Skybreaker – Kenneth Oppel

Author: Kenneth Oppel
Title: Skybreaker
Publisher: Harper Trophy Canada
Publication Date: 2005
Age range: 10 - 16
Genre: Fantasy / Canadian Author / Series Fiction
Rating: 1 2 3 4 5

Plot summary: The second in the Airborn series, Oppel delivers another page-turning adventure. Matt Cruse is now enrolled in the Airship Academy in Paris, and at the start of the book he has been shipped out for a turn as a navigator's assistant on the Flotsam, an airship of much lower class than the Aurora where Matt got his start as a cabin boy. Caught in a storm and captained by a reckless pilot, the Flotsam ascends to heights it was not designed for – and all aboard catch a glimpse of the long-lost Hyperion. The Hyperion has been adrift at uncharted heights for forty years, and only Matt recalls the coordinates she was sighted at, as the rest of the crew were suffering from oxygen deprivation. No one knows how the Hyperion met her fate.

Back in Paris, Matt's fellow adventurer Kate de Vries is enrolled at the Sorbonne, and is learning to fly as well. Her craft of choice is an ornithopter, a small machine capable of holding one or two people and used for taxiing people around. Kate is well aware that the owner of the Hyperion, famous inventor and collector Theodore Grunel, had amassed a remarkable number of artifacts and taxidermy. She convinces Matt to join her in attempting to find the Hyperion once again, though they are not alone in wanting to track down the ghost ship and plunder her treasures. Kate dreams of more undiscovered species, while Matt wishes for enough gold to set up his family comfortably. They are joined by Nadira, who turns out to the daughter of the pirate Spirzglas, who fell overboard in Airborn while trying to kill Matt. Although Nadira turns out be to as daring and adventurous as her father, she wants to find gold to avoid an arranged marriage and give herself the freedom to live the life she wants. Nadira is also a trustworthy ally.

In order to reach the Hyperion, drifting aimlessly at frigid heights, a special kind of ship is needed: a skybreaker. Kate makes friends with Hal, the dashing captain of just such a ship. Matt gets a bit jealous, as well as confused, feeling so drawn to Kate and yet attracted to Nadira – and also suspicious that Kate has a thing for Hal! The four make their way to the Hyperion but they are pursued and attacked by others who would get Grunel's treasures, and must rely on luck as well as their wits to survive the experience.

Comments: This is a fantastic follow-up to Airborn! Matt and Kate are a bit more mature, and the surrounding cast of characters is just as exciting as in the first novel, even though most of them have changed. I particularly enjoyed a cameo from Chef Vlad early on in the book; he was the chef abroad the Aurorain book one but now plies his trade in a very upscale restaurant halfway up the Eiffel Tower. Kate gets to discover more new species, this time high in the sky. Remarkably consistent and thoroughly entertaining, I did not want to put this book down.

Matt is a character easy to empathize with for both males and females, I think. He is up for a challenge, but also has those moments of indecision and self-doubt that most readers will recognize as normal in any person. Matt is fiercely loyal, and wants to make life more comfortable for those he loves. A new facet to his character in this book is his struggle with his studies; though he knows perfectly how to serve as a cabin boy and how to perform most duties aboard a ship, he doesn’t intuitively understand the physics and mathematics behind flying. One of the things that makes Matt such a great character is that he recognizes his imperfections and tries to overcome them, no matter how difficult.

Dates Read: 4 – 9 March