I’m quite torn about this book. I was really hoping to learn lots about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how this has impacted ordinary people’s lives. I felt there was too much focus on the run up to the full scale invasion and therefore not enough space dedicated to the most recent Russian invasion. I also felt the story centred too much on the author and his experience, rather than the experience of ordinary Ukrainians. With the war still ongoing, this book doesn’t cover the full story.

A great insight into how the Ukrainian people felt about the war that is still being waged against them. We had many Ukrainian young people come to our school and they were the epitome of resilience and hard work. Being forced to flee the country the loved was heart breaking especially since many leafy fathers, brothers, uncles behind. Yet they embraced all the new challenges they faced with courage, cheerfulness and kindness

A brilliant, moving book. My only complaint is that it was written by an *American* journalist and lacked sources.

Chris is an American journalist, who has lived in Ukraine for several years. He talks about the years preceding the Russian invasion and shares the many stories of the long suffering Ukrainians.

It is a interesting read that gives context that what is happening between Russia and Ukraine currently

My biggest critic of this book is the lack of sources and references for information the author portrays as factual. I am not not entirely convinced the description of the book matches the content

An educational read which gives another perspective on the events happening in Ukraine. The book gave me insights into bits I didn’t know and helped me to understand the politics of the region and why the fighting has broken out. Thank you to NetGalley and the author.

I found this an interesting read and got behind the headlines. After I read the book I researched the author (like to do that after so not prejudged and I probably wouldnt have read it if I had known) but I found the book gave me good insights and I dont regret reading it

I was given a free copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

An interesting read with some tough topics - but definitely educational and helps to understand the political landscape of Ukraine currently.

This book is amazing.

I have been following the war in Ukraine quite closely so I was interested to read this book. What is fascinating is that it doesn't start when you think it would. Following Christopher Miller's time in Ukraine, it begins with his Peace Corps work and moves on to the annexation of the Crimea and flows into the situation in the Donbas region in 2014. From there we jump to February 2022 when the war as we know it started.

I love the human stories in this book - it is easy to forget that there are real people involved in this war. We meet ordinary Ukrainian citizens and often touch base with them multiple times or get a follow up line about their particular fate. There is lots of details about the areas of Ukraine that Christopher lived and it is truly heartbreaking how he describes what these areas look like now and at various periods when he revisits the areas. We learn about the close calls that he and other journalists had and also about the jobs that don't get covered in the media - the front line medics, the surgeons, the body collectors, the morticians...all in heart rending detail.

This is a fabulous and at times harrowing read but highly recommended!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I decided not to read this book upon learning the author's background right when I started. I hoped to read a true report book, not propaganda when I asked for the ARC opportunity.

I didn't want to read this book but I felt I had to. I wanted to try and understand what is happening in Ukraine.
The book was full of information and included some history.

I wish I hadn't had to read it but I am glad I did. I feel I understand more and can look at the conflict more objectively. I am not sure how you could make this book easy reading without leaving out important facts. The book needed to be read in bursts and I always had something else to turn to. This I know is my problem, I have always used reading as an escapism and this is not really where I wanted to escape to.
It is an inspiring book told through personal experience. of an American journalist and his love for a country.
I would recommend it to anyone who wants answers to what is happening in Ukraine?

Christopher Miller writes well and I agree with other reviewers that his first hand accounts of the true costs of war are necessary, though painful.
The account of his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Donbas was a fascinating insight into this Easternmost part of Ukraine and gave me a feel for the people and culture of the region. His later accounts of the build up of tension to 2022 and the reaction of the people to carry on, hoping the worst would not happen was revealing and compelling. I has not realised the extent to which Russia had planned the 2022 invasion by sleeper cells placed in the cities and by constant wearing down of the Ukrainians by unpredictable attacks. The resolve of the Ukrainian fighting forces when the moment came to stand and fight is impressive. I found the sections on the destruction of Mariupol and Bakhmut particularly moving. We see the images on television but the written word captures much more of the human cost.
There was a long section in the middle of the book about corruption and the political situation in Ukraine which I found difficult to follow. The anecdotal style, which is a strength of the opening and closing chapters did not work for this section. A stronger structure, and clear narrative arc was needed and I regret to report that I skimmed much of this section.
This is a sad read but an important record of the war to date. It would be good to have a clear end to the story but I fear this may be some way off in the future. It is right to have this account of the humanity and bravery of ordinary Ukrainian citizens now.

This is an odd book, a rambling tale told by a US journalist as a diary starting from his time as a Peace Corp volunteer in the Ukraine through his becoming a journalist in Ukraine. He also covers the occupation of Crimea back in 2014 and, Peace Corp to Crimea takes up, literally, two thirds of the book.

Whilst I did expect some background regarding what was going on in the Ukraine before Putin's "proper" invasion in 2022, I really did not expect that background to fill so much of the book.

That two thirds is an easy enough read and now that I am into the details of the 2022 invasion, I felt I could and should break this review into two as the précis of what came before is rather too long.

Have now finished the book and, frankly, am a little disappointed as I found the narrative from the 2022 invasion through to now a little lightweight for such an important happening.

Whilst I think that I appreciate he is a reporter reporting "the facts" and that he needs to be dispassionate, I really was expecting something a lot more analytical and hard-hitting. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

In 2010, Christopher Miller applied to join the Peace Corps and arrived in the Donbas region of the Ukraine as a school teacher. He fell in Love with the country, its people and their culture and grew accustomed to being the only American in Artemivsk. There are little vignettes of his life pre-internet: women and girls selling their highly prized hair Eminem’s music blasting out from a neighbour’s apartment and McDonalds seen as fine dining.
He explores the Donbas and loves visiting the beautiful countryside, towns and cities such as Mariupol and Bakhmut. Now these once thriving historic places are no more.
He becomes a journalist and sees at first hand the political corruption and game playing that led to the Orange Revolution and the authoritarian crackdowns that followed. This in turn led to Putin’s unprovoked an invasion and annexation of Crimea. The West did little as it did not want to provoke him and increase Russian aggression. But if you let a bully take a chunk then soon they will come for the rest. Which Putin did in 2022 with another unprovoked invasion. The increasingly brutal and bitter war shows no signs of ending and 7 million Ukrainians have fled their country so far.
Miller is good at writing about the human cost of war; the people who cannot leave, the Russian deportations of Ukrainians and the people he meets and tries to help but then has to move on without knowing what happened to them. A drone destroys a residential building and its inhabitants are found embracing in the rubble, she pregnant with their first child. People living without any amenities at all and going amongst them are the body collectors and the chroniclers of war crimes.
The fate of Flight MH17 is discussed. It was shot down and was claimed to be a spy plane whereas it was a plane full of ordinary travellers. All evidence of who shot it down had been cleared away.
He is an observant and at times entertaining writer as when he describes shelves of rejected vegan burgers in an abandoned supermarket or his Eminem loving neighbour speaking to him in rap talk.
This is a book that I wish had not had to be written but it told me so much about events in Ukraine leading up to the 2014 invasion of which I was unaware. I was left with the determination of the Ukrainian people to fight for their country no matter what. Miller quotes from the Tempest by William Shakespeare ‘ Hell is empty and all the devils are here.’ which seemed bleakly appropriate for a war that seems to have no ending.

My thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC.

Given the subject matter I can’t exactly call this an enjoyable read but it was interesting, and I liked that it didn’t start with the current war in Ukraine but built up to it, including how the author came to be there in the first place. Once the book gets to the current war, and particularly the attacks against civilians it becomes so incredibly moving and anger inducing.

The premise of the book sounds great and very time critical, I have since found out that the author is a pro-Russian propagandist and is claiming U|krainians are Nazis, and that Putin is always right. I expected a completely different book from what was provided.

A true account of the authors life and experiences as a journalist living in Ukraine reporting on its transition as an independent state free of Russian rule, followed by the struggle to overcome corrupt politicians anarchy and then the aggression of Russia. Starting in the early days as a US Peace corps volunteer working in a school as a n English teacher, enjoying making friends and learning the language and culture and becoming fully involved with the dramatic events that followed during a decade of war. As a FT journalist with a press pass fron Kyiv as well as from the Russian controlled breakaway eastern territories’. A fully balanced record of the horrors of the war is recorded.

Personally I did not enjoy this book, nor more importantly did I find it aided my understanding of current events in Ukraine in any way. Firstly I have no idea what Christopher Miller intended the point of his book to be. This, combined with a rather incoherent structure, means the book is just not compelling enough. Secondly I did not find the writing style great, more like a collection of hastily written blog posts thrown together and mixed up a little. Thirdly, as a journalist Christopher Miller writes like a journalist of course. This means that despite his obvious deep affection for Ukraine, his journalistic compulsion to 'bothsidesism' means that the book seems to veer from random incident to random incident in a series of vaguely related events (this happened, and this happened, and then this happened, and that happened ....ad infinitum). I did not find the writing biased but nor did I find it illuminating. Special thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley for a no obligation advance review copy.

This is a fantastic account of the recent history of the war in Ukraine and the events leading up to it, from a view on the ground of the people living there and the stories of fighting and resistance. If you want a book to understand what is happening and why it is so important, I highly recommend reading it!

Thanks to the Peace Corps, our hero found himself in Ukraine. He was an American volunteer journalist. 
You can also read the story of the Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Vitalijowicz here. I was horrified reading about what happened to his flat. I secretly hoped that the perpetrators of the arson were severely punished. Did Oleksiy escape with his life? The author perfectly presents the sad history of Ukraine. The tragic moves of the authorities led to the death of many of their opponents. They lost their lives in unexplained circumstances. 
Corruption, corruption and more corruption, this was happening under Yanukovych and his predecessors. Why did Yanukovych act against his citizens? A corrupt government does nothing to improve the lives of its citizens. It's just a scandal. There was no freedom of speech in Ukraine. Fraternizing with Russia has not been good for Ukraine. We see it perfectly nowadays. 
Unfortunately, Putin did not give up so easily, he entered Ukraine and wreaked havoc. He tried to convince everyone that this was a "special operation", when in fact it was a dirty war. I secretly hope that Ukraine will win and those responsible for these shameful acts will be severely punished. They should be killed for crimes, rapes, thefts and bombings. 
I am sorry that so many innocent people lost their lives. The world will never forgive the Russians for this. Putin, his oligarchs and supporters should suffer the same fate as their innocent victims. 
It is a pity that the world is watching this and does nothing apart from humanitarian and military aid. As you can see, the sanctions imposed on Russia are not working. Unfortunately, it reminds me of World War II. Will anything change? Will there be world peace? Honestly? There will never be peace. A tragic and sad truth.
This report is worth reading. 
In it you will learn the pure truth about Ukraine, its power and corruption. It's a shame that Russia meddles in the affairs of a country that is not its own. Putin had and still has a grudge against Ukraine that broke away from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He cannot accept the fact that Ukraine wants to be a member of the European Union. Why? 
You should figure that out for yourself. Someone would lose too much here. As I read this report, I became more and more terrified. I couldn't stop crying. 
It's not in my head. Should you be killed for telling the truth? As this book shows, the truth will kill you, not set you free.
Do you remember what happened in Maidan? If you don't remember, be sure to read this book. The author describes it perfectly here. Get your tissues ready and bring something to calm you down.
Volodymyr Zelensky was warned of Putin's armed attack on Ukraine. The CIA informed the Ukrainian president that the Kremlin had drawn up a list of people to be shot. At the very top was the president of Ukraine. Who else is on this list? After answering, I refer you to the book "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" by Christopher Miller.
Washington has been raising the alarm since March 2021. It was then that Russia began to arm itself intensively. 
Why was Zelensky dissatisfied with the US, Canadian and British embassies? 
Why didn't the Ukrainian president start arming himself when he was warned?
I liked Zelensky's speech, in which he spoke to the Russian people. But did they listen to him? Rather, they blindly believed their guru, Putin. They gave their own sons and fathers as cannon fodder. And what were they for? If they listened to the president of Ukraine, life would be more beautiful. Putin is a combination of Hitler and Stalin. Nothing good came of it. In this book, you will learn how Zelensky came to power. It was useful information. 
Thank you to the author.
Putin is responsible for genocide. I hope he gets severe punishment for this. I learned the shocking story of Oksana and her family. Thanks to her, I was able to experience Russian propaganda. I wonder if Putin thinks the world is blind and can't see what he's doing? I really enjoyed this book because it is very emotional. My blood pressure went up many times.
Thanks to Christopher Miller for sharing his observations with us. He was an eyewitness to the invasion (war) of Russia into Ukraine. Thanks to what he saw, we can now know the complete truth about it.
Remember Ukraine was, is and will be. 
Every state has the right to exist. The other state has no right to enter it militarily. 
This is not a special operation, but pure war.

I read this book as an e-book. It is a pity that the author did not include a single photo in it. This is the only downside.
If you like reportage and war factual books, you should definitely read "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" by Christopher Miller.

I recommend.