Airman

Zorro meets The Count of Monte Cristo in this dazzling, action-packed novel from the author of the Artemis Fowl series.

A new adventure novel filled with high-action and aerial invention from the bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series. Conor Boekhart is blamed for murdering the king and thrown into prison. While in prison, Conor passes time by scratching designs for flying machines into the walls. After two years, Conor plans and executes a daring escape. But he soon decides he must return to reclaim diamonds he buried there. He builds a glider and becomes the mysterious Airman flying around the prison island. Then Conor's entire family is arrested for his crime and escape. Conor knows that to save them he will have to build the ultimate flying machine of his dreams.

Publishers Weekly

Colfer's (Artemis Fowl) epic adventure story is winningly voiced by Keating, whose distinctive brogue transports listeners to the remote Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. The narrative begins with hero Conor Broekhart's birth in a hot-air balloon over the 1878 Paris World Fair, showcasing Keating's talent with a French accent, too, as he smoothly slips into the role of Victor Vigny, the aeronautic enthusiast who later becomes Conor's beloved tutor in fencing, fighting and, most importantly, the science of flight. The story turns on Conor's clash with Hugo Bonvilain, the Machiavellian leader of the island kingdom's armed guard, and Keating's sneering characterization gives the villain real menace. Two Americans also feature in the story, and Keating's only bobble here is that these two voices occasionally sound a bit similar, but this is merely a quibble in an otherwise masterly reading of a gripping tale. Ages 10-up. Simultaneous release with the Hyperion hardcover(Reviews, Nov. 12, 2007). (Jan.)

Copyright 2007Reed Business Information

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 seaswept 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.Swashbuckling new fiction from the amazing Eoin Colfer, ideal for readers aged 11+. In the late nineteenth century, when Conor Broekhart discovers a conspiracy to overthrow the king, he is branded a traitor, imprisoned, and forced to mine for diamonds under brutal conditions while he plans a daring escape from Little Saltee prison by way of a flying machine that he must design, build, and, hardest of all, trust to carry him to safety.