 Cover |
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| Author | Kenneth Oppel |
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| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy/Adventure novel |
| Publisher | Eos |
| Publication date | 1 December 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 369 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-06-053227-0 (hardback edition) |
| Preceded by | Airborn |
Skybreaker, sequel to Airborn, is a fantasy novel for young adults and adolescents written by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel. It continues the adventures of young airship student Matt Cruse, and Kate de Vries, a would-be scientist.
Plot summary
Skybreaker begins three months after the events of Airborn. Matt Cruse is flying on the cargo airship Flotsam as part of his training through the Airship Academy. During the trip, the vessel encounters a storm and has a near-fatal encounter with the legendary Hyperion zeppelin and is forced to land in Ceylon. After returning early from the trip, Matt meets up with Kate de Vries who, having seen the news, tries to convince him to come on a revolutionary airship called a Skybreaker to find the Hyperion, an airship believed to have crashed forty years earlier, and claim its fabled treasure. Matt, the only person with the knowledge of the ship's co-ordinates, is needed for the journey. Matt is soon told by the headmaster of the Airship Academy that a relative of Theodore Grunel, who owned the Hyperion, wants to meet with Matt because he has the Hyperion's coordinates. When he is going to meet Grunel's relative, he runs into Nadira, a gypsy, who says she has to talk to him. He ignores her and meets Grunel's relative. Before long, however, he realizes that Grunel's relative is an impostor, really a pirate named John Rath. Escaping Rath with Nadira, she explains she has the key to the Hyperion's cargo hold, and demands to be taken on a trip to the Hyperion. Matt dismisses the idea. When he goes to see Kate, he finds her meeting with Hal Slater, a young captain of a Skybreaker made to reach heights none other could; heights like where the Hyperion is drifting. Matt, in a fit of jealousy and anger, decides to go with Nadira. When they decide on a ship, he discovers that it is Slater's ship. So he goes with Kate de Vries, her chaperone Mrs. Simpkins, Nadira, Slater, and his Nepalese crew. While on the journey, the ship encounters a giant squid-like creature that creates its own Hydrium, a fictional lifting gas, to fly through the air, which Kate decides to name an Aerozoan. This meeting proves fatal to one of Hal's crew, whereupon Slater opens the dead man's position to Matt who then becomes part of the crew. Then one day, Slater receives a suspicious tracking signal from inside the ship. He immediately is suspicious of Nadira and searches her room. He doesn't find a signal, but a picture of her mother and her father, who is revealed to be Vikram Szpirglas, the pirate who had ransacked the Aurora, the ship Matt used to work on, and was killed by the cloud cats. Slater locks her in her cabin and thinks that she has been a spy of John Rath all this time. Matt remembers that his bag felt heavier when he left on this venture and, also remembering a suspicious figure in his room, searches his bag, finding a tracking device. After leaving a false trail for Rath, the Skybreaker continues on its way. When they reach the point where the Hyperion should be, and find a vacant sky, Hal becomes infuriated with Matt, as his temper is prone to do. Fortunately, after a few more calculations, he finds the Hyperion has moved and sets chase. Unfortunately a storm looms and, in the midst of a black sky, the Skybreaker collides with a vast skyship and is severely damaged in the process. The skyship is the Hyperion and, as the skybreaker is now too badly damaged to drag the Hyperion to salvage, search teams are launched. The teams search the Hyperion for days and, finding nothing but hints and clues, become almost desperate in their search. However, these clues become evident later on pointing to an attempt by Grunel to build a flying city but being prevented by a certain "B", whom Matt thinks is Mr. George Barton, an oil magnate from the Aruba Consortium. During the search a set of mysterious blueprints are found, presumably what "B" was after. Disaster strikes when John Rath's ship catches up with the Hyperion and Slater's ship being chased off, feared sunk, the search party is stranded with ever decreasing strength, oxygen, and time. Exploring the ship, Matt finds a keyhole, which, giving to Nadira's key, unlocks the Museum and turns on all the equipment. Smelling hydrium, Matt investigates, finding the machine which the blueprints are of. He realizes that the machine creates power and hydrium from air and water and is, as such, immensely valuable. During all this time relationships have been tense between Matt, Kate and Nadira with Nadira showing interest in Matt, Matt feeling terrible for feeling some interest in Nadira, and Kate ignoring Matt completely, re-sparking Matt's jealousy over Hal Slater. As Matt and Kate are sent out together to collect ice for water Matt's feelings become clear. Kate seems to be immensely happy about this and it turns out she was only feigning interest in Slater just to make Matt jealous, having been herself jealous of Nadira. Just as all this is being sorted out Rath's search party arrives. Both Nadira's and Matt's suspicions are confirmed as "B" does indeed turn out to be Barton, to destroy the machine as it threatens his fortune. Kate and Matt escape through a secret passage designed by Grunel and find Nadira and Slater on the other side. Sending a Morse code message, 'one of the useless things we learn at the academy' to Hal's ship they plan a rendezvous. They then split up in the same groups to search for the blueprints. Even as Matt gets the blueprints, Kate is captured and is held ransom for them. Launching an escape attempt Matt finds gold, hidden in the secret passage, yet does not collect it as this would waste valuable time in saving Kate. The attempt to do so is successful and Barton is killed, but the Hyperion is scuttled by Rath's airship. Even as the Hyperion sinks Matt, Kate, Slater and Nadira run along the ship's gangway to the ornithopter hangar. The ornithopter is loosed and flies down to Hal's waiting ship with everyone aboard — apart from Matt, who has been opening the hangar doors. He, in a fit of inspiration, grabs one of Grunel's devices for the flying city, a pair of 'wings' and jumps out of the falling Hyperion. These, though not working as Grunel intended, slowed Matt sufficiently to be seen and picked up by the ornithopter. At a celebration meal it turns out that the blueprints are, along with Slater's rucksack, on the bottom of the sea. Everyone despairs at this news and Matt, feeling guilty for forgetting it, leaves to talk to Kate in the ornithopter. His foot accidentally slips revealing 40 bars of gold. He is now far wealthier, in the eyes of a mercantile Society, than ever before.
Characters in Skybreaker
- Matt Cruse — protagonist, a young airship student who believes he is destined to be an airship captain. He was born on an airship crossing over the ocean and worked on the Aurora until joining the airship academy.
- Kate de Vries — almost a scientist to be. Also Matt Cruse's love interest.
- Hal Slater — Captain of the skybreaker ship Sagarmatha (meaning Everest in Nepalese).
- Theodore Grunel — inventor of the airship, an early ornithopter and other inventions (his name is meant to echo that of real life engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed many railway bridges in England, as well as helping design a number of steamships, including the Great Eastern)
- Miss Marjorie Simpkins — Kate de Vries' chaperone.
- Nadira — a Roma girl who has the key to the Hyperion.
- John Rath — a pirate. During the storyline he pretends to be Grunel's grandson Matthias to get Matt's coordinates of the Hyperion.
- George Barton — A man working for the Aruba Constortium. While on board the Hyperion he destroys Theodore Grunel's Prometheus Engine and explains to Rath that it must be done, because if the Engine becomes known to the common man, then the Aruba Consortium will lose money because people will no longer need Aruba fuel.
Animals in Skybreaker
In the book there are several different non-existent animals. Such animals follows.
- Aerozoan – A squid like animal with a Hydrium Sac, and able to produce huge amounts of electricity. This animal is where Grunnel got his idea for the Prometheus Engine.
- Araneus Volatilis – A spider-like creature with wings. It is very light and flies to high altitudes.
Sketches of these animals are available at Kate's field Journal
