This review has been submitted by the Falmouth Books Etc Manager Karen Keyte.

Airman by Eoin Colfer •  • ages 11 & Up
I’m as big a fan of the Artemis Fowl series as the next person, but I have to admit, my favorite Eoin Colfer novel is not a part of that series. If you are a fan of Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo or Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, you are guaranteed to love the story of Conor Broekhart.  In fact, this book easily stands with those classics as one of the best adventure stories ever written.
It would not be going too far to say that Conor Broekhart was destined to fly.  Indeed, Conor was born flying.  He came into this world in the basket of a hot air balloon at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair.  Conor spent his childhood with his adoring parents - scientist Catherine and soldier Declan - on the sovereign Kingdom of the Saltee Islands off the southeast coast of Ireland.  A friend to Princess Isabella, Conor’s boyhood was idyllic.  His days were filled with his adventures with the princess and with his study of the science of flight, guided by the eccentric royal tutor, Victor Vigny.
 Conor’s happy existence is abruptly shattered at age 14, when he witnesses an act of treason against King Nicholas.  Conor acts to disrupt the plot and seals his own fate.  The evil Marshall Bonvilain uses Conor to cover his own involvement and has the boy thrown into the hellish prison on Little Saltee Island.
 On Little Saltee, Conor’s odds of survival sink catastrophically low.  The prisoners are treated abysmally and are forced to mine Little Saltee’s diamonds under the most inhuman conditions.  Conor dreams of one thing: escape.  But the only way off Little Saltee is to fly, so Conor must use his admirable intellect and ingenuity to design the world’s first flying machine and make his escape.
 Airman is a gripping tale of loyalty and betrayal, heroism and villainy, dishonor and redemption complete with royalty, villainous criminals, swordplay, poisons and the beginning of manned flight -  a brilliantly told page-turning adventure that charms from beginning to end.