Another thrilling adventure story set high in the sky - at altitudes never before explored. Complete with feisty hero and heroine drawn together from different social backgrounds, lost treasure, highspeed chases and much more...Matt Cruse has been accepted at the Airship Academy, his days as cabin boy over for the moment. He has difficulty settling down to life on land, but is helped by the fact that Kate is in Paris too. During a training flight aboard the freighter Flotsam, Matt helps save the ship when it is caught in a deadly storm over the Indian Ocean, and thrust to dangerously high altitudes. There, Matt spies a frozen airship, drifting aimlessly at 20,000 feet - it's the legendary ghost ship Hyperion. Rumoured to be carrying great wealth, the Hyperion left harbour fifty years ago, but never reached her destination. No wreckage was ever found...until now. And it is not just gold the Hyperion is reputed to carry, but a collection of strange zoological specimens. Kate is desperate to recover
Oh my goodness clemency! This is one amazing story. The second half had me gasping myself, and it was hardly possible to quit reading! As with the first book, Oppel writes with such clarity, and the images of the ghost ship and the air, and EVERYTHING just swirls around you! It's wonderful.
Besides this, I am truly amazed at Kenneth Oppel's knowledge of animals. Everything is so realistic--I almost believe these creatures can exist somewhere!
And I just adore Matt Cruse. A more lovable, complex main character I could not imagine. I absolutely love whenever Oppel takes his character around the "Airborn" concept. He IS the sky. The icarus resemblance sent a shiver down my spine. I always wait for that heart-stopping moment when Matt will throw himself out to the sky once more.
Gosh, I love these books. I can't even get my mind around them!
