Might this be the most old-fashioned way to tell a story, but a tale of a young, strapping genius as a hero wooing a beautiful princess, who is made to suffer a terrible fate due to the act of an unconscionable and dastardly villain, who after spending few dark and painful years in prison bounces back to life dreaming revenge- is the most effective way to reach the heart of the reader. And that is what ‘Airman’ by Eoin Colfer did to me.
It was actually a whim by which I picked up this book from library (and also the fact that the cover was quite sexy and the pages weren’t blemished with yellow dog marks!). But whatever the reason, Airman is indeed worth reading. Eoin Colfer has quite a different style of writing prose. He is extremely witty while at the same time quite voluble. Though this book was published by Puffin, I wouldn’t exactly call reading this book a child’s play!!
The story revolves around the life of Conor Broekhart, who was born to Declan and Catherine Broekhart at the most incongruous of the birth places- in a hot air balloon!! And that is just a tip of the iceberg…
We have Conor saving young princess Isabella in his adolescence from a smoldering burning tower by gripping hold of a flag and flying down to safety!! Young Conor is trained in every major fighting technique by his French mentor and friend Victor Vigny who also gives wings (literally!!) to his dreams of building heavier-than-air flying machine. Between spending his time in training under Victor’s nose and chattering with the princess, Conor passes few happy days on Greater Saltee.
But happiness is short-lived. The extremely devilish and shrewd central antagonist of the book Hugo Bonvilain, the Marshall of Little Saltee (Jail and a site for excavation of diamonds), who driven by the extreme lust for power kills the King and in the process Conor gets enmeshed into it all. Conor gets trapped in the plot of the Marshall, and he is packed to Little Saltee under false identity and wrong charges. Life @Little Saltee is a living hell, as Conor soon finds out!!
But then it’s the return that’s the most fascinating. Our protagonist flies out from his prison, being soon branded as the guy with the wings in a black suit the ‘Airman’. He finally succeeds in building his dream project and he successfully launches a counter attack against Bonvilain, thwarting his plans for dominance.
In all this is an engrossing, all-attention-encompassing book, not to be missed out. What strikes me as totally wonderful is the way in which the author has captured the mood in those pre-flight days!!!! In those days, people just stopped short of calling the guy who could fly, an angel. The mood and fervor of those times are nicely captured in this enthralling piece of novel…
Now that I have read ‘Airman’, I look forward to reading Eoin Colfer’s famous ‘Artemis Fowl’ series…..
Alienman 
Sounds like a fun read, as all of Colfer’s books are!
Airman surely is a fun read!!!!!!!