Airborn

by Kenneth Oppel

AIRBORN by Kenneth Oppel can be described as similar to TREASURE ISLAND. This book takes place aboard the grand luxury airship Aurora. The man character, Matt Cruse, is a cabin boy trying to become a sailmaker aboard the ship. A young woman, Kate de Vries, and her chaperone come aboard the ship and turn Matt's life upside down in more ways than one. Not only does this story involve giant airships in a 1930s world but pirates, flying panthers, and all kinds of adventure. This story was a fun read and I was forever wondering what was going to happen to the characters and how the story was going to resolve. I was worried at first that it was going to be too much like some of the other stories I've read but it was so fresh.

The characters are believable and that was my only complaint. I wanted to strangle Kate on multiple occasions because she was acting too stubborn and pushy, which is how a lot of 14-year-old aristocrats act (or so I've been told). I enjoyed the story and thought the characters showed a lot of growth from beginning to end. (I didn't want to strangle Kate quite as often.) The pirate Szpirglas especially drew my attention because he was someone I could almost side with when I learned his reasoning. As I mentioned earlier this story reminded me a lot of the classic adventure stories. AIRBORN keeps everything fresh and you are never sure of where it is going to go next.