ASCENT

A fictional story of the Soviet space program is told through the character of Yefgenii Yeremin, an orphan who became a fighter pilot in the Korean War, and later a cosmonaut. Since the USSR's activity during the space race was shrouded in secrecy, the author finds fertile ground for speculation, as explained in his afterword. Yeremin was not a real-life person, and the Soviet moon shot depicted did not actually happen. Probably. Todd McLaren narrates admirably but isn't given a lot of opportunity to develop characters in a novel filled with technical details. He keeps it interesting, though, and the experience could be described as a Soviet version of APOLLO 13. S.D.D. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 07]