Oppel's achievement is to have created much more than an action adventure involving bats. Silverwing trilogy: 'cracking stories, brimming with adventure, redolent of great mythical sagas of the past, alive with invention, thoughtful - at times profound and probing - and never faltering when it comes to thrills and page-turning power.' - Carousel The Irish TimesĪ tightly plotted, fast-paced adventure with engaging and humorous characters - TESĪ successful 'boys' own' story which manages to avoid being a 'boys only' story. Airborn's contained world is totally absorbing, cleverly plotted, a terrific read. filled with irresistible optimism and zest - The Timesīrilliantly done.
Ages 12-up.A terrific, rollicking adventure.
The author's inviting new world will stoke readers' imaginations-and may leave them hoping for a sequel (those curious for a preview can log onto ). Throughout-the rich but overprotected girl, the poor but daring and lovable cabin boy, and the vessel itself, which is a sprawling and multifaceted character in its own right-but Oppel places the emphasis squarely on adventure rather than romance, keeping the pace brisk and the characters dynamic. There are minor, pleasing shades of the film Titanic , which crash-lands on an island that closely resembles a drawing in the old man's journal. As other plot lines develop, pirates attack the Aurora Matt's curiosity about the man's dying words is piqued a year later when the fellow's granddaughter Kate arrives on board, bearing his journal. In an exciting opening sequence, Matt rescues an injured old man flying solo in a stranded hot air balloon the man later dies, but not before telling Matt of "beautiful creatures" that he saw sailing through the air. Young Matt Cruse works aboard the elegant passenger airship Aurora
In crisp, precise prose that gracefully conveys a wealth of detail, Oppel (the Silverwing Saga) imagines an alternate past where zeppelins crowd the skies over the Atlanticus and the Pacificus, and luxury liners travel the air rather than the sea (references to films by the Lumière "triplets" and various fashions suggest a very early 20th-century setting).
0 kommentar(er)
