Review: Chronicles of a Nuclear World First Post-Apocalyptic Journal: “ Under the Ground” by Radislav Borr

Chronicles of a Nuclear World First Post-Apocalyptic Journal: Under the Ground by Radislav Borr

Self-Published

Publication Date: July 12th, 2020

Ebook. 503 pages

About Chronicles of a Nuclear World:

"International tensions are greater than ever. For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of major military powers are talking about the possibility of using nuclear weapons. This is made more dangerous by the absence of constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia, the war in Syria, disruptions of agreements with North Korea, Venezuela, Pakistan, and India, China’s growing military power, etc., etc., etc. 

The world is close to a full-scale nuclear war that might well destroy civilization. Yet, unlike the environmental crisis, no one is talking about it. This should be shouted from the rooftops! In this book, the author shows the horror of life after a nuclear war. 

Under the Ground is the journal of a teenager growing to adulthood in an underground military shelter during the unending winter following a nuclear war. Over the course of the novel, he grows to become first a rebel, then a leader, and finally the potential savior of his people."

Chronicles of a Nuclear World is a compulsive post-apocalyptic tale written from the perspective of fourteen year-old Robert Williams' journals during the start of the momentous World War III. Although this is a bit of a longer book, I've decided to keep it as a shorter review because I feel like so much of this book is better experienced from reading Robert's story firsthand. There are some important twists throughout the plot that I definitely don't want to give anything away from, and.

Robert is one of the few who has survived, hiding out in a bunker as the world is ravaged around him and the others fortunate enough to be surviving in the bunker with him. I enjoyed following along with Robert and meeting the others that are a part of this story, especially in consideration of viewing how everyone uniquely responds to the situations that they are currently stuck in. There are a lot of books out there that deal with post-apocalyptic worlds, WWIII stories, and nuclear wars, and I think Borr's own addition has added great things to the genre because of the vibrant world and character he includes.

One of my favorite things about this book that I want to make sure to comment on are the beautiful illustrations! Borr has included twelve unique illustrations within the book that I thought were incredibly well-done and really helped to bring everything to life, including characters, settings, and other details that I think really did a great job of adding more dimension to the story. I'm always a fan of illustrations in books, so that really helped to set this book apart.

This book is much more on the slower paced side for a post-apocalyptic/dystopian-esque story, which is understandable since the majority of the events takes place while Robert is living underground in a bunker. I can understand that this might not be an overly compelling draw for people that prefer a faster-paced story, but I didn't think the story dragged because of it and, in fact, I felt that the story kept me pretty evenly engaged throughout its entirety.

The main drawbacks I had with Chronicles of a Nuclear World were that I  found some of the writing and dialogue a little awkward at times, which occasionally drew me out of the story. This is likely due to the English version being a translation so it didn't affect my enjoyment overmuch knowing that, but it is still something that broke things up a little.

Overall, I've given Chronicles of a Nuclear World four stars! Awkward structure and dialogue aside, I really loved the overall premise of this book and all of the careful detail that Borr put into it. It was fully engaging and I look forward to reading more one day. If this genre is one you enjoy, then definitely give this book a read!

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