At birth, Conor Broekhart was a phenomenon for being born in a
balloon.
At age five Conor Broekhart saved the princess from death by using
his skills with flight, becoming the kingdom's golden boy.
By age ten he's studying with the creator of that balloon, Victor
Vigny, and designing methods of flight. Conor Broekhart was
obviously destined to fly.
At age 14, Conor has been branded a traitor and is being sent to
the Little Saltees , a prison camp.
The thing is, Conor's innocent. Well, at least for the crime he's
been accused of- namely, assisting one Victor Vigny in murdering
the king.
What really happened is this:
1. Bonvilain, a commander of the army, murdered the king and Victor
Vigny.
2. Conor Broekhart saw the crime.
3. Conor Broekhart saw the crime!
Naturally Bonvilain can't leave any witnesses so he sends Conor off
to the Little Saltees to mine diamonds. Locked away from the world
and forsaken by the world, Conor spends his years in prison forming
alliances and plotting ways to escape. And what better way to
escape from prison than using flight?
Sometimes the book began to get a little predictable but just as I
was about to get bored, Eoin Colfer would throw in some sort of
twist. In fact, I thought Airman was much better than any of the
Artemis Fowl books. I admit that I've grown tired of the Artemis
Fowl books (although I'll still be reading the next one) but I know
that if Eoin Colfer writes another historical fiction novel I'll
definitely be picking it up.
As always Eoin Colfer introduces a variety of interesting
characters, including Catherine (Conor's mother), Princess Isabella
and Linus Wynter.
It's a well-researched historical fiction book and had the feel of
swashbuckling tales like The Three Musketeers and the Count of
Monte Cristo. If you enjoy adventure novels, you should definitely
pick this up. Eoin Colfer (as always) tells a good story.