Booklog: Starclimber (Oppel)

[nebroadwe]

Kenneth Oppel, Starclimber

Airship pilot trainee Matt Cruse never thought he'd be dodging terrorists during his summer job ferrying materials to and from the giant space elevator the French are building in Paris until a group of Babelites attempts to turn his tug into a flying bomb. He never dreamed he'd be invited to training camp for the world's first manned space-flight, either -- or that his girlfriend, the rich, unconventional, headstrong Kate DeVries, would become engaged to another man in return for the chance to travel on the same space-flight as its xenobiologist. Perhaps a love between people of two such different backgrounds was never meant to flourish, just as the Babelites insist that man was never meant to trespass in God's heaven ...

Third in a series of three books set in an alternate early twentieth century British Commonwealth narrated by Matt Cruse, this one doesn't demand familiarity with the previous installments, but it surely helps. Oppel takes a Jules Verne-ish approach to space exploration with his Paris tower and Canadian Starclimber (which crawls up an unobtainium cable to a counterweight in geosynchronous orbit). Characterization takes a back seat to plot, but the types (the Lady Reporter, the Insufferable Chauvinist, the Good Captain, the Surly First Mate, the Mad Chef) are entertainingly deployed and the plot itself keeps the action coming: there's plenty of room for unexpected twists in the first-ever nature of the enterprise, as well as the expected threat of terrorism. There's even a place in this Boy's Own romance for a little first-wave feminism: Kate's devious shifts in pursuit of her intellectual ambitions hurt Matt profoundly, but even he acknowledges that the societal forces arrayed against her as a woman can't be overcome by conventional means. Oppel rounds off the series neatly with this installment, but I can't help hoping he'll revisit this milieu and these characters, who seem to have further adventuring ahead of them ("Honestly, I don't know what kind of life we'll have ... me always flying off in one direction and you in the other." "It's a good thing the world's round.") Recommended, but consider reading the equally entertaining prequels Airborn and Skybreaker first.

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

which one is first? I'm still vainly trying to find steampunk that doesn't suck. I like the genre in theory but so far most of what I've found I haven't liked

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Airborn, then Skybreaker, then Starclimber. They're YA, which I think makes the best steampunk. The adult-aimed stuff tends to be a bit gritty and depressing for my tastes. I prefer a straight-up adventure.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes i do too. I'll see if the library has this thanks