Ascent by Jed Mercurio
Published September 26, 2022

I was intrigued by this, written by the brilliant mind behind Line of Duty. It’s an odd little book, chronicalling the life of a Russian from a troubled boyhood to a long stint flying planes in the military and then joining the space race against the US. It’s a good read and I thought the ending very impactful, but it does feel like it’s missing something. There’s not a lot of personality given to any of the characters, so it’s hard to get fully engaged. And some of the flying adventures are like reading Top Gun which I wasn’t so bothered about. But overall worth the read.