How Not to Review a Book: Do not begin your review by jumping off into some big old rant about how you never liked anything the author wrote before, particularly if you are about to praise their newest novel. Do not use phrases like “how did this happen?” and “why now?” and “are they near death?” You may mention how impressed you were with the author’s speaking engagements, mentioning in passing their brilliant encapsulation of, oh say, The Legend of Spud Murphy. Do not then mention how disappointed you were in the book itself and how you always wished they’d live up to that brilliant potential palpable in person. Don’t do any of that. It’ll just get your review off to a bad start and put all those Artemis Fowl fans on the defensive (for example). If you’re going to write a review of a book that you loved, adored, swallowed whole and digested with relish, DO begin your review that way. Catharsis has not place in professional book review circles. Not the nice ones, anyway.Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that roundabout little introduction is just my way of saying how much I loved Airman. It was one of those books I saw sitting on my boss’s bookshelf that made me think, “Maybe I should read that.” It wasn’t until multiple people told me in person and repeatedly how good it was that I caved. And it really is good, gentle reader. It puts the buckle in swashbuckling. The play in swordplay. The terror in terrific. It's a good old-fashioned tale of thwarted romance, betrayal, great heroism, murder, diamonds, villains, kings, Americans, thugs, and a boy with the unusual inclination to fly.The thing to know about Conor Broekhart, before all the nastiness occurred, was that he was born in the sky. A hot air balloon, if you wanted me to be more precise. A falling, soon-to-be-crushed, death trap of a balloon, to be even closer to the mark. Of course Conor didn't die, and as a result his family returned to their home on the Saltee Islands (just off the coast of Ireland) with a new baby to introduce to the King. Conor's father was the king's right hand man, and because they were so close the boy grew up running around the castle with his best friend, the princess. But that was before the king was murdered. Before Conor was thrown into jail on the Little Saltee island (think Alcatraz, but with less charm). Before the boy discovered how to survive in his new, harsh, surroundings and find a way out of his predicament. And now the princess and his family are in mortal peril, unless Conor can truly crack the riddle of how to construct a machine that will fly.Is it fantasy? No more than any historical novel where the hero indulges in science. Is it science fiction? Only if you consider the notion of one man discovering the use of propellers on his own fantastical. Is it steampunk? No. Stop being silly. No this is, odd as it may sound, fiction with spice. That's not really a category, so I don't know if you can call it anything but original. Frances Hardinge's Fly by Night suffered similar categorical problems. Her book seemed like a fantasy, but like this book it was merely an alternate history. Still, if lumping this puppy in with 500+ page fantasy tomes is the only way to get kids to read it, so be it. I've no objections on my end.For all its 416 pages, the book feels very tight. Colfer keeps a firm hand on the reins of his plot, never indulging too far in one direction or another. The result is a story that flies by with hardly a gasp for breath. This isn't to say that the author doesn't indulge in a small aside once in a while. He does, but they're always very quick and funny. For example, when the castle tower is on fire and King Nicholas must escape from his royal bathroom the text reads, "There was a window, of course. Nicholas was a great believer in the benefits of good ventilation. He was a devotee of meditation, too; but this was hardly the time for it."There are also copious details that give the book just enough heft to keep it from feeling too frivolous. They tend to be little things. The scrape of the bolt on prison doors is described as "Top C", with the side note, "Social diarists record that survivors of Little Saltee often suffered from insomnia unless their bedchamber doors were fitted with rusted bolts." There are references to Napoleon's stay at Little Saltee (apparently he fared poorly). I liked the little mites that eat away the disease and filth from new prisoners. And Conor's method of writing down his schematics is probably the closest this book comes to science fiction, without ever really treading fully down that path.Kids looking for excitement will find it from page one onward. And yet, for all its death-defying escapades, Colfer is very careful to cover his bases. He doesn't get sloppy on the details. By the end of the book the reasons why Conor wasn't killed at the same time as Nicholas and why the princess is left living are explained perfectly without so much as a glint of a gap in sight. Kids will enjoy the book because the characters are great and the story is fun. Adults will enjoy it because it won't require extraordinary suspensions of disbelief. Plus the fact that this is a stand-alone novel that does not lend itself naturally to sequels or a series is like a palate cleanser in this sequel-addled age with live in.Colfer shows himself to be a skillful writer by his interesting choices. Under normal circumstances, when the hero in a story has a plan and doesn't let the reader in on it, usually that plan goes off without a hitch. It doesn't look as if Colfer understood that concept, though, and the book is stronger for it. He also must have never heard the rule that the more often the hero is knocked unconscious, the worse the book is. Conor gets his own fair share of blows to the head, but the author always plays fair and never uses that as an excuse to fudge details or bridge insurmountable distances. Well played.I also had great respect for Colfer when he saw to it that his hero never became a murderer. Our heroes in movies and books like killing henchmen. The idea that an action packed storyline requires that your protagonist have blood on his hands is a complex issue, too easily skirted around. Colfer isn't afraid to face the problem head-on, though, making it perfectly clear that the "kill or be killed" mode of thought only means that under the right circumstances it is the people without the proper intelligence or imagination who are the ones who descend into becoming killers.And on a personal note, I was happy to see that the Yanks in this book come off looking pretty good. Good King Nicholas, the forward thinking monarch on the Saltee throne, is an American. Linus Wynter, the kind blind prisoner who helps Conor survive prison, is also an American. We haven't looked this good on paper since Lee Scoresby first showed his face in The Golden Compass.Some people say the book is The Count of Monte Cristo. Others argue that it feels more like The Man in the Iron Mask. With such esteemed comparisons, it shouldn't hurt matters any to also note that it also happens to be consistently interesting, smart, exciting, and fun. The finest book Eoin Colfer has ever written, and hopefully the start of more stories like this to come. Everyone should read it. For ages 8-15.
Airman is a very special book to me. I read it a few times when I was younger and I thought it was high time for a re-read. I'm so glad to find it even better than I remembered. As much as I love Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, I have to say that I think Airman is his best work so far (of the books I have read by him). It's simply a beautiful story. I'd forgotten how beautiful it really was. It also has a lot of adventure, a budding romance that I adored and some the most unique characters I have ever read about. I am not kidding, this book has the best set of characters ever. How could someone forget about characters like the Victor 'La Brosse' Vigny, King Nicholas, Linus Wynter, Princess/Queen Isabella or Conor Broekhart himself and his parents, Declan and Catherine? Even little Sean Broekhart! They were all amazing. And as per usual with Eoin Colfer, we get a despicable villain who is just loathsome. Together with the story devided in three parts: Broekhart - Finn - Airman, it's just all part of Eoin Colfer's genius. I loved this book before but I love it even more now after re-reading it.I also have to say that I had a lot of emotional moments with this book. Conor goes through a whole lot of crap, going to prison because of that bastard Bonvilain and some parts really did bring tears to my eyes. So this book has been a rollercoaster of emotions but it was totally worth it. I was also rather giddy when Otto Malarkey came into the picture because he's also in The Reluctant Assassin. I just love Eoin Colfer for that. That and his totally amazing and awesome writing!So what else can I say but that I love Airman? I've always thought Artemis Fowl was by favorite book by him but I think I'll have to put Airman in that place now because... simply wow! Mr. Colfer has once again left me awe-struck with his amazing book, Airman!
What do You think about Airman (2015)?
First of all, let me say that I am a total Eoin Colfer fan. Really. I bought this book without knowing anything about it except that Eoin Colfer wrote it--and I usually don't do that. He is such a skilled writer though. He effortlessly juggles pacing, dialogue, action, internal thought, characterization, description--all of it. He makes it look easy. And in omniscient point of view too.That said, I had a major problem with this book. One part was totally unbelievable.*spoiler alert*Oh, I was willing to believe that Connor, as a child, could make a hang glider out of a flag and toothpicks to save himself and the princess from a burning tower. (Okay, it wasn't toothpicks, but still . . .) I was willing to believe that he could escape from prison hanging onto a basketless air balloon, and even that he was able to sit down with some local lads and put together an airplane before the Wright brothers.Here is the scene that had me ejecting the CD and moaning, "Why Eoin? Why would you write that?"Obvious villain, Hugo, has just killed a man who is not only king, but also a close friend of Connor's family. He and the princess have been friends since birth and now have romantic feelings for each other.Fourteen year old Connor hears the murder happen, bursts into the room and tries to stop Hugo. Hugo beats him senseless, puts him in chains and tells Connor's father that Connor has killed the king.Connor's father, who happens to be captain of guards, goes to see his son in prison and--get this--never even asks Connor if he did it. He doesn't listen to his obviously beaten son, say anything. Instead he yells at Connor for being a traitor and disowns him.What??????!!!! Come on, the kid is fourteen!There's absolutely no evidence that Connor has done this crime and he has no motivation for doing it.Any half-way decent parent would at least ask if the allegation were actually true. Even a bad parent would try to defend their child if for no other reason then they wouldn’t want to be tainted with the crime themselves. But not Connor's dad. He sends him off to a prison camp where he will be beaten some more.And if that isn't hard enough to believe, once Conner escapes, he harbors no ill feelings toward his father. Excuse me, my children harbor ill feelings toward me when I tell them they'll be excused from the dinner table if they don't use good table manners. (Really, I have one son who is still going on about a certain toast incident.)I never could really get over that aspect of the story.Still, it's always nice to listen to a guy with an Irish accent narrate the story. And the last Artemis Fowl book was totally awesome so I still love you, Eoin.
—Janette
"Al estilo de historias como Los tres mosqueteros, El conde de Montecristo o Viaje al centro de la tierra, Airman es una novela de aventuras a la más pura usanza.
Eoin Colfer nos sitúa en las Islas Saltee, en la costa irlandesa en torno a 1890, donde nos presenta a Conor, un joven cuyo sueño es surcar el cielo. Desde bien pequeño, y tras demostrar su coraje salvando a la princesa Isabella de una muerte segura, el dicharachero espadachín y científico Victor Vigly le acoge como su pupilo para convertirlo en un científico digno de la corte del rey Nicholas Trudeau. Hasta entonces, Conor sólo ha conocido la cara hermosa de la vida: es feliz, está rodeado de gente que le quiere, pasa el tiempo investigando e inventando nuevos artilugios para poder volar… pero un día, cae en una oscura trampa y termina en los calabozos de la terrible prisión de Little Saltee, de la que tendrá que conseguir escapar, limpiar su nombre y hacerle pagar a los verdaderos culpables la sangre derramada antes de que sea demasiado tarde.
Colfer, conocido por su saga fantástica de Artemis Fowl, recrea un siglo XIX con todo lujo de detalles que el lector es capaz de ver, más que de imaginar. La ambientación, las descripciones de los lugares, de la ropa, de las costumbres y de los artilugios están tratados con el máximo cuidado y con el toque de humor que tanto caracteriza a este escritor. Los detalles relacionados con la materia física de los artilugios, no se hacen pesados o aburridos, porque están tan entretejidos con la trama principal que sería imposible imaginar la historia sin ellos.
=> Sigue leyendo la reseña en http://www.eltemplodelasmilpuertas.com"
—El Templo de las Mil Puertas
We liked this book a lot - drawn to it by Eoin Colfer, of course - but I have to say I am a bit sorry that my 11-year old daughter read it. I know that is a bit crazy because she has done the Hunger Games, Maze Runner and Divergent and they are filled with violence and stress that I hope neither she or any of her friends ever deal with or even think they'll come close to seeing in their lives but the details in those series seem to be on the edge of entertainment, as if there isn't ever a chance that they could happen. With Airman it's not something that our generation of kids could experience but the way that Eoin writes the main character - Conor - is so compelling that it was hard NOT to believe that this was happening and hard not to keep thinking about his situation after we were finished our nightly reading (I actually read on through the book without her - not a good thing to admit but I really needed to see what was going to happen). Any description of the book would be too much of a spoiler for anyone but I will say that this would be a wonderful choice for an older boy and a fine option for someone who had enjoyed Kenneth Oppel's current books about Young Frankenstein. If I were talking with kids or parents in the library I would caution them that the level of violence and torture in a section of the book that deals with a prison is enough to cause a sensitive stomach to turn over a bit but the power of the story and the way that Eion Colfer approaches it is worth that burbling stomach. Not for younger kids, even if they have the reading level, it is a teen read for sure.
—Penny McGill
