What We’re Reading

Airborn | Kenneth Oppel

Rating:

Matt Cruse was born for Airship life–quite literally. When his father is killed in an accident, the idea of remaining at home is insufferable to him, and he takes a job aboard the very same ship his father used to frequent. The Aurora. To Matt, the ship is home.

In the air he feels most alive, most comfortable, most himself. At night he dreams of his father, by day he dreams of becoming a captain someday.

Through some rather interesting twists of events, Matt becomes a hero for rescuing a hot air balloon, but the situation leaves him glum, as he feels he disappointed the balloon’s occupant on his deathbed. A year later, he finds himself face to face with the man’s grandaughter, and the mystery starts anew.

Kate has brought along her grandfather’s journal, which she shares with Matt. Inside are detailed drawings of the creatures the man had been speaking of when he died. Matt can scarcely believe his eyes, but it does seem likely that the things actually exist. Though their route won’t take them very close to where the animals were spotted, Matt promises to tell Kate when they come close, so she can try to spot them and prove her grandfather right.

Instead, they ship suffers a run in with pirates; an episode which leaves them battered and broken, lucky to find land to tie-down the ship and make repairs. Aside from the cook, who is overjoyed at the culinary options offered by thei new paradise, not many seem too enchanted with their island. Except for Matt and Kate, who know where they must be.

Many adventures and much trouble ensue.

A fast-paced read, lots of fun. Like me, you’re likely to be off to the sequel when you’re through.

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The Airborn | Kenneth Oppel by Jaemi, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 11:12 am by Jaemi and is filed under Book Review, Series. Find similar posts by selecting and of the following tags: airships, fantasy, imaginary creatures, pirates, scifi, ya fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.