starclimber

Starclimber, by Kenneth Oppel • Harper, 2009

Ok, it’s official: My name is Nora, and I’m a Kenneth Oppel addict. I started with Airborn, which had to read for school (had to! My hands were tied!). That was quickly followed by Skybreaker, and finally, FINALLY, when some snot-nosed kid returned it to the San Francisco Public Library, by Starclimber, which I devoured in one go this morning, not moving from my spot in the backyard until the book was finished, my nose was sunburned, and the dog had started to question whether he would ever get his walkies.

Like Airborn and Skybreaker, Starclimber follows the adventures of aspiring air pilot Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, an heiress-cum-wildlife biologist with a taste for adventure. As usual, the two are thrown together in a situation that tests their romantic bond and their mettle, this time aboard the first astralnaut ship, a vessel in keeping with Oppel’s steampunk 19th-century Canada.

For some reason, I was more conscious this time through of the full political picture on Oppel’s Canada-centric Steampunk universe. “Lion’s Gate City,” a thinly-disguised Vancouver, is mentioned as “the brightest light” in North America when seen from space, and the space race in Oppel’s universe is between France and Canada, powered not by rockets and cold war technology, but by electricity, space elevators, and towers to the stars.

Though certain aspects of Kate and Matt’s adventures seemed a bit formulaic at this point (”C’mon, Matt,” I found myself muttering “there’s never really a romantic rival”), their banter still seems fresh, and, as I noted above, I couldn’t put the story down, no matter what the cost to my complexion. The added treat of nods to our Canada (including a surprise appearance by Emily Carr) made the book all the more enjoyable.

Like Airborn and Skybreaker, Starclimber is one of those wonderful YA novels that is complex yet subtle, drawing readers in with a fast-paced and vividly told story while trusting the reader to make connections and appreciate the full complexity of its imagined world. The characters are three dimensional, with real and complex problems. Readers ten and up should enjoy all three books, and I’d imagine that even younger readers and their parents will find the stories enjoyable. I’m sorry to have reached the end.