Airman by Eoin Colfer

April 29th, 2008 at 8:34am |

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Audience: Middle School

Rating: B+

Synopsis:

Young Conor Broekhart’s life has revolved around flight. From his birth in a hot air balloon, to the obsessive inventions he and his tutor construct, Conor is determined to build the first flying machine. He’s lucky enough to live on the Saltee Islands, where the king supports his scientific experimentation, and where the princess is both beautiful and returns his feelings. Or, he was lucky until he stumbles into the middle of the king’s assassination and is falsely accused and imprisoned. From his prison cell Conor dreams of freedom and flight. If he can solve the mysteries of the second, he might be able to gain the first.

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! ) This book is like an updated version of The Count of Monte Cristo, because it has such a detailed, epic plot about the triumph of someone who is wrongly accused. This book is much different than the other Eoin Colfer books I’ve read – a very different style and tone than the Artemis Fowl books; Airman also has a much richer story line. I loved the detail that Colfer used to develop the world on the Saltees. The scenes in the diamond mines are so rich and vivid, that they were easy to understand and believe.

My biggest problem with the plot was that the character of Princess Isabella was undeveloped. She had so much potential in the first chapters: the little princess who forces Conor to play games her way and threatens to have him beheaded. But when she grows up, she allows Marshall Bonvilain to usurp her power and undo so much of the good that her father had accomplished on the islands. This trend is only beginning to be reversed at the end of the novel, and she never regains the same charm she had in the beginning.

The ending was unsettling too. I was slightly surprised to hear that after everything is resolved and he’s been reunited with his family and love, Conor chooses to leave the Saltee Islands to go to school. I certainly understand that Conor’s education and learning is so important to him, but after so many wasted years, I wasn’t quite sold on his decision to leave again so soon. I would have accepted bringing teachers to him, or even if Isabella and Conor chose to found a Saltee University, but the idea of him choosing to leave again so soon was a bit unfathomable.