Book Review: Airborn

Konnichiwa!

So it's time for the first ever book review for our blog!

Airborn

The book I will be reviewing is called Airborn. The first book in a series by Kenneth Oppel. This is the story of Matt Cruise, a sky-loving cabin boy aboard the luxury airship the Aurora. He lost his father at an early age, and therefore has to take this job in order to take care of his mother and sisters. However, He genuinely loves the ship and the being in the air, and even has a dream to attend the Airship Academy, a special airship school, in hopes of Captaining his own ship one day. Matt is one of those people who adventure flocks towards, so it's expected that one day when he's on crow nest duty, he spots a once thought to be lost hot-air balloon. Almost by himself, he manages to save the lost balloon and get onto the airship. On board he finds an injured old male pliot who is beyond saving. Before the man dies, he asks if Matt has seen "them". Confused, Matt lies, but is quickly called out for it by the injured pliot, and the man dies leaving Matt completely lost. But a year later, the granddaughter of this man arrives, attempting to pluck Matt knowledge of what "them" are, and takes them on the start of a wonderful adventure through beautiful lands, exotic animals, piracy and of course romance. Don't worry boys out there, this isn't anything like twilight. ;)

This book was very well done, and expertly written. Now I did feel like the story took awhile to pick up, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. Even after I finished it, I went back and reread the first few chapters. I love the amount of plot twists that he has placed in this series, catching you off guard and while also having saying, "OH! That makes sense now!". There is just one thing that have to say is the weakness in all of Kenneth Oppel's books, his characters. Now it's not so much he doesn't develop them, offer interesting background, or lack of diversity. With the exception of two of them(Mr. Vlad and Matt), they lack that "boom" factor. That indescribable factor that turns them from great to unforgettable. Despite this problem, the book is beyond worth reading and highly recommended. Chris will be handling the next book review, but it won't be for around a month. So I highly suggest you check this book out and give it a read, along with the other two books, Skybreaker and Starclimber. ;) My final post before break will be a Questions with Quinton post Friday evening. Send in any last second questions!

Plot: 9/10

Imagery: 10/10

Characters: 8/10

Climax: 9/10

Overall: 9.5/10 Great story and series

~APLIW~

Quinton = GO USA!!!!!