the details of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But I do not believe I am alone among Westerners in not knowing anything but the broad outlines of the explosion of a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine, and the Soviets’ subsequent ludicrous attempt at a coverup. Author Matyáš Namai does yeoman’s work in detailing how a group of engineers with no experience in atomic energy built nuclear reactors on the cheap and while cutting corners, starting in the western edges of the USSR; the first one became operational in 1975. The Soviets pinned their hopes for catching up with the industrial West on nuclear power. And, after all, what could go wrong? Read Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad to find out.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Palazzo Editions in exchange for an honest review. And special thanks to Natalyia for her wonderful review of this book, which led me to read it myself.

A tough read, and an important one. I knew a bit about Chernobyl, but this brought many details to life in a way that felt more real than just text on a page. The science behind nuclear plants and this particular disaster is made understandable by many concise explanations throughout the book. Being able to read through the events from before the plant had been built to the modern day, and see how many errors, cover-ups, lies, and outright corruption happened along the way, was a chilling experience. But the illustrations are what truly make this book stand above others. They're done in a blocky, flattened style that evokes the brutalist architectural movement sweeping the USSR (and other communist nations) at the time. Yet detail is given in small ways that create big impact. As the firefighters first approach the burning buildings, we can see how the soles of their shoes are melting off and sticking to the ground beneath their feet. A wide shot of the buildings decades later includes a crow, quite dead, in the extreme close foreground with great forced perspective. I'll eagerly await more graphic novels by this talented artist.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.

Chernobyl disaster is one of the two most severe radioactive disasters - rated at seven which is considered as maximum severity that have happened, other being the Fukushima nuclear account in Japan which happened at 2011.

On 26 April 1986 reactor number four at the power plant suffered a catastrophic explosion that exposed the core and threw clouds of radioactive material over the surrounding area as a fire burned uncontrollably.

I have watched the documentary about it and yet it has always has interested me how it happened and how it affected humankind and human history.

The illustrations in the book are superb, they give Kind of dystopian or utilitarian feel which makes the whole book even more substance.

The book gives details of how, when and even aftermath of Chernobyl disaster.

Highly recommended if you are into history of such accidents that happened several decades back.

Thank you Netgalley and Palazzo editions for the wonderful ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The illustrations are skillful and the narrative seems engaging and informative. Will be adding to our library.

I'm not really a graphic novel girl but I find the Chernobyl disaster fascinating so couldn't resist requesting this one.
We are told how the reactors came to be, how they were built and also what happened on that fateful night and the aftermath.

This is a fascinating read and I did enjoy it, as much as one can enjoy this kind of subject matter.

I did struggle a little with the scientific details but that is just down to my brain as they were explained pretty well.

The graphics were really good and overall I would definitely recommend this one.

4 stars

#netgalley #chernobylthefallofatomgrad #matyasnamai

A well researched account of the lead up, explosion, and aftermath of Chernobyl. I likes that Namai focused on the stories of first responders and families affected by the disaster as well as the science and politics behind it. The graphic novel used harsh linework contrasted by blues and yellows (a nod to the Ukrainian flag) that translates well throughout the story.

A harrowing account without being too graphic, readers will find this informative and interesting.