Reviews

"A tightly plotted, fast-paced adventure with engaging and humourous characters....When the action kicks off -- kidnappings, shoot-outs with pirates, cloud cat attacks -- Oppel's skill is to maintain tension by piling on twist after twist as events unfold. Airborn's action is underscored by Matt's memories of his dead father, which add thoughtfulness and depth to the book."

– Times Educational Supplement (UK)

Airships represent to many the most romantic and elegant means of travel. For a while, in the early 20th century, they seemed to be the way of the future for intercontinental travel. Massive, ungainly on the ground, they were agile, swift and captivating when skyward. But they could be dangerous and vulnerable. In his latest novel, Airborne (HarperCollins, $22.99), Kenneth Oppel, the multi-award winning Canadian author of Sunwing, Silverwing and Firewing, wonderfully imagines a time when airships plied the skies, Earth-bound society was late Victorian, and the world still had undiscovered secrets. This is a story that blends high-skies piracy, risky escapes, unknown tropical islands, strange, graceful but ultimately sinister "sky cats" and the inner workings of life aloft with a subtle swipe at class barriers and primness. Oppel is an accomplished author of thrilling stories, but his real skill is in creating characters, bad and good, who are convincing, involving, sometimes funny and always easy to cheer on. Oppel really is the successor of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, and he is just as good.

– Victoria Times Colonist 

Airborn is a satisfying rip-roaring adventure ... Oppel writes with clarity and passion, particularly in his descriptions of the natural world and the world in the sky, and the plot fairly zips along, but there is also a reflective quality to his writing, and he is not afraid to tackle the issue of death. Kate and Matt, both dreamers and kindred spirits, are well-rounded characters, frustrated by the class differences between them, and argumentative as a result. If you liked Mortal Engines and Harry Potter, this is for you!"

– Booktrusted News(UK)

Airborn is good, old-fashioned YA adventure with an alternate reality twist. In this early 20th-century world, "airships" are a major mode of transportation.... Matt [faces] pirates, storms, shipwreck on a desert island, and other dangers in this rousing adventure."

– Locus Magazine 

Get ready for Airborn, another action-packed book from Kenneth Oppel (who wrote the Silverwing trilogy).... Wow! I've read many Kenneth Oppel books, and I think Airborn is one of the best he has written. By the end of the first paragraph, I was already fully submerged in the story. The plot is filled with one exciting moment after another. There are just so many unexpected events that happen.... There are also many clever survival tricks Matt and Kate use to free themselves from danger. Many of them made me jump out of my chair! Kenneth Oppel puts detail into the characters' emotions so you can really get a feel for all the events. This book kept me entertained chapter after chapter. I can't wait for the sequel to come out!

- Taylor Lew, 13, Grade 7, Brand New PLanet / Toronto Star

Kenneth Oppel's AIRBORN is a high adventure in every sense. 15-year-old Matt Cruse, cabin boy on the Aurora, a luxury hydrium-powered airship, tells a tale that never flags for 400 pages. Oppel's description of Captain Walken and his crew, the ship itself, the strange and vicious "cloud cat" creature, a tropical island, its forests and pirate village (pirates are named Crumlin, Rathgar: Oppel, a Canadian, spent a year in Dublin) the wilful Kate de Vries whom Matt falls for, the sharp dialogue - all are brilliantly done. At the outset, the old-fashioned entertaining storytelling, with its spectacularly clear picturing of events, reminded me of Robert Louis Stevenson; but its momentum-gathering plot, shootings, dangers, savagery and suspense add a James Bond dimension. Though Kate and Matt "have as much future as a fish and a kangaroo", love triumphs. Set in an imaginary past, Airborn's contained world is totally absorbing, cleverly plotted, a terrific read. My 12-year-old daughter and I raced through it. No Harry Potter this summer -- Oppel's Airborn more than makes up for it.

– The Irish Times 

If you thought the hot-air balloon scenes in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy were exciting, hitch a ride on the Aurora airship in Kenneth Oppel's spectacular young-adult fantasy novel Airborn. Oppel, known for his best-selling Silverwing trilogy about the hidden lives of bats, has more in common with the famous British fantasy author than an interest in flight and a predilection for publishing books in threes. Like the popular Pullman series, Airborn is set in an alternative world where the similarities to our own are every bit as fascinating as the differences. In this case, what if some of the early 20th century's more bizarre experiments in aviation had actually worked? In Oppel's imaginary, not-so-distant past, giant luxury airships ply the air like ocean liners (thanks to a miraculous mango-scented gas called hydrium), while flying contraptions with feathered mechanical wings taxi people about--and everything else is slightly altered as a result.

– AMAZON.CA

"Details of life and work aboard the ship as well as the dramatic escapade itself make this a captivating read."

- Booklist

"Kate and Matt are given equal roles in this adventure laced with a touch of fantasy reminiscent of Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Committing several murders, the pirates are typically unsavoury but are not stock cartoon characters. This title, packed with suspense, fantasy, and thrills, is a solid selection geared to middle school boys." 

– VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

The airship Aurora, centrepiece of the novel, is more than a setting; it's a universe unto itself, with luxurious passenger cabins and cramped crew quarters, sweeping stairways and hidden catwalks, vast dining halls and noisy kitchens. In short, it's the sort of place a reader wants to settle into and explore. Oppel, through his immensely likable narrator, Matt Cruse, invites us to do just that.... A funny, engaging adventure story -- the kind of book you read in a day or two (or stay up late to finish).... Airborn is all that. Lighter than air, but with unexpected lifting power.

- Robert Charles Wilson, The Globe & Mail (Toronto)