Laika was an abandoned puppy destined to become Earth's first space traveler. Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, the driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika's health and life.

Magic and science clash in a world where highly evolved pigs fight their mortal enemies, the warthogs, for dominion of the skies! On the grand sweep of the Pigdom Plains lives a small pig called Lily, the daughter of renowned inventor, Hercules Fatchops. Hercules' personal holy grail is to invent powered aircraft, a feat already achieved in secret by Lily.