Starclimber - Hardcover

Oppel, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060850574 ISBN 13: 9780060850579

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2009

Synopsis

"Mr. Cruse, how high would you like to fly?"

A smile soared across my face.

"As high as I possibly can."

Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos. Before they even set foot aboard the ship, catastrophe strikes:

Kate announces she is engaged--and not to Matt.

Despite this bombshell, Matt and Kate 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. 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.

Award-winning and bestselling author Kenneth Oppel brings us back to a rich world of flight and fantasy in this breathtaking new sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker.

About this title

Review:

The climax is relentlessly suspenseful, another Oppel trademark, and no reader who comes to the book for sheer excitement will be disappointed. Even more impressive, though, is the cumulative depth and subtlety Oppel has brought to the characters of Matt and Kate over the three volumes of this playful series.

From the Author:

Climbing to the Stars. When I was a little kid, I used to wonder if I could climb into outer space, if I had a ladder tall enough. What would stop me? It might get cold, but I could wear a thick coat. I might run out of air to breathe, but I could bring a tank on my back. So really, what would stop me?

It's not as crazy as it sounds. About 100 years ago, a Russian scientist called Konstantin Tsiolkovsky came up with the idea of building a ladder, or cable, from earth all the way to outer space. At the very end, 22,000 miles from earth, would be a space station that would orbit our planet, keeping the cable taut, so that an elevator could ride up and down, carrying people and cargo into space.

When I heard about this space elevator idea, I thought how amazing it would've been, if this space elevator had actually been built, 100 years ago. And so I decided to write about it my third Airborn book, Starclimber.(And by the way, the space elevator is theoretically possible. Scientists all over the world are working on it right now!)

--Kenneth Oppel

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0060850574
• ISBN 13: 9780060850579
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400