Caves of Mars

The effort to dramatize science for readers is clearly on the mind of NASA physicist Wolff in creating his Falcon Gold Space Adventures. This first volume details five teenagers' freshman semester as cadets at the 24th Century Space Ranger Academy. Each of them is a genius or outstanding in some way, but they still have to learn discipline and teamwork. There are three major crises, each a conflict between the visionary cadet commander, Col. Mikhail London and his pirate nemesis, the renegade Marrkor. What's more, the five teenagers are crucial in saving lives and worlds each time. Wolff understands daydreams of glory but his gosh-wow attitude and the melodramatic contrivances of the Saturday-afternoon serial plot limit the characters as well as the book's credibility. Ages 11-17. (April)