User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
This is the sequel to Oppell’s Airborn, which I read and loved last year. If anything, I liked Skybreaker better. Oppell does a great job capturing the spirit of “classic boy adventures” like Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (which admittedly I never read as a boy, but I caught up with later). In Skybreaker, our young hero Matt Cruse spots a ghost ship of the air, the Hyperion, and inadvertently launches a frenzied hunt for the massive treasure that is supposedly on board. The only problem: the Hyperion is hovering above 20,000 feet, which makes it almost impossible to reach with conventional airships. Lots of adventure, a little romance, and a good sense of humor made this a quick, exciting read. I’ve tried to “book talk” these books to my son, so far without success, because it’s difficult for me to explain the world of airships that Oppell conjures so well. Still, these books are definitely worth checking out.
Rating: really liked it
OH man. I devoured this book in a few hours despite its rather large size. I was so absorbed and the pages (get ready for a pun) flew by.
This book continues Matt Cruses saga. When it starts, he is serving as an intern on the airship Flotsam. The Flotsam gets blown off course and as it rises to heights untraveled, it discovers a 40-yr-old mystery: the location of the Hyperion, a ghost ship legend to have riches upon riches on board. Because of some complications, the Flotsam must end it's journey, but that doesn't mean the journey ends for Matt Cruse. With the Hyperion's coordinates and thoughts of riches in mind, Matt Cruse along with the heiress Kate de Vries and a mysterious gypsy named Nadira, set out on a perilous journey.
I think this book maybe even better than Airborn. It was filled with the same swashbuckling action and ripping good adventure, and the romance between a certain cabin boy and young heiress grew even tenser. Now there was even a love-quadrangle of sorts with some other new characters thrown it. I think the character development was considerably better this time around, and we finally got some emotion from Mr. Cruse.
There is just something about these books I adore. They are fun and thrilling, and there is nothing about them that makes me groan in dismay. I think that why these books get five-stars. I'm sure they could be better, but there is nothing about them that I dislike. And the visuals are awesome. I've said it once and I'll say it again: these books would be GREAT movies.
If you know any reluctant male readers, recommend these books to them. They appeal to a wide audience. Easy enough for middle school readers, but older readers will love them too. Both boys and girls.
Rating: really liked it
Actual rating: 1.75 rounded down because this book pained meThis wasn't all horrible, but most of it was. I really enjoyed the first book, Airborn, but this was just straight disappointing and 20 steps down from Airborn. Will I still be reading the 3rd book? Of course I will.
The plot was very solid and smart, but the book was pretty so paced which wasn’t good. There also wasn’t half the amount of genius twists there were in Airborn and the twists that were there were saved for the
VERY end. It really had a lot of potential, an adventure to seek an airship that has been missing for 40 years? Yes please!
I really liked Matt (the main character) in Airborn, but in this one, he changes in a bad way. He doesn’t become a horrible person, but his
motives change and he becomes snappy, a bit too like Hal, another character from this book who I’ll get to soon.
Kate de Vries. I do admire her for her courage to disobey her parents and outsmart her chaperone to
pursue her dreams and education. She's very rich and could have everything she's ever wanted, but she has strict parents (WHO AREN'T EVEN THERE) so I'm supposed to feel bad for her?! She also did a few things I didn’t like which made me sad, but in the end, at least she turned out better than Matt.
Hal Slater.
Ew. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of him. He’s a cocky pilot with a sense of humor. But not the good kind. He thinks that because he has an airship it makes him
"superior" to Matt. It also seems that our swashbuckling hero is poor and in debt. Hmmm… I love that he takes risks and says some pretty wise things, but he also does some horrible things. But in the end, he’s just a survivor, right?
Nadira was
shining star. She had the right guts, loyalty, wouldn’t let anyone shove her down because she was a poor woman. I especially loved what she said to Hal at the end of the book, it really served him right. She has dreams but she won’t harm others to achieve them.
I was
fine with the ending, just as I was with the ending of Airborn. Both of the Cruse books I have read so far would be perfectly fine as standalones, but I did enjoy knowing that there is more to the story, I just
wish that the ‘more’ was better.
Another
highlight was that there were some spooky litte details, that were later brought back up again that was
really cool and very much appreciated!
The writing style was
wondrous and wonderful and I could easily and I could clearly envision all of the
mind-boggling creatures that Oppel created. Which leads me to worldbuilding.
The Airborn world is Earth (I do not remember the exact timeframe but somewhere in the late 1800s early 1900s) but make it
steampunk. There are still all the same formalities and procedures, but travel is so much more different and air related! There are so many types of different ships and
interesting new types of science and theories!
For other steampunk books, I would read the Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld! It has all the goodness of Westerfeld’s writing and worldbuilding but with treacherous and steampunk ploys! Leviathan is a perfect introduction to the steampunk genre.
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Maybe I missed out, but every time I picked it up, it felt like a weight. It was getting better but I had so many other books that were immediately intriguing I had to put it down. I almost never DNF a book- especially when the first one was so fantastic. Maybe I'll pick it up again- maybe.
Rating: really liked it
Perfect juvenile adventure story. This is what they should be making into a film, rather than messing about with the next Harry Potter clone.
Rating: really liked it
Ok, I can now officially say that I LOVE this series. I would never have thought I'd enjoy this so much based on that boring, boring cover, but I really, really did. And I also never would have thought I'd enjoy this one more than I did the first one in the series, but I did that too! Ghost ships? Treasure hunting? A mad inventor? Yes, yes, and yes. Also a handsome rogue, a beautiful, fiesty gypsy, a group of sherpas, the sky over Antarctica, romance, danger, intrigue...so, so fun. I thought it was fantastic, and I will definitely be purchasing these as soon as possible. Moving on to the third book immediately! Hurrah!!!
Rating: really liked it
Get ready ladies and gents for another adventure of epic porportions with the clever Matt Cruse and vivacious Kate de Vries. This time around we find them in Paris where Matt is attending the Airship Academy, but it isn't going as well as he had hoped. He's struggling with some of his courses and isn't living up to people's expectations. Despite that he has stumbled onto another risky endeavor. Matt has seen the legendary
Hyperion which is believed to be a floating treasure trove. Kate has gotten into her head that they have to go see what's up there. Thrown in the mix we have the dashing Hal, the self-made man who has his eyes set on Kate, and then we have the mysterious Nadira that is holding secrets. The group sets off to set out to do what no one has been able to do, to capture the
Hyperion , but they won't be the only ones participating in the chase...
I was a bit worried when I started this book because I had read Airborn a couple of years back, but the author recaps throughout the book so I didn't feel lost. This book will definitely appeal to people who love to get lost in an adventure. What makes it stand out from other books in it's genre is the concept of airships. I felt like I was actually in these ships and I could understand Matt's awe of these machines and his love for the air. In this book we get to see more of Matt's insecurities as a boy struggling to become a young man. He feels the pressure to have money, make a name for himself, and wants it so bad it hurts. He's ashamed of feeling this way, but it doesn't stop him from wanting it.
I have to talk about Matt and Kate. Their relationship is so...
vibrant. They click even though they are so different because they get what makes the other person tick. They do hit a rough patch here with Hal woeing Kate and Matt having an attraction to the beautiful Nadira. I did wish to see a bit more character development with Hal, but other than that I have nothing negative to say. Endings always make or break a book for me and let's just say the ending is throughly satisfying.
The book hits all important attributes to keep readers interested, a good plot, characters that you care about and being able to immerse yourself in a new world of fantasy that is set in the air.
Rating: really liked it
A thoroughly enjoyable read. I enjoy the way Oppel writes, and the steam punk, Victorian-inspired world he creates is just my kind of thing. Great characterisation, a fun idea and a clever plot as always.
Rating: really liked it
Surprisingly good!
I was only going to give this a 3/5, but the last quarter was solid, especially the tie-ins to Greek mythology.
Rating: really liked it
Re-Read: April 2022I love this book ❤
Re-read: January 2020This series makes me so happy. It is so much fun to read and is extremely engaging. The world feels so real. Even though this is speculative fiction/sci-fi and there are fantastical creatures and skyships, I can picture the world so clearly. I don't mention this often enough in any of my many reviews of this series, but Kenneth Oppel is so good at descriptive writing. I could easily picture ghost ship and the creatures. I felt like I was on the ship with Matt and Kate. This book means so much to me and I can't wait to pick it up again.
Re-read: April 2019I really love this series. It's so engaging and fun! Most of my thoughts are in my original review (although I'll admit they aren't very well organized), so I don't have much to add. This is probably my favorite book in one of my favorite series ever and I recommend it to everyone.
Original ReviewI find I have a lot of trouble writing reviews for books I really love, so I'm just going to make a list of all the things I loved instead:
- This doesn't have 2nd-book-syndrome! Yay!
- There was not a single boring moment. I never wanted to put the book down.
- Matt and Kate's relationship gives me life! There is a little bit of drama, but it seems very natural. I find that usually in books there's a lot of needless drama in relationships, so I'm glad that Kate and Matt have a stable and healthy one.
- I love the diverse cast of characters. Nadira was amazing, and I loved/hated Hal.
- The writing isn't complicated or extremely flowery, so it's super easy to read. That being said, Kenneth Oppel really knows how to describe things! I could picture everything perfectly and in detail.
- The characters weren't super heroes! They actually get injured, and their surroundings had an effect on them! A lot of the time (especially in adventure books), the characters seem to be almost invincible. Luckily that's not the case in
Skybreaker and the characters react to their surroundings like normal human beings.
-
Skybreaker is similar enough to
Airborn so old fans will love it, but it's different enough that you won't feel like you've read it before.
- Chef Vlad has a cameo :)
Rating: really liked it
Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
****4****Matt Cruise made a name and some money for himself after the fateful trip that brought Kate de Vries into his life. Now studying at the Airship Academy Matt feels like his future is in sight. During one of the training missions however, the ship Matt is on, the
Flotsam rises thousands of feet into the air by mishap, reaching above the clouds and showing him a glimpse of the
Hyperion a ship of legend missing for forty years.
Matt returns back to the Academy to find that not only does Kate de Vries want to know the coordinates of the
Hyperion, which only Matt know, but so do any number of unsavory beings. Teamed up with a mysterious gypsy girl, a haughty pilot only interested in making a fortune and Kate, Matt takes off on yet another daring adventure.
Skybreaker was not quite as good as
Airborne but still very enjoyable. I found the story took a little bit longer to get started and so I faltered slightly at the beginning. Once it was running though the authour kept up with his same writing technique, great story, very colourful and descriptive imagery and best of all his full and believable characters. I really like how this feels like an adventure story mixed in with science, and the character of Kate de Vries is probably still my favorite. She still has some growing up to do but her love of science and exploration reignites those feelings in myself. Great second novel, the ending had some similarities to
Airborn, similar villains throughout but looking forward to book three,
Starclimber.
Rating: really liked it
[against pirates and a fuel consortium (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
I thought this was a great sequel to "Airborn;" it was full of the exciting action and well-described characters--not to mention a most intriguing "world"--that made the first book so good. I really like how the author mixes an old-fashioned era with technology, and Matt Cruse's world is realistic and memorable. I was a little surprised by how eerie and scary (for me) some of the chapters and scenes were; I probably shouldn't have been reading those at night ;-) Not that that was a bad thing--I was just a bit surprised by it. I am definitely looking forward to more of Matt's adventures.
Rating: really liked it
12/23/17 Kindle version on sale for $3.99. Highly recommend this series.
Sequel to Airborn. I enjoyed this one at least as much as the first book, maybe more. Looking forward to reading the third in the series, Starclimber.
Rating: really liked it
I was hooked on it from page 1. It was every bit as exciting as the first book, Airborn, but with a whole new set of challenges and suspense. It ended with perhaps less resolution that I would’ve liked, but well enough that I am happy and have already taken the next one, Starclimber, off the shelf. Oppel’s writing is gripping and the story is amazing. Can’t wait to read the next one. See you in a couple of days.
Rating: really liked it
I nearly forgot I had read the first book which I could very well get in trouble for, seeing how many people love this series. The whole premise of historic fiction with a sci-fi twist to it is starting to have a real appeal to me now. I don't know exactly what they call it though.
Matt is just how I remembered him though he gets a bit obsessive about money, being good enough and all that. Kate is true to her character as well. Things get complicated between them, the captain, and the gypsy. I guess it was supposed to add to the drama. This I didn't quite enjoy but I shouldn't complain too much since it is dealt with sooner or later in the book.
It was well written the pacing was good –not full of action all the time but definitely a good amount. The journey and discovery of the airship
Hyperion is exciting. The action is great and I was thoroughly engrossed during those scenes in the book.
For a sequel I think Skybreaker could stand on its own though I would recommend reading Airborn first and want to read the last for sure.
