Skybreaker

infobox Book |
name = Skybreaker
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Skybreaker" first edition cover.
author = Kenneth Oppel
cover_artist = Kirk Caldwell
country = Canada
language = English
series = "Matt Cruse" series
genre = Fantasy, Adventure novel, Steampunk
publisher = HarperCollins
release_date = July 20, 2005
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Audio
pages = 340 pp "(first edition)"
isbn = ISBN 9780002006996
preceded_by = Airborn
followed_by = Starclimber

"Skybreaker", sequel to "Airborn", is a fantasy novel for young adults and adolescents written by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel. It continues the adventures of young airship student Matt Cruse, and Kate de Vries, a would-be scientist.

Plot summary

Taking place a few months after the proceeding events of "Airborn", Matt Cruse is working about the "Flotsam" aircraft as training hours for the prestigious "Airship Academy". During the expedition, a spotter sees a long lost ship known as the "Hyperion". The ship left harbour 40 years ago but was never seen again. The ship is famed for its treasure that the owner, Theodore Grunnel, was rumored to have brought aboard. Captain Tritus, commander of the airship "Flotsam", orders the crew of his vessel to sail up to the "Hyperion's" current dangerously high elevation of 20,000 feet so they would be able to claim rights of salvage and recover the treasure.

However, the elevation nearly kills all of the men, and young Matt Cruse (who is less affected by the altitude because of his good health) takes the helm and sails to the nearest port. He is the only person who knew the exact coordinates of the "Hyperion."

A week or so later, when he has returned to the Airship Academy, Matt is chased by pirates attempting to get the coordinates to the "Hyperion". However, Nadira, a mysterious Roma girl (see Roma people), saves Matt Cruse by leading him through the streets and over the rooftops, eventually causing the pirates to lose track of the young protagonist. She also is trying to find the "Hyperion's" location, and shows Matt an unusual key that she claims is the only way to open the booby-trapped treasure vaults of that vessel.

Cruse attempts to find refuge inside of Kate de Vries' (a character from the preceding book, Airborn, with whom he was romantically involved) apartment. However, when he arrives, he finds a man by the name of Hal Slater "courting" her. Hal was about to kiss Kate, when her chaperon, Mrs. Simpkins, walked into the room and interrupted. Matt, jealous of Hal's apparent relationship with Kate and somewhat angry, decides to sleep under a bridge for the night rather than his room at the Airship Academy, where he fears the pirates may be waiting for him.

Eventually, Kate (who is very wealthy) agrees to charter an airship, and give Nardira passage because of the key she owns, and also to Matt because of his knowledge of the "Hyperion's" coordinates. The airship she charters is Hal’s freighter, the "Sagarmatha," which is a recently developed type of airship known as a “skybreaker,” due to its ability to be flown at very high altitudes. They set sail for the Hyperion.

Along the way, Matt and Kate become jealous of each other -- Matt because of Kate's relationship with Hal and Kate because of Matt's growing infatuation with Nadira. Kate, however, tells Matt that Hal proposed to her but she turned him down. During the course of the voyage, they learn that a homing beacon was planted in Matt's luggage so that the pirates can more easily track them.

When the crew boards the Hyperion, they find no gold (much to Hal's dismay), and plan to return the next day to search further. Due to a powerful windstorm from Devil's Fist that crashed into the "Hyperion", the docking clamps from the "Sagarmatha" were torn loose. Matt, Nadira, Kate and Hal are trapped for the night aboard the "Hyperion", and while they are waiting, the pirates who had been tailing the "Sagarmatha" board the "Hyperion."

As it turns out, the "treasure" aboard the "Hyperion" being sought by the pirates was, in effect, a solar cell which produces Hydrium (the fictitious lifting gas that makes the airships rise) as its byproduct. A part owner of the Aruba fuel company has accompanied the pirates in order to destroy the solar cell to prevent it from destroying the Aruba Company's monopoly on energy sources.

The pirates discover the treasure seekers on board and attempt to kill them. However, they are attacked by a previously unknown, large, lighter-than-air, squid-like organism which were kept about the "Hyperion" for purposes of study. The struggle sets off the "Hyperion's" supply of dynamite, causing it to catch fire, and Matt, Kate, Nadira and Hal escape to the Sagarmatha in the "Hyperion's" Ornithopter. When the arrive at the "Sagarmatha", they discover that a member of the "Hyperion's" crew had loaded the Ornithopter with gold before his ill-fated escape attempt, so the crew of the "Sagarmatha" does not return to port empty-handed.

Characters in "Skybreaker"

* Matt Cruse — protagonist, a young airship student who believes he is destined to be an airship captain. He was born on an airship crossing over the ocean and worked on the Aurora until joining the airship academy.
* Kate de Vries — Almost a scientist to be. Also Matt Cruse's love interest.
* Hal Slater — Captain of the skybreaker ship "Sagarmatha" (meaning Everest in Nepalese).
* Theodore Grunel — inventor of the airship, an early ornithopter and other inventions (his name is meant to echo that of real life engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed many railway bridges in England, as well as helping design a number of steamships, including the Great Eastern)
* Dorje Tenzing- Hal Slater's first mate in the Sagarmatha
* Miss Marjorie Simpkins — Kate de Vries' chaperone.
* Nadira — a Roma girl who has the key to the Hyperion.
* John Rath — a pirate. During the storyline he pretends to be Grunel's grandson Matthias to get Matt's coordinates of the Hyperion.
* George Barton — A man working for the Aruba Constortium. While on board the Hyperion he destroys Theodore Grunel's Prometheus Engine and explains to Rath that it must be done, because if the Engine becomes known to the common man, then the Aruba Consortium will lose money because people will no longer need Aruba fuel.

Animals in Skybreaker

In the book there are several fictional animals.
*Aerozoan – A squid like animal with a Hydrium Sac, and able to produce huge amounts of electricity. This animal is where Grunnel got his idea for the Prometheus Engine.

*Araneus Volatilis – A spider-like creature with wings. It is very light and flies to high altitudes.

Sketches of these animals are available at [http://www.airborn.ca/supplement01.htm Kate's field Journal]

Publication history

"Skybreaker" was first released in Canada in September 2005. It was shortly followed with its release in the United Kingdom and the United States in September and December of 2005 respectively. Below is the release details for the first edition hardback and paperback copies in these three publication regions.

*2005, CAN, HarperCollins ISBN 9780002006996, Pub date July 20 2005, Hardback
*2005, UK, Hodder Children's Books ISBN 9780340878576, Pub date September 15 2005, Hardback
*2005, US, Eos ISBN 9780060532277, Pub date November 29, 2005, Hardback

*2006, CAN, HarperCollins ISBN 9780006394020, Pub date August 17 2006, Paperback
*2006, UK, Hodder Children's Books ISBN 9780340878583, Pub date September 7 2006, Paperback
*2007, US, Eos ISBN 9780060532291, Pub date January 2 2007, Paperback

External links

* [http://www.skybreaker.ca/ Official website]