Book Club Thread 4: Airborn

What Shall We Read This Month?

  • Airborn

    Votes: 6 66.7%
  • Curious Beginnings

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • For Love of Mother Not

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • Illusion

    Votes: 4 44.4%

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

Curious Beginnings by V.A. Lewist
The Netherworld: it is a hellish landscape inhabited only by Demons, creatures born from the dark abyss. It is also the only world Salvos knows.

Joining the ranks of newborn demons, Salvos is thrown into the violent, anarchy-ruled landscape of that world. To survive, she will have to learn, she will have to adapt, and she will have to evolve. She will gain experience to reach new Levels of power.

Her curiosity aids her but her pride could be her fall. It is the nature of the Netherworld to avoid or conquer any threats faced— after all, the law of evolution is survival of the fittest, and Salvos is a survivor. And perhaps, eventually, she will leave this world behind for a better place.

But… is that what Salvos even wants?


This novel is an action-packed fantasy following the adventures of a Demon girl! It is set inside a game-like world with Classes, Levels, and even monster evolution, but it is not inside the world of a video game. For the characters in the novel, the world is as real as the real world is to me and you.

For Love of Mother Not by Alan Dean Foster
From bestselling author Alan Dean Foster, an exciting early Pip and Flinx novel that shows the origins of a certain boy with special powers--and the mini-dragon that becomes his devoted sidekick. . . .

Flinx was just a freckle-faced, redheaded kid with green eyes and a strangely compelling stare when Mather Mastiff first saw him an the auctioneer's block. One hundred credits and he was hers.

For years the old woman was his only family. She loved him, fed him, taught him everything she knew--even let him keep the deadly flying dragon he called Pip. But when Mother Mastiff mysteriously disappears, Flinx tails her kidnappers on a dangerous journey. Across the forests and swamps of the winged world called Moth, their only weapons are Pip's venom . . . and Flinx's unusual talent.

Illusion by Paula Volsky
One of fantasy's brightest new stars makes her Bantam debut with a colorful, sweeping high fantasy epic set against the fires of revolution. In the land of Vonahr, the Exalted have ruled by virtue of their legendary magical abilities for centuries, heedless of the misery of the lower classes. Now revolution is in the air. . . .

For two hundred years the Exalted classes have used their dazzling magical abilities to rule Vonahr. Now, their powers grown slack from disuse and their attention turned to decadent pleasures, they ignore the misery of the lower classes until the red tide of revolution sweeps across the land. Thrust into the center of the conflict is the beautiful Eliste vo Derrivalle, spirited daughter of a provincial landowner, who must now scramble for bread in the teeming streets of the capital. With the key to her magical abilities an elusive secret, she must suddenly find a way to survive in a world gone mad ... with liberty.

Illusion is a work of fantasy on the grandest scale - a seamless web of passion, danger, heroism, and romance that will hold you spellbound from the first page to the last.
 

Argent

Well-known member
So I voted for Airbron beacsue it it my pick.

I also voted for illusion becasue I do like fantasy stuff and it sounds like it could be interesting.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Alright, hit 13%, basically the first two chapters.

General musings:
This is a particularly high-quality audiobook with a full cast rather than one guy trying to do funny voices and probably failing with a fake falsetto for the girls.

The plot is moving at a halfway decent speed and I'm pleased the actors, so to speak, are showing up on stage early. This is still a touch slow but given how much worldbuilding is happening, it's not unreasonable at all. Nice grammar and a good job at giving the different characters voices in their ways of speaking. This author has a particular penchant for describing the faces of characters. I particularly like how Matt became much more derisive of the passengers and ruder in his internal thoughts after being passed over for promotion, a realistic and reasonable response to that injustice.

The descriptions of things are also quite solid, there's definitely a sense of wonder and majesty in how he describes the airships, the balloons, and the other vehicles. Interestingly we get almost nothing about his family or his home during his visit there, we have no idea what the house looks like, nor even any dialogue from his mother or sisters. Matt's extremely focused on the air and has no attention beyond the duty to care for his family for anything on the ground.

The Aurora's only a bit larger than the Hindenburg but carries two or three times the passengers, more passengers alone than the Hindenburg's passengers and crew combined by a factor of 50%. There's some leeway for it to have more room since Hylium is explicitly lighter than Hydrogen but that much?

Food amounts are well thought out, I did the math and there are around 2-3 weeks of food for the crew and passengers which is about twice what it should need to cross the Atlantic with the speed we're given... but given that the narration emphasizes what a bunch of hogs the passengers are and how much they overeat it's suitable.
 

Argent

Well-known member
I am about a quarter of the way though the book now. So far I like and will post some more thoughts once I read a bit more.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Hit 45%.

I find myself unreasonably annoyed at the pirate attack. Not because it happened, but because it @#&%s with the worldbuilding. It futzes with my suspension of disbelief to see that sky pirates are a common thing, enough that some sky pirates are actually internationally infamous for their airship attacks, and yet the Aurora is traveling through an area so far from civilization even radio can't reach it and has no defenses but a single rifle. This even though it's carrying some of the richest people in the world who should have at least the slightest sense of self-preservation if pirates are this common and powerful, or at least the owner of the Airship line should have a clue. You just can't have that set of circumstances in any reasonable universe free of abundant idiot balls.

The island adventure seems fairly well done and I rather like that they're able to repair the airship and get it aloft again, albeit after throwing out a lot of weight, as it should be for a ship with multiple redundant cells. Kate continues to manipulate Matt like a fiddle.

Kate: "I'm exploring this island to look for a creature never before seen!"
Matt: "What if there's dangerous wildlife?"
Kate: "There won't be, I've read books and know every creature that lives here."

Granted that's not so much a plot hole as Matt not being fast enough against a skilled social manipulator to notice the fast one Kate's pulling on him, which is both reasonable and well spelled out in-story.
 

Argent

Well-known member
So about 50 percent done and will likely finsh this weekend.

So I like the world building. It reads like an Age of Sail story along the line of Master and Commander. But the steampunk aspect is there with the description of the air airship. It also starts off strong with the prolog rescue and Cryptozoology hints. You get that sense of mystery that is hard to come by with works set in a more modern realist setting.

Also Kate is a fun character and fills the spot of sheltered princess in an adventure story nicely.

I do admit that the ship not having the ability to fight in an age of pirates is a little silly. But so far I can overlook it for the world building and sense of adventure Kate and Matt bring to the table.

I will also say it does lean heavily into tropes from the cabin boy saving the day, strong nobel captain along with others. But despite using well tread tropes the story does excute them well.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Only made it to 65% over the weekend.

It's being a decent pulpy adventure. Kate repeatedly doing things that are sure to wreck Matt's career are irritating but understandable for the character. I'm trying to wrap my head a bit around the idea that Hylium just bubbles up from the ground sometimes, but, well, it's an imaginary exotic substance so hardly a dealbreaker. Still seems ludicrously convenient, even for a pulp adventure, that Matt would happen upon such a deposit at the same time the Aurora gets rekt by a storm and needs a new supply of Hylium to ever lift off again.

I did not see the creature Grandpa saw fall to the island surviving and making it's own way learning to hunt on the ground.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
100%
Very well written and honestly the poster child for how execution > original idea. Just about everything in it was a cliche from the setting to the characters, but written so well that it didn't matter a bit.

The final third was a perfectly executed example of continuous natural escalation to higher stakes. We go from Matt worrying he'll be late for his shift, to Kate lost in the woods, to being attacked by the cloud cat, to them being captured by pirates, to pirates having control of the Aurora and only Matt, Kate, and Bruce being free and able to fight back.

There was quite a lot of use of Chekhov's Guns from earlier throwaway events ranging from one person's aversion to fish to another's insomnia winding up critical to the conclusion. I did feel like the cloud cats showing up and killing Spearglass at the very ending along with the lame cloud cat learning to fly at the last second was way too much of a deus ex machina, I would have preferred another method for resolving the last fight.

Above all I'll note that in comparison to previous books, this one had a solid arc and satisfying conclusion. We get our villain relatively early on, his character is well developed, threats escalate, and conflicts established at the beginning are resolved over the course of the book. Things end properly instead of it being all a setup for twelve sequels like so many modern books. Overall I enjoyed it a lot and I'm quite pleased, I'll likely read other books by this author in the future.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Alright, we're hitting the end of the month and it's time to start selecting our book for February. What shall we read next?
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
This month I'm going to nominate All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This is a fine piece of Xenofiction by a veteran author who's written everything from Star Wars to Original Fiction, the story has a heavy emphasis on cyberpunk in space and also a significant focus on how a completely inhuman thought process might work.


"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.
 

Lord Sovereign

The resident Britbong
Brothers of the Snake” by Dan Abnett.

”Priad of Damocles Squad, one of the Iron Snakes of Ithaka, is sworn to defend the Reef Stars from all threats and to perform this duty with honour and steadfastness above all else. Over twelve years, he and his squad must battle Dark Eldar, Orks, and even their own weaknesses from one end of their domain to the other.”

I think this is the first Warhammer 40k suggestion, but I can promise you it is good. It is both novel and collection of short stories, as we follow the trials and tribulations of a Space Marine squad in the surprisingly well thought out home brew chapter of the author. Abnett also has a beautiful grasp of prose, which he uses to create fantastic battle scenes. This, coupled with a good grasp of character, makes Brothers of the Snake a rip roaring read which shows what it means to be an Adeptus Astarte better than most Black Library Books in my opinion.
 

Terthna

Professional Lurker
Gonna do a bump just in case there's any last nominations before the new thread and poll goes up.

This might be the first month we don't have @Terthna nominating Illusion...
Oh crap, I completely forgot. Didn't even read the book I was supposed to for January, which was apparently Airborn (kinda glad Illusion didn't get nominated, as that would have been really embarrassing). I'd like to be able to present some sort of excuse, but I just dropped the ball; sorry. Setting that aside though, I would like to nominate Illusion again, if you'll let me. Regardless, I'll find the time to read whatever book gets nominated this time.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
I just managed to finish Airborn a week late, last night. Good read, and one I wouldn't be afraid to recommend to kids or other family.

Generally good pacing. Had characters I liked, and good reasons to like them!

Story with the critters was rounded out really well as well.

So 1.5 Thumbs up from me!

And don't aske me why the last 1/2 thumb isn't there...I'm having trouble articulating it.
 

Sergeant Foley

Well-known member
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

Curious Beginnings by V.A. Lewist
The Netherworld: it is a hellish landscape inhabited only by Demons, creatures born from the dark abyss. It is also the only world Salvos knows.

Joining the ranks of newborn demons, Salvos is thrown into the violent, anarchy-ruled landscape of that world. To survive, she will have to learn, she will have to adapt, and she will have to evolve. She will gain experience to reach new Levels of power.

Her curiosity aids her but her pride could be her fall. It is the nature of the Netherworld to avoid or conquer any threats faced— after all, the law of evolution is survival of the fittest, and Salvos is a survivor. And perhaps, eventually, she will leave this world behind for a better place.

But… is that what Salvos even wants?


This novel is an action-packed fantasy following the adventures of a Demon girl! It is set inside a game-like world with Classes, Levels, and even monster evolution, but it is not inside the world of a video game. For the characters in the novel, the world is as real as the real world is to me and you.

For Love of Mother Not by Alan Dean Foster
From bestselling author Alan Dean Foster, an exciting early Pip and Flinx novel that shows the origins of a certain boy with special powers--and the mini-dragon that becomes his devoted sidekick. . . .

Flinx was just a freckle-faced, redheaded kid with green eyes and a strangely compelling stare when Mather Mastiff first saw him an the auctioneer's block. One hundred credits and he was hers.

For years the old woman was his only family. She loved him, fed him, taught him everything she knew--even let him keep the deadly flying dragon he called Pip. But when Mother Mastiff mysteriously disappears, Flinx tails her kidnappers on a dangerous journey. Across the forests and swamps of the winged world called Moth, their only weapons are Pip's venom . . . and Flinx's unusual talent.

Illusion by Paula Volsky
One of fantasy's brightest new stars makes her Bantam debut with a colorful, sweeping high fantasy epic set against the fires of revolution. In the land of Vonahr, the Exalted have ruled by virtue of their legendary magical abilities for centuries, heedless of the misery of the lower classes. Now revolution is in the air. . . .

For two hundred years the Exalted classes have used their dazzling magical abilities to rule Vonahr. Now, their powers grown slack from disuse and their attention turned to decadent pleasures, they ignore the misery of the lower classes until the red tide of revolution sweeps across the land. Thrust into the center of the conflict is the beautiful Eliste vo Derrivalle, spirited daughter of a provincial landowner, who must now scramble for bread in the teeming streets of the capital. With the key to her magical abilities an elusive secret, she must suddenly find a way to survive in a world gone mad ... with liberty.

Illusion is a work of fantasy on the grandest scale - a seamless web of passion, danger, heroism, and romance that will hold you spellbound from the first page to the last.
Subscribed. Very interested! 😎
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Subscribed. Very interested! 😎
This thread's almost done, we start a new one for a vote on the next book each month. The poll for our next book is up here and there're a few more days of voting left, you may want to subscribe there instead.

 

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