I am going to rate it 5 stars. My only gripe it is specifically geared for young people or it was marketed that way. There is no way a teenager is going to read this unless they are already fascinated with the subject. I thought it was a well-researched book, and I really like the premise. It is a dense book with 100 pages of footnotes at the end. I would recommend it, for adults or excerpts for High School students. Also has a lot of photos and maps. This book is one of the best about the time period and using Shostakovitch as a point of view was a genius decision.