Main Characters: Conor Broekhart, Hugo Bonvilain

Summary :

One dark night on the island of Great Saltee, fourteen-year-old Conor is framed for a terrible crime he didn’t commit. Thrown into prison by the dastardly Hugo Bonvilain, Conor is trapped in a sea swept dungeon and branded a traitor. He must escape and clear his name; he wants his old life back – his family, his friends . . . and his princess.

Conor knows there is only one way out. It’s an impossible task, which has never been done before. But Conor is determined to do it. He’ll have to fly.

Anna’s Thoughts :

Princesses, Pirates & Flying, oh my! Okay, so there aren’t really any pirates, but ‘greedy, sneaky, back-stabbing guards’, didn’t have the same ring. For me Airman was good, but slightly boring. Rightfully, this could be my own fault though. When I read a book I’m interested most in the progression of the story as well as the interaction between the characters, so when a book has sections – like this one does – where the character is by themselves for pages at a time, I get a little restless. Having said that though, the book and the story were solid.

Like most others the reason I know of Eoin Colfer is because of his very highly acclaimed series Artemis Fowl which I happen to LOVE, and like in Artemis Fowl he takes a world that we already know (Little Saltee & Great Saltee are real!), and transforms it into a world of imagination, be it gnomes, fae and the like (as in Artemis Fowl), or princesses, kingdoms and greedy guards (as in Airman). His worlds are always ones that I would find myself fortunate to live in!

The characters in Airman are well thought out and developed, we learn a lot about all of them, except one, and that’s the only downfall (other then the time the character spends alone) to the book. Isabelle is the King’s daughter, and Conor’s love interest, and through out the entire book we learn very very little about her. Towards the end of the book she even ends up defending herself in a great manor, but we never hear of her training or being taught anything that would incline that she’d know how to fight. But through the middle of the book, during the time Conor spends on Little Saltee, other then him remembering her we learn absolutely nothing about her. So it would have been nice to learn more about Isabelle, since she was in her way, a main character.