young adult
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
fantasy novel written by
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
author
Kenneth Oppel
Kenneth Oppel (born August 31, 1967) is a Canadian children's writer.
Biography
Oppel was born in Port Alberni, and spent his childhood in Victoria, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also lived in Newfoundland and Labrador, England, ...
. It continues the adventures of young
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
student Matt Cruse, and Kate de Vries, a budding scientist.
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. While travelling through a storm in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
, his training vessel is caught in a
vertical draft
In meteorology, an updraft is a small-scale current of rising air, often within a cloud.
Overview
Localized regions of warm or cool air will exhibit vertical movement. A mass of warm air will typically be less dense than the surrounding region ...
revealing a large airship drifting at 20,000 feet. Deducing that it is the ''Hyperion'', a long-lost ship said to be carrying great riches, the captain steers towards it to attempt a boarding. However, Matt is forced to descend when the rest of the crew members are stricken with
altitude sickness
Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Sympt ...
. Upon returning to Paris, Matt meets with Kate de Vries, his friend and object of affection, to discuss the ''Hyperions billionaire owner Theodore Grunel. Kate announces that she plans to find "Grunel's treasure" using co-ordinates that Matt remembers in a special ship called a Skybreaker that will allow them to reach high altitudes safely.
Matt receives a request from a claimed descendant of Grunel. When they meet, the man reveals himself to be a criminal named John Rath and tries to force Matt to give up the co-ordinates. Matt escapes with a
gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
girl named Nadira who claims to have a key that works on the ''Hyperion'' and proposes her own plan to find it. Matt initially declines but changes his mind when he overhears a warm conversation between Kate and a wealthy acquaintance named Hal Slater. Matt and Nadira search for a Skybreaker named the ''Sagarmatha'' moored in Paris, but when they find it, they learn that Hal is the captain. Matt, Kate, Nadira and Kate's chaperone, Ms. Simpkins, hire Hal and his
Sherpa Sherpa may refer to:
Ethnography
* Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal
* Sherpa language
Organizations and companies
* Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility
* ...
crew to fly them to the ''Hyperion'' and promise Hal 80% of the gold they discover. Although Kate temporarily allays Matt's fears, he sees her develop an increasing rapport with Hal and becomes jealous. Matt begins to accept romantic advances from Nadira which culminates in a kiss between them in the crow's nest.
Matt brings his co-ordinates to Dorje, the First Mate, who factors in the wind speed to calculate the ''Hyperions trajectory. This brings the ''Sagarmatha'' into "Skyberia", a cold and desolate area around the Antarctic. Dalkey, one of the pilots, traverses the outside of the ship to remove a rudder blockage and sees that it is a large squid-like creature. The creature electrocutes Dalkey with one of its tentacles and flies away under the propulsion of hydrium. Kate coins the term "aerozoan" for this species and observes more of them travelling the Antarctic skies. Mourning their lost member, the crew gives a night lookout shift to Matt when the ''Hyperion'' is closeby. He is unable to see it soon enough and the larger ship grazes the ''Sagarmatha'', precluding the possibility of towing it. Kate chastises Matt for damaging the ship as their relationship continues to falter.
Hal, Kate, Matt and Nadira board the ''Hyperion'' and enter the vaults using Nadira's key. They find small pieces of
taxidermy
Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proc ...
, which Kate carries back to the ''Sagarmatha'', as well as some larger ones including the intact body of a
pneumatic tube
Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines, also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, ...
s. With Hal consumed by his lust for gold, the others read Grunel's diary and see frequent mention of a powerful enemy named "B". They dismiss this as a product of Grunel's diseased mind. The four climb out of the hatch but its connection to the ''Sagarmatha'' breaks under the wind and they are forced to spend the night on the ''Hyperion'' while low on food and oxygen reserves. Matt tries to comfort Kate but she lashes out and reveals that she knows about him kissing Nadira. Matt apologizes and Kate refers to Hal as "a bully", leading to a reconciliation between the two.
That night, the travellers learn that the machine they are using for heat is "Grunel's treasure"; a fuel cell capable of producing vast amounts of hydrium rather than gold. They realize that its design is inspired by the aerozoans in the adjacent chamber. While they search for the blueprints, one of the aerozoans comes back to life and breaks through the glass, forcing them to flee the engineerium. Before they can regroup, John Rath's airship, having pursued them all along, arrives and shoots down the ''Sagarmatha''. From their hiding place, Hal, Kate, Matt and Nadira hear the ship being boarded by Rath's pirates and their employer Barton who goes by "B". Barton reveals that, as the head of the aruba consortium, he plans to maintain his monopoly by destroying Grunel's invention along with the blueprints. Before Barton can destroy the blueprints, the four of them split up and Matt is able to find the canister. After he places it in Hal's backpack, the pirates announce that they have taken Kate as a hostage.
Leaving Hal to tend to Nadira, who is suffering from altitude sickness, Matt sneaks into the engineerium and sees that the floorboards are concealing a fortune in gold bullion. Matt shoots the glass to free the remaining three aerozoans and escapes with Kate during the distraction. The aerozoans kill Barton and all of the pirates except for Rath who decides to scuttle the ''Hyperion'' before anyone can leave with the blueprints. As the ship explodes, Hal, Kate and Matt carry Nadira to the hangar where there is a pedal-powered
ornithopter
An ornithopter (from Greek ''ornis, ornith-'' "bird" and ''pteron'' "wing") is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers sought to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, ...
to facilitate their escape. Matt takes Hal's backpack in order to use the dynamite to blow open the hangar doors. Another explosion ejects the ornithopter from the ''Hyperion'' before Matt can climb aboard and he narrowly escapes with the help of a
wingsuit
Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just ...
.
The four make it back to the ''Sagarmatha'' having been repaired by Dorje and Ms. Simpkins. When they are unable to find Grunel's blueprints, Matt confesses that they were in the backpack Hal tossed to him. Hal berates Matt for not holding onto the backpack and not salvaging gold from the engineerium when he had the chance. He dismisses Kate's protests and says that her focus on pleasures other than money has ruined him. Matt and Kate excuse themselves and head to the hangar of the ''Sagarmatha''. They soon find that their newly acquired ornithopter has a compartment on it holding 40 gold bars. Though intent on telling Hal, they decide to savour the moment first.
Main characters
* Matt Cruse A young adventurous boy who finds the ghost ship ''Hyperion''.
* Kate de Vries A passenger on the ''Aurora'', Kate discovered the cloud cat, and is now looking for more specimens. She provides the money for the trip.
* Miss Marjorie Simpkins Kate's chaperone.
* Nadira Szpirglas A mysterious young woman, Nadira finds Matt so they can set up an expedition together. She provides the key.
* Dorje Tenzing A Sherpa member of Hal's crew on board the ''Sagarmatha''.
* John Rath A man looking for money and hoping to take it from the ''Hyperion''.
* George Barton An old rival of Theodore Grunel.
* Theodore Grunel A slightly eccentric inventor who sailed away on the ''Hyperion'' in order to escape Barton, Grunel is frozen on the ''Hyperion''.
* Hal Slater Owner of the ''Sagarmatha'', a skybreaker.
Publication history
''Skybreaker'' was first released in Canada in September 2005. It was shortly followed releases in the United Kingdom and the United States in September and December 2005, respectively. Below are the release details for the first edition hardback and paperback copies in these three publication regions.
*2005, CAN, HarperCollins , Pub. date July 20, 2005, Hardback
*2005, UK, Hodder Children's Books , Pub. date September 15, 2005, Hardback
*2005, US, Eos , Pub. date November 29, 2005, Hardback
*2006, CAN, HarperCollins , Pub. date August 17, 2006, Paperback
*2006, UK, Hodder Children's Books , Pub. date September 7, 2006, Paperback
*2007, US, Eos , Pub. date January 2, 2007, Paperback
Kenneth Oppel
Kenneth Oppel (born August 31, 1967) is a Canadian children's writer.
Biography
Oppel was born in Port Alberni, and spent his childhood in Victoria, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also lived in Newfoundland and Labrador, England, ...