Airman

Conor Broekhart has an obsession with flying. You can't blame him considering he was born in a hot air balloon. Ever since his birth he has been consumed with flying again. It is good luck that his father is the captain of the Saltee Sharpshooters and a good, trusted friend of the King. The King is also intrigued by flying. He makes sure that Conor receives lessons from his best friend, Victor, the Frenchman known as La Brosse. Conor and Victor are sure that their experiments will lead them to be the first to take flight. Suddenly, a plan to kill the king is unveiled and Conor is pegged a traitor and killer. He is banished to Little Saltee, where the prisoners, if still alive, are forced to dangerously mine for diamonds. There Conor plots how to escape and untarnish his name. To do so, he must take to the sky again. Will he manage to build his flying machine and escape the harsh prison? Will he make it back to the princess and explain to her what happened and profess his love for her? Read the book and find out!

Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer has written a really interesting book. Set in the late 1800s, the book is divided into three parts. I felt the first part dragged a little and it was hard for me to get hooked into the book. Once I was, I couldn't put the book down. I couldn't stop wondering how Conor might escape and take revenge on the king's real killer, the evil Marshall Bonvilain. If you like this book, you'll want to check out Eoin Colfer's other series, Artemis Fowl.