Juvenile Fiction
Harper Collins
2004-05-11
Hardcover
368
library
2005 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow's nest, being the ship's eyes. We were two nights out of Sydney, and there'd been no weather to speak of so far. I was keeping watch on a dark stack of nimbus clouds off to the northwest, but we were leaving it far behind, and it looked to be smooth going all the way back to Lionsgate City. Like riding a cloud. . . .
Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.
In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.
After 23 books, we finally reach the first of the Printz honored books that I have read before. It’s been awhile, I remember checking it out from the town library a number of years ago, and had loved it then. I have also read and enjoyed it’s sequels.
I read so many books, though, that I often don’t remember specifics about a particular book. As I began to reread, some of the details came back, although partway through I realized that I was mentally confusing it with another steampunk series by a completely different author. (I was expecting certain things to happen and then realized no, wait, that was in Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld — another series that I thoroughly enjoyed…)
I’m a big fan of books that reimagine what our world would be like with different technology. In this case, our main character, Matt Cruse, is a cabin boy aboard a massive airship. Cruse is clearly destined for greater things, and has to contend with pirates, shipwrecks, never before recorded flying creatures. The book is fast-paced with tons of exciting adventure.
He is paired with a wealthy young passenger, Kate, who is a great “Mighty Girl” character. She is smart and independent and not at all happy with the restrictions her society is trying to place on her as “just a girl” who should content herself with doing “ladylike things.” She’d much rather emulate her grandfather and have adventures and discover new things.
I enjoyed this book the first time, and I was glad to see that it held up to a reread and was just as good the second time.
