The Babelites are against this project and Matts ship is almost blown to smithereens by one of them, posing as a crew member. (I can literally picture a city in 1900 juxtaposed against airborne cranes and tugs.) The structure is already 10 times taller than the Eiffel Tower. The book starts with Matt piloting a small aerocrane delivering material to the Celestial Tower, a tower being built in Paris with the goal of reaching the heavens. But in Starclimber, Oppel has pinpointed the date to the early 1900s, with the mention of womens suffragettes. The combination of old and new technology always threw me off. The setting of the first two books always puzzled me. You dont necessarily have to read them before Starclimber, but you must, must, must read them. They are full of adventure and action and odd creatures.

If you havent read Airborn and Skybreaker, you have deprived yourself an infinite amount of pleasure. Well, Kenneth Oppel has supplied the answer in Starclimber, the third book featuring Matt Cruse and Kate DeVries. But, how do you get to outer space? That has been the age old question. It has spawned great scientists such as Galileo and Copernicus. People looked longingly up at the stars since the dawn of man.

Award-winning and bestselling author Oppel returns readers to a rich world of flight and fantasy in this breathtaking new sequel to 'Airborn' and 'Skybreaker.' Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.The lure of outer space has existed since time began. For Matt, Kate, and the entire crew of the 'Starclimber,' what began as an exciting race to the stars has now turned into a battle to save their lives. Despite this bombshell, and Matt' s anguish, they embark on their journey into space, but soon the ship is surrounded by strange and unsettling life-forms, and the crew is forced to combat devastating mechanical failure. Matt secretly plans on asking Kate to marry him, but before they even set foot aboard the ship, Kate announces her engagement-to someone else. An exhilarating journey to the stars-or a heartbreaking battle for survival? Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and his love interest, Kate de Vries, an expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the 'Starclimber,' a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos.

Starclimber book