As I sit in my misty world, knitting, I finish an audio tape of Skybreaker; the second in Kenneth Oppel’s Matt Cruse steampunk series. Mist plays a major role in this book of airships flying 20-30,000 feet above the earth with appealing Tibetan Sherpas, Matt’s love interest, Kate, Pirates, and the corpse of a zealous scientist. The first of three book in the series, Airborn, begins the Robert Louis Stevenson adventurous flavor of the series, but isn’t quite as strong as this second book, despite its awards. Skybreaker keeps Matt and Kate aloft throughout the book, seeking the rogue airship Hyperion that has been roaming the skies for forty years. The scientist, who captained Hyperion, envisioned a city in the air full of marvelous inventions and fascinating, hidden escape routes and devices. His greatest invention, however, was in taking the “mist” and turning it into ever-renewable energy, splitting the water vapor to produce a clean energy source. The author, Kenneth Oppel, is someone to keep an eye on. His newest book, This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Dr. Frankenstein looks at the early years of this scientist, before the monster.
Traveling through the Mist 