he sequel to the much-enjoyed Airborn, a great steampunkish book set in an imaginary world where airships rule and the rest of the world is a dim image of our own.

In this effort, Matt Cruse (our hero from the original) teams up with rich-girl Kate, this time to find the ghost ship Hyperion, an airship lost forty years ago, not in the ocean or some jungle but way up in the sky. Way up. Around 20,000 feet up, higher than most lighter-than-air craft can operate. This time Matt has teamed up with an exotic gypsy girl and a bold salvage airshipman to go after this floating prize, reputedly loaded with gold and a biology museum and whatever else its mad owner packed into it. But of course, there are air pirates – always are. So we’ve got what made the original sound reading – a tightly defined arena, lots of mooks for the villains, lots of spunk for the hero, and a merry little chase about the rafters and catwalks of this floating crypt, high, high, ever so high above the earth.

I really liked this one (same as the original) and found it easy reading. The end was a pleasant surprise (all the clues were there – I just missed them). And the author, Kenneth Oppel, continues to impress. I think he’s got a third one in this series and I’ll have to hunt it up. But yes, if you have some kids hitting twelve or so (or are an imaginative adult yourself), I’d try to find these. And read them in order – not critical, just pleasant.

Cast off, maitey!

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