There Is Nothing Like A Dirigible

I was a big fan of Kenneth Oppel's Airborn. In fact, I just bought a copy for my niece. I liked the first sequel, Skybreaker, even more. So I recently sought out the third book in the series, Starclimber.

Starclimber takes a long time to get going. I recall the earlier books as having a lot of thrilling action scenes, and these didn't start appearing until after the halfway point this time. The first half is all about the main character's training for going into space, which is a different place for him. In the first two books he was in the air, dealing with dirigibles. In the alternative world in which those books take place, dirigibles move around. A lot of things can happen on them and to them.

In Starclimber, however, Oppel has confined himself and his characters to a ship that travels into space along a wire. The real action doesn't start until halfway through the book, and the situation limits where the ship can go and what it can do. So there just weren't as many thrills this time around.

There's more romance, for those who care about that kind of thing. I would have preferred a bad guy.

This series started out very strong, and though this one isn't up there with the others, in my humble opinion, fans of the characters--or of their world--will want to continue reading.