Airborn

By: Kenneth Oppel

Narrated by: David Kelly

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

Listen to the next book: Skybreaker.©2003 Kenneth Oppelale (P)2007 Full Cast Audio

Critic reviews

"Captivating." (Booklist)

"Pure fun....Kelly's voice is irresistibly likable and engaging. The original music is excellent." (AudioFile)

Fantastical and riveting

I have been craving a book just like this. Adventure and whimsy. This book should be made into a movie

Wow! What a story!!

Otherworldly while still familiar. Life on a great airship, gliding majesticky through the sky, facing storms, pirates, and catastrophes nearly crashing it. Throughout the story Matt Cruise proves himself worthy of trust. Whether aboard, on the deserted island, looking after Miss DeVrees, or spying those beautiful creatures, the winged Cloud Cats.. alas, Matt saves the ship and perhaps gets the girl too.
Very well written, exciting, suspenseful, and fantastical.

Fabulous story

Wonderful story and I love anything from the Full Cast Audio group. My wife listened to this story with me and wants to get the next story. I will get the next story.

amazing!

great story, amazing voice actors, awesome theme, over all amazing audio book to listen too.

Entertainingly theatrical, but not true to story.

This is one of my favorite stories and I’ve read and reread it for 10+ years. This audiobook has great production value and adds whimsy to the storytelling with special effects, music, and multiple voice actors. However, some voice acting doesn’t match up to the character descriptions at all, and the frequent omissions of “he said, I said, she said, etc.” forces you to memorize the voices to know which character is speaking. I would recommend this for children or first time readers to listen to in the car, but not so much for those who want to follow along with the book.