Airborn

Kenneth Oppel has spun a yarn that yet again exceeds my expectations!
Airborn was the first book I read that Kenneth Oppel wrote and I have to say, it left me craving for more of his fantastic literature.
For me, Airborn has magical qualities and holds a special place in my heart because of Kenneth's ability to blend a heap of adventure, breath-taking suspense and a pinch of romance all into an amazing story: Matt Cruse is the cabin boy of the Aurora, the 900-foot luxury airship he has called home for the past two years. While crossing the Pacificus, he fearlessly rescues the unconcious pilot of a crippled hot air balloon.
Before he dies, the balloonist tells Matt about the fantastic, impossible creatures he has seen flying through the clouds. Matt dismisses the story as the ravings of a dying man, but when Kate de Vries arrives on the Aurora a year later, determined to prove the story true, Matt finds himself caught up in her quest. Then one night over the middle of the ocean, deadly air pirates board the Aurora. Far from any hope of rescue, Kate and Matt are flung into adventures beyond all imagining . . .

Airborn is currently available in these editions and prices

Original Hardcover: Unavailable
Trade Paperback: Unavailable
Mass Market Paperbound: $9.99
Audio Book: $45.00

It was weird going back and reading the first book in this trilogy after reading the third novel, but it was well worth it. In this story, set in an alternative world where airplanes were never developed and airships still rule the skies, Kenneth Oppel has created an amazing world, full of adventure and wonder.

The story focuses around a trip from Lions Gate to Australia aboard the ship Aurora. Young Matt Cruse and Miss Kate de Vries meet on this journey. In this story we have pirate attacks, ship wreck, an uncharted island, undiscovered species and much, much more. With amazing characters and plot twists I could not put the book down. It is a great read and another awesome book by Mr. Oppel.

I love this book. I first read it when I was in high school and fell instantly in love with Matt Cruse, Kate DeVries and their larger than life adventure! Reading it now, I can still honestly say that this is a great book. Kenneth Oppel is clearly a gifted, talented, genius of a writer! I highly recommend this one!

Fantastic page tuner. The story is about the adventure of a cabin boy of a luxgurious air ship(Matt) and a ballonists daughter(Kate). Together they try to find the mistrious animal that Kates grandfather talked to matt aqbout before he died. They find he perfect oppurtunity to do so when a typoon and a pirate shi[p ring them down to the island where these creaturs hover above.Also the location of the pirates' headquarters. They were about to set sail to civilization after the ship was repaired but they were suddenly attacked by the pirate gang. Together Kate and Matt defeat them and ster the ship to safety.

I've read the sequel book, Skybreaker, and I have found this book to be a bit boring. All the starter books of a series are a bit dull to be honest. Harry Potter was. But anyway, this book was ok. Wish there was a little more action in it though. Skybreaker has action on every page. Where in this book it was mostly talking, and learning. Although I found it not so good, the rest of you might think of it differently. I recommend this book anyway. Have a great read!

To tell you the truth, I was a little hesitant to pick up Airborn. I had seen it on the shelves in bookstores for a while now, but the cover did not appeal to me; I thought it looked like a guy's sort of "fast car chase mystery detective" novel. I was wrong, and I am so glad I was! 'Airborn' is an amazing new story set in a fascinating world that is familiar to us, yet mysterious and different. A science fiction with a dash of fantasy, this book makes for a wonderful read. Kenneth Oppel introduces us to this world and the characters slowly; like your watching a someone woodcarving, and though for some books this may be a drawback, Oppel does it correctly. The reader becomes so well acquainted with the story and the heroes, its as if we are reading our OWN story. Though I usually hate the style of writing this book is written in, Oppel yet again does it correctly, and I love it here. It is very tricky to write in the first person, but he has mastered it beautifully! Once the action picks up, all the little details that were mentioned before fall into place in your head. Soon the adventure becomes quite fast-paced with many things happening at once, yet it is easy to keep track of everything, as the story has been well-grounded. I highly recommend this book, and I cannot wait to read the second installment!

The book Airborn by Kenneth Oppel was great! It's about Matt and Kate going on an adventure in the sky. I liked the way Kenneth Oppel described what the cloud cat looked like. This book is very interesting and very adventurous. I would really recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure books.

Michael

Matt Cruse works as a cabin boy on the airship Aurora. His father, before him, worked and died on this ship and Matt himself was born on an airship. Sailing is in his blood and he feels he was born to be in the air. He befriends a girl passenger who is making her first air voyage to prove the existence of strange air creatures that her recently deceased grandfather was thought to have imagined. While making a routine voyage with a full load of passenger's and cargo they are attacked and boarded by pirates. This is the beginning of Matt and Kate's deadly adventures.

I loved this book! There is not one single thing that did not appeal to me. Set in an alternate earth similar to the Victorian era only instead of sailing the seas their ships sail the skies. This is a rip-roaring, rollicking good nautical adventure that takes place in the air. Strange creatures, air pirates, shipwreck and desert islands, it is all here. A strong female character with an equally strong male character will appeal to both boys and girls. As per usual with Oppel the death scenes can bit on the gory side and this is definitely a YA book. Both an absorbing plot and wonderfully in-depth character development, along with a fully developed alternate world make this a page-turning adventure. Highly recommended. I can't wait to read the next book!

this was easly one of my favorite book every!!!!!
i cant even start to explain it. My grad 7 teacher recommended it to the class and since i likes fantasy i thuoght i would pick it up and try to read it. i started it friday night and finushed saturday at 4 in the morning!!! i could not put it down was easly one of the best fantasy novels of its year and it sequel was ealsy as good! am still hoping a third one will be coming out soon. im keeping my fingers crossed. so to end i recomment this book 10,000% you will not regret reading this amazing fun, suspense,romatic,thrilling novel!!!

Airborn is an absoulute must read. It was the type of book that you couldn't put down, a very exciting adventure story, also a good cliff-hanger. You just keep turning the page. It leads you to want to read Skybreaker and you definitly should. Two must reads my Kenneth Oppel.

Although I was not a fan of Oppel's Silverwing Trilogy, I fell in love with this book! The adventure is great and fast-paced and I love the past that Oppel has created. The heroes are belivable and keep you cheering until the end

The winner of the 2004 Governor General's Award for Children's Text, Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, is a great science fiction read with a twist. Instead of going into the future, this young adult novel takes place in an imaginary past. The story’s characters are on the airship cruise liner, Aurora. Matt Cruse, a teenaged cabin boy recounts pirates robbing the luxury airship leaving them short of hydrium gas, the airship’s fuel. Thereafter its passengers and crew end up grounded on an uncharted island. Kate de Vries, a chaperoned passenger goes off exploring. Matt, feeling more than an obligation tags along helping Kate fulfill what she considers her “duty to science.” On their third exploration, the pirates capture them; ingeniously they escape, but soon find that these pirates have taken over Aurora. Kate and Matt must save the airship, or else the rest of the world will deem Aurora, as being lost at sea and they will never to get to unveil their discovery.

The winner of the 2004 Governor General's Award for Children's Text, Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, is a great science fiction read with a twist. Instead of going into the future, this young adult novel takes place in a fictional past. The story’s characters are on the airship cruise liner, Aurora. Matt Cruse, a teenaged cabin boy recounts pirates robbing the luxury airship leaving them short of hydrium gas, the airship’s fuel. Thereafter its passengers and crew end up grounded on an uncharted island. Kate de Vries, a chaperoned passenger goes off exploring. Matt, feeling more than an obligation, tags along helping Kate fulfill what she considers her “duty to science.” On their third exploration, the pirates capture them; ingeniously they escape, but soon find that these pirates have taken over Aurora. Kate and Matt must save the airship, or else the rest of the world will deem Aurora, as being lost at sea and they will never to get to unveil their discovery.

After hearing this book being read on the radio, I had to buy it. I couldn't put it down when I first read it... the main plot was amazing and I loved the subplots as well. Oppel knows how to use descriptive words to their full potential - I could see the book in my head as I read it. Also, all of the characters were well developed and it was a blast getting to know each and every one of them. Oppel knows the secrets to making character human - the baddies weren't completely evil, and the good guys had their negitive traits. Props on a well-written book!

I loved it!!! Matt was a perfect hero who was easy to relate to, which made Airborn all the more exciting.

The best book every!!! I have read it more times then I can count and I tell anyone who gets a chance to read this book because it is a masterpiece.

If you like airships, imaginary animals, adventure and action, you'll probably like Airborn.
Matt Cruse works as a cabin boy aboard the airship named the Aurora. (Matt was born on an airship, but not the Aurora.) During the Aurora's trip across the Pacificus, there were two late arrivals aboard the Aurora, a girl named Kate de Vries and her governess.
A year before taveling over the Pacificus, Matt had rescued an old man in a hot air balloon. The man had claimed of seeing winged creatures, but Matt did not believe him. But it appears that the man was Kate's grandfather and she believed him.
Later in the trip, air pirates come aboard the Aurora. When the pirates leave, they snagged the Aurora. Since the pirates snagged the Aurora it couldn't fly, so they landed on a tropical island. On the island, Matt and Kate find one of the winged creatures. They lso get captured by the air pirates, who put them in a pit with gas that will kill them after a while. Will Matt and Kate ever get out? Can they help the winged creature?
I think this book was amazing. You've just go to read it?

After Kenneth Oppel's award winning bat trilogy, he has introduced us to a new series that is better then the last. This series starts off with the amazing book Airborn staring character Matt Cruse. Airborn is set in an imaginary past where planes weren't invented yet and air ships like the Zeppelin are all over the sky instead. Airborn was a big shift in subject for Kenneth Oppel, but it still contains his favourite idea of flight.
The beginning of Airborn is a little different from the normal novel. Airborn starts off with the main character in the airship The Aurora on watch duty. When Matt spots a floating object he knows that something is wrong and calls for the captain. Once matt gets a closer look he finds that it is a hot air balloon with no one in it. Matt being the youngest crew member, is the bravest and is sent through the docking port to go and rescue the basket and any survivors of what they think was a storm. Matt finds an unconscious body that is badly injured and close to death. He rescues the basket and almost all is ok. The man died in the night latter that day.

A year later Matt boards the ship again as a crew member for a passenger flight across the ocean to Paris. After they take off a bird plane is approaching behind, and through the radio they find that one of the late passengers is on it, so they allow it to come in through the boarding dock. The late passenger is Kate with her guardian. Matt guides them to their quarters and tell them Kate and her guardian what the schedule is for the trip.

As the trip progresses Matt sees Kate very often with her guardian right beside. On one occasion Kate is in the bar and stays till it closes and Matt happens to be the bar tender. When the bar is empty Kate asks Matt if he would bring her two hot drinks to her chamber. When Matt arrives she is alone and she is reading a journal, the mans that he rescued from the hot air balloon. Kate tells Matt the story of how the man he rescued was her grandfather. Kate also tells him why he was n his journey and gives him the mysterious journal to read. The journal talks about the mans trip and all the creatures he saw. At the middle of the journal he finds that the old man had discovered a weird flying panther animal that sounds very strange at first. The rest of the journal is all sketches of the weird animal and small jot notes of his various discoveries.

The next day when he is on crow's nest duty (a look out at the top of the Aurora) he spots something very strange land on the ship. At first Matt is taken in surprise because he thinks that the creature is one of the strange birds from the old man's diary. But then again the diary said that they can not land so Matt is a little reassured about the situation. Soon on closer inspection he finds that it is just a tired Albatross passing by. He calls down to the captain to ask permission to scare away the bird and gets approved. He attaches his safety line to the rope running around the ship and goes out. As he approaches the Albatross it fly away. In that second of him watching the bird fly away, Matt spots a large black shape approaching the ship. Matt jumps back in to the crows nest and calls the captain. He can see it to. The ship starts to approach them and chase them but does not respond to signals. It slowly pushes them towards the lake. All of the sudden people in black suits go down lines and land on the ship. SKY PIRATES!
Will Matt and Kate find the strange birds?
Will the sky pirates destroy the ship?
What will happen?
Read the book to find out!

I found Kenneth Oppel as a role model for all kids who would like to become authors like me. Ken wrote his first book when he was incredibly young and give me inspiration to start when your young and then get better over the years. This is what I believe made Kenneth Oppel such a talented author who is now writing award winning novels. Around Christmas time I went to one of the Toronto public libraries to listen t him read from Airborn. When he was explaining about his books I learnt that he spent a number of years writing screen plays for Hollywood just to get enough money to be able to continue being an author for the rest of his life. This shows that is you have a dream then you must pursue it until you succeed because it will be worth it when the time comes. Ever since I read his Silver Wing trilogy I have been reading his other books and looking forward to the next book after Airborn. Kenneth Oppel is undoubtedly one of my favourite authors.

This novel takes place in a kind of "Victorian" era, where the lady wear dresses and the men suits. There is a boy who helps around the airship where he was born and employed then, his airship comes across a myterious hot air ballon........
This novel was great, Kenneth Oppel has a great emagination. There's suspense, humour, adventure and romance(oooo). The novel went smoothly and keeps you attention the whole time. Overall, a great novel that I recommend you buy and read. Jeremy Miller

Airborn was the best book I have read. I could not put the book down. It was a thrilling adventure with a touch of romance and humor. Young Matt Cruse is strong and brave young man and Kate de Vries is an excellent charcater - witty and powerful. A must-read, best book.