Customer Reviews

Ascent: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Much of the following review will try to compensate for the negatives I've seen in the other reviews.

You know what it's about - the synopsis not only tells you exactly what the basic story is about, it basically eliminates all surprise. However, for the faulst that other reviews here have aptly cited, "Ascent" is still a worthy read. Much as the flap describes, "Ascent" follows the unlikely life of a Soviet orphan who finds his way to the Cosmonaut program. Yefgenii first tangles with glory flying MiG-15 jets in the skies over Korea, one of the "Honchos" of the Soviet VVS who fly their Soviet-built jets in North Korean markings. His job is "to kill jets" of the UN forces, mostly Sabres and some RAF Meteors, an occupation with which he will excel with murderous precision. After rising to the pinnacle of "Ace of Aces", often crossing oaths with future astronauts, Yefgenii's final flight will see him returned in ignominy. He will spend the next 15 or so years patroling the Soviets' arctic frontier in a MiG-17PFU against western spy -planes. All but bereft of hope for a new war which might return him to glory, Yefgenii regularly patrols the arctic skies until "min-fuel". At the last moment (for his age) Yefgenii is virtually rehabilitated - under an assumed name, he is allowed to join the Cosmonaut core. It's 1968, and a series of mis-steps have allowed the Russian space effort a fighting chance of beating the Americans to the moon. In Russia, the moon is worse than an avowed lost-cause: the Soviets, knowing the moon is already an American footstool, proclaim that there was never a race to begin with. Secretly, they ready their slip-shod hardware (a dangerously over-engined launcher, and a lunar-ship stack that cannot be traversed without EVA) for one final stab at beating NASA. Yefgenii - already a man who technically doesm't exist - is the perffect candidate for a mission that need not be reported if it fails. In the wilderness of cislunar space, Yefgenii's emotional shell will be pealed like an onion, and he will learn the true meaning of survival.

This was an especially frustrating book. Yeah, the .22 shell was a minor error, but an unneccessary one that highlights what's wrong with much of the combat sequences. The author didn't have to say what kind of shell it was - but this was only one example of much of the unneeded and often intrusive information that the author jacks in. Maybe Mr. Mercurio doubted his grasp on he science of air combat, and decided that the only way to maintain his "street cred" in aviation was to toss in repeated reminders of more famous pilots and their histories - reminding us that Yefgenii was sharing the skies with John Glenn, Neil Armstrong & Ted Williams. The effect was pretty nifty the first time, but Comrade Mercurio abuses the privilge. When he's not reminding us about the legends patrolling the skies on the other side of the Yalu, Mercurio makes other needlessly histrionic leaps, ramming into the story all sorts of historically important tidbits that would be relevant if "Ascent" wasn't supposed to be an intensely personal story. Mercurio so compulsively leaps to the Astronautica website for filler that Yefgenii is frequently shunted aside in his own story. (No wonder he's emotioanlly remote.)The error is even more glaring because Soviet censorship likely meant that Yefgenii was entirely in the dark about much of the information that Mercuior uses to fatten his story. This means that Yefgenii is sharing a book with a story for which he has no frame of reference. Readers who were frustrated by the lack of focus in "Flyboys" will find all-too familiar airspace in "Ascent". Yefgenii himself is an especially weak character around which to form a story of survival - he's basically a big blank, lacking any concrete motivation.

Admittedly, this wouldn't be a problem were "Ascent" not the effectively personal book that it finally becomes in its final chapters. Even the flight scenes, admittedly imperfect, are at least as absorbing as those of vets routinely hailed for their realism. If "Ascent" is not an exhaustively researched book on the technology of Apollo-era spacecraft, it manages an epic-performance as one. Mercurio leaves "The History Channel" behind, weaving technology and human drama into a heartfelt inquisition of the human spirit and the nature of heroism. "Ascent", in its flap asks "what if the Americans weren't firsat", typifying the question as "chilling". By "chilling" Mercurio doesn't mean that the result of the moonrace would have fundamentally changed the course of history beyond Apollo's iconic value. Rather, Mercurio wonders about what sort of world harnesses immense desperation, and then casts it out into the cold void.

This was a thin book that consumed an entire afternoon. All throughout, I knew it was a frustrating read, and one I never put down.

Five STUNNING Stars! Author Jed Mercurio has created a great novel of flying, of edge-of-your-seat air battles, and of personal and nationalistic ascension aimed at space. The author parallels his 'novel world' with 'real world' space race events in a riveting feat of masterful writing that ends with both worlds converging. 'What if?' What if the achievements of the space race were not what they seemed to the world. The author centers his story on Yefgenii Yeremin, an orphan who had seen and experienced some of the worst of World War II, but who "ascended from the ruins of Stalingrad" and caught a break, through his intelligence and determination, and became a combat pilot. As the story proceeds, the reader is aware of space race personalities and events of both the Soviet Union and the United States, while the storyline centers on specific matters concering Yeremin's career.

The author's chapter on the "world's first jet war" and the 'MiG versus F86 Sabre' dog fights over Korea from Yefgenii's perspective in the early 1950's is absolutely spellbinding, and for American readers possibly quite unsettling: after all, this was the face of the 'Soviet enemy' flying incognito for North Korea, presented in remarkable prose. Yefgenii experienced long periods of being denied participartion in the air battles, but he eventually morphs into "Ivan The Terrible". His life drew meaning from flying: "He was a falcon and in the actions of a fighter pilot he expressed his true nature." Flying is supreme, even beyond his nameless family. But that just sets the stage for the remaining tension-filled parts of the novel.

In the "Franz Josef Land" chapters, the flying sequences during 'the hunt' are absolutely stunning as the author shows both his knowledge of flying and ability to deliver a tension-filled scene that any layman reader can follow. If this chapter doesn't give the reader sweaty palms, I don't know what will. And then he cranks it up another notch as the parallel story lines converge in a place called "Star City" but will Yefgenii take the chance of a lifetime? And what is the cost? For the reader, more sweaty palms as Mercurio ramps up even more on the matter of "N1-5L Soyuz-7K-L3-1", as Yefgenii careens toward his huge dilemma and the novel reaches a great conclusion. The last three paragraphs are AWESOME. This amazing writer in his American debut has produced a superb novel about a determined man flying amidst the pages of history on a fantastic journey. Caution: some unsettling, disturbing scenes, early on. My Highest Recommendation! Five DAZZLING Stars!!
(This review is based on an unabridged digital download in secure eReader format.)

Is 'aviation fiction' a genre? 'Ascent' reminded me of 'The Flight of the Intruder'. A really well written story about an unusual person. A (fictional?) Russian jet fighter 'ace of aces', though Soviet pilots 'never' flew in Korea, who went on to be the (fictional?) first person to land on the moon, in the failed Soviet lunar mission we never knew of. Apparently, the Soviets were expert at 'disappearing' those they regarded as unsuccessful, and rewriting history to support this. Written from the perspective of a 'cosmonaut', so some will find it dry. There is the matter of the .22 caliber anti-aircraft shell, which seems an amateurish error, yet an unimportant one.

I was very impressed with this novel by Jed Mercurio. Having been an avid reader of historical fiction for quite some time, it was refreshing to see a new author's take on an era that is often overlooked in historical fiction terms. The story deals with the rise of a Russian from being raised in an orphanage at the end of the second World War to his eventual contribution to the Russian Space Program. Taking themes from similar books on the subject, Mercurio blends fictional accounts with historical ones. This is of particular note when the protagonist of the story happens upon future American astronauts on the field of battle. The book moves along at a decent pace without sacrificing too much characterization. The main character, Yefgeni Yeremin, is the central point of the story and is therefore given the most exposition. We join him on his journey and I couldn't help but compare it to the book and movie "The Blue Max" by Jack Hunter. In that story, the main character Bruno is driven to leave his humble roots behind and become the greatest pilot of the First World War. His passion and desire to be the best comes at the expense of some of his relationships with family and peers but it is what drives the character. Similarly, Yeremin is shown to be in a similar light. For readers looking for the overwhelming detail of an author such as Tom Clancy and the like, you may want to look elsewhere. I could compare it to Jeff Shaara's works as well but whereas Shaara looks to give voice to historical figures, Mercurio reserves his voice to those who are his fictional creation while giving the occasional cameo dialogue to historical figures. While the book is well written, it doesn't delve into the deeper historical aspects of what was going on during the Korean War and eventually during the Russian space program. While it is fiction, there is a bit of truth to the proceedings in that there are still so many classified and hidden stories coming from the old Soviet Union that it is quite possible though not necessarily true, that such events did occur in real life. An excellent second book by an author who I think will see much more readership in the years to come.

I was touched by the portrayal of the anti-hero of the book. The awful Dickensian beginings, and the way that the life of a stolid, loyal man, became a whim to the ebbing and flowing tides of political expediency. You kinda know what the ending will be, but it is beautifully written and leaves that tragic feeling of sadness and waste that you get with a well written sad ending, but as other have pointed out, the character just wasnt likeable enough for me to care once the book was closed. I have to compare that with my experience of Cormac McCarthys "The Road" where I had to re-read the book 3 times in as many days and the aftermath of it stayed with me for months.

Nevertheless this is a good book and one well worth reading, even for those who are not "stick and rudder" men.

Extremely graphic and beginning leading into a middle section that is a lot like top gun and then a finish with Apollo 13. Jed Mercurio pulls all these elements together into a very readable and compelling book. Loved all the action in the middle of the book, and during that part of the read it was very hard to put down.

I won't bore you with re-capping the plot. It's all there in the synopsis and in some of the other reviews. The novel is broken into sections, with each one detailing some portion of the protagonist's life. The first section, dealing with his youth, is, well, "disgusting" springs to mind. The main section of the book deals with Yeremin flying in Korea and becoming the highest scoring jet ace of all time. The air combat sequences are pedestrian at best but when the author has "Ivan the Terrible" in combat with F-86's and is wounded by a ".22-caliber"(What?! How'd THAT happen? F-86's had .50 caliber guns. Was Yeremin wounded by some plinker in Korea?). Obviously no one edits for facts any more.

Mercurio throws real people into the fray and does a creditable job in the afterword straightening out the record that he altered. All in all, the story had promise, but the execution was flawed and Yeremin is easily one of the most unsympathetic characters I can recall in recent fiction.

But if there's redemption,it's the dedication: To those who actually did the jobs. In any event, this is another flying novel that ends with controlled flight into terrain. I'm beginning to think that writing good flying novels is a lost art. Sad.