Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel

This review was posted on 25th October 2007 (2 years, 314 days ago) | Print | Comments

Another great action story from Oppell which starts a few years after the events of Airborn. Many of the great characters return and this book, more so even than the first, has a feeling something like a 30′s swashbuckler, where the odds are long, the technology rudimentary and yet men (and women in this case) are pushing the boundaries. You almost expect Errol Flynn to pop up and start sword-fighting with the dastardly villains at any minute. As such it’s hardly realism, with many plot twists easy to guess well-ahead of when they happen, but the action means you don’t care, and Oppell’s clever ideas and tricks are a joy to read and imagine.

He also does a good job of handling the characters relationships, I particularly like to on-off jealous but ultimately loving relationship of the two main characters, Matt and Kate, although it does tire after a while as misunderstanding and jealously then reconciliation cycle over and over.

The speed and constant development mean that there’s a barely a paragraph where something important isn’t happening or being laid down for future reference. An exciting read and I look forward to the next.