This book was such a fascinating read, I was interested the entire time. I listened to this through audiobook, and there were times I audibly gasped aloud (and a few laughs at the absurdity of some of the situations). This is written in such a way to help you learn about the disaster, even if you have almost no prior knowledge of it, or nuclear physics, and yet never talks down to you/or above where you can't understand what's going on.

It masterfully builds up how the disaster happened, what build up to it, and the aftermath in such an engaging way. Even though you know the "ending" so to speak, I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for what would be, essentially, the final straw.

It almost felt like I was there, and hearing the stories of the men and women there (and how so many were ignorant of the effects of radioactivity on the human body) vs their attempts to salvage the situation, many of which were in vain despite the human cost of doing so - was so impactful. And then, the blatant lies and propaganda, and the refusing to see the issue/danger of the situation by the people TELLING these people what to to - made me so furious. Just how preventable the entire thing was, and how preventable how many people who died/were harmed trying to salvage it was, and how preventable the tons of affected people who had NOTHING to do with the situation - it's infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time.

It masterfully contrasted the propaganda of the USSR vs the realities of what was actually going on and how the rest of the world was perceiving everything that was happening. It blew my mind that the entire reason anyone even "found out" about Chernobyl, so to speak, was because it's scale was so big it was affecting countries outside the control of the USSR, and so they were backed into a corner to admitting it (although only barely, and only the bare minimum).

If you're interested at ALL in this disaster, I highly suggest this book. It was so interesting, and told in a way that taught you the facts, let you learn, but didn't FEEL like reading a book on just facts. I understand so much more now than I originally did (which, admittedly, was not much) and since I read this through audiobook I'm seriously considering purchasing the physical copy so I can re-read this at my leisure, since this was so fascinating and told so well.

(Also, knowing how much more I know now, I'm even significantly LESS confident about the safety of the Chernobyl tours that apparently people can take that I discovered existed due to TikTok.)