Airborn (novel)
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| 1st edition cover | |
| Author | Kenneth Oppel |
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| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | [[ ]], Alternate history |
| Publisher | Eos (USA) & Hodder (UK) |
| Released | 15 April 2004 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 433 pp (UK hardback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-340-87855-X (UK hardback edition) |
| Followed by | Skybreaker |
Airborn is a novel by Kenneth Oppel. The book has been honored by several awards including winning Canada's Governor General's Award. The novel takes place in the 1930s of a parallel world where instead of airplanes, the primary form of air transportation are airships. The book takes place aboard one such ship, the Aurora, which is essentially an air cruise ship, and is told through the perspective of one of its cabin boys, Matt.
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[edit] Plot summary
This is the story of 15 year old Matt Cruse, a cabin boy on the gigantic passenger airship Aurora. Matt lives to fly, and only in the air can he dream of his long-deceased father. When the Aurora finds a drifting, damaged balloon with an old man inside of it, it is Matt who rescues him. The old man's dying words talk of some amazing creature in the sky and how someone called Kate would love them.
A year later, an ornithopter lands on the Aurora, bringing aboard 2 passengers called Kate de Vries, and her caretaker, Miss Simpkins. Matt learns that the old man he rescued was Kate's grandfather and Kate is determined to prove that the amazing creatures her grandfather spoke and wrote about are real. Kate and Matt become fast friends, though Matt is painfully aware of their class differences. Matt has high hopes of being promoted to Junior Sailmaker but the place is given to Bruce Lunardi- a boy who just graduated from the Air Academy and whose father is the rich owner of not only the Aurora but a whole chain of airships, aptly named the "Lunardi Line". Kate shares her grandfather's log book containing detailed drawings and information of the creatures with Matt. The creatures are born in the air and can stay in the air forever, never touching the ground, though they are as large as a panther.
Then one night, pirates lead by the legendary Vikram Szpirglas attack the Aurora, threatening to down it with cannon-fire if the crew does not cease and desist. Szpirglas' pirates plunder the passengers and crew of all valuables and then proceed to leave. But both ships are caught in a storm and Szpirglas' smaller ship crashes into the Aurora, tearing through the goldbeaters' skin and causing hydrium gas, the substance that keeps the Aurora afloat, to leak out of the airship, causing it to nearly sink to the waves. Then follows a frantic night of gluing and repairing the goldbeaters skin but the crew of the Aurora has lost too much hydrium gas and the passengers and crew prepare to abandon ship. Just then, Matt sights an island where they can land the Aurora on, and they do so.
While the crew unload unnecessary baggage so the ship may remain airborne, Kate discovers that this is the very island which her grandfather spotted the creatures flying above. She is bent on exploring the island, forcing Matt to accompany her. Together they find the skeleton of one of these large winged creatures which failed to fly and crashed. A few minutes later, they find a living one. They decide to name these creatures "Cloud Cats".
The Aurora is almost ready to fly again another storm heavily damages the goldbeaters' skin yet again. Matt is rebuked for being late for his shift but redeems himself when he remembers that he smelt hydrium on the island. Kate has one last chance to go back and take pictures of these creatures but Miss Simpkins has locked her in her room for associating with Matt. She escapes and runs off with her camera. Matt and Bruce are sent to find her and together discover that Cloud Cats are dangerous carnivores. Bruce gets bitten on the leg and as they run back to the ship, Matt and Kate lose Bruce and stumble on the pirates.
Szpirglas and his crew don't recognize them; Kate and Matt are forced to act as if they were shipwrecked. They to spend the night at the pirate camp. They try and escape at night but are caught and locked in an hydrium pit. They use Kate's pants as a balloon and escape. They then have to rescue the Aurora from the pirates, who are bound to find her.
They find Bruce in the forest and sneak back onto the Aurora. All passengers and crew are being held hostage by 8 pirates. There is no wind, so the pirates don't notice as they undo all the landing lines. Matt is only a cabin boy, but because of his passion for flying, he knows everything about the Aurora and how to fly her. They switch the controls from the main control car to the auxiliary control car and fly her but Szpirglas soon retakes control. Matt, Kate and Bruce have to defeat 8 pirates and shut down the engines that are carrying them back to the island. Matt gives sleeping potion to the ship's passionate cook, Chef Vlad to put in the pirates' food. Bruce is killed by a pirate who in turn is eaten by the Cloud Cat. Matt and Szpirglas fight on top of the Aurora in the open air and Matt is forced to fall off the hull. He freefalls, then lands with a crash on a fin. He comes to the bitter realisation that he is not as light as a feather as he thought, and cannot fly. But he defeats Szpirglas who is torn apart by Cloud Cats. The Aurora is about to crash into the island's mountain but Matt steers her out of harm's way, realising that she is his means of flight.
As the story ends, Kate is exhibiting her Cloud Cat skeleton and her pictures of the Cloud Cats and is going to study zoology at a university in Paris. Matt, with the help of the reward money for finding Szpirglas' base of operation, goes to the Air Academy, just across the river from Kate.
[edit] Hydrium
A fictional gas, lighter than hydrogen, used as a cause of buoyancy. It is unbreathable by humans. It is described as leaking naturally out of pits in the earth, similarly to methane. It gives off a mango-like scent, as well as a hissing sound. In Oppel's book it is used in airships instead of helium or hydrogen. It is guessed that Oppel made a portmanteau of the words helium and hydrogen to get hydrium. Hydr(ogen) + (Hel)ium = Hydrium.
[edit] Awards
- The book won the Governor General's Award for children's literature.
- The book was a Michael L. Printz Award honor book.
- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon award winner.
- The book is currently a 2006-2007 Nutmeg Award nominee.
- The book is currently a 2006-2007 Rebecca Caudill nominee.
[edit] Movie Adaptation
- The book is currently being adapted into a film, to be directed by Stephen Sommers, and rumored that Liam Aiken will be starring as Matt Cruse.
