Airborn

By: Kenneth Oppel

Narrated by: David Kelly

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

Listen to the next book: Skybreaker.©2003 Kenneth Oppelale (P)2007 Full Cast Audio

Critic reviews

"Captivating." (Booklist)

"Pure fun....Kelly's voice is irresistibly likable and engaging. The original music is excellent." (AudioFile)

Fabulous story

Wonderful story and I love anything from the Full Cast Audio group. My wife listened to this story with me and wants to get the next story. I will get the next story.

amazing!

great story, amazing voice actors, awesome theme, over all amazing audio book to listen too.

Wow! What a story!!

Otherworldly while still familiar. Life on a great airship, gliding majesticky through the sky, facing storms, pirates, and catastrophes nearly crashing it. Throughout the story Matt Cruise proves himself worthy of trust. Whether aboard, on the deserted island, looking after Miss DeVrees, or spying those beautiful creatures, the winged Cloud Cats.. alas, Matt saves the ship and perhaps gets the girl too.
Very well written, exciting, suspenseful, and fantastical.

Entertainingly theatrical, but not true to story.

This is one of my favorite stories and I’ve read and reread it for 10+ years. This audiobook has great production value and adds whimsy to the storytelling with special effects, music, and multiple voice actors. However, some voice acting doesn’t match up to the character descriptions at all, and the frequent omissions of “he said, I said, she said, etc.” forces you to memorize the voices to know which character is speaking. I would recommend this for children or first time readers to listen to in the car, but not so much for those who want to follow along with the book.

Old School Steampunk

What made the experience of listening to Airborn the most enjoyable?

Seems like a steampunk version of an anime movie. This is a very good start to a series and well worth spending time listening to the production.

What did you like best about this story?

This is well done as I love audio dramas and how it is more like an audio movie.

very exciting!

i am sorry that the book and performance are ended. however i have book 2

Immersive and Engaging

Great story that sucks you in quickly and keeps you engaged with just the right amount of detail while still moving the narrative along. Relatable characters, complex yet not over-developed villain, and scenarios that wrap the listener up emotionally. Superb narration and audio book production quality. I'm excited to move on to the next volume in the series.

A rollicking adventure the family* can enjoy

*Caveat: Depending on the age and sensitivity of your child(ren), Airborn may not be appropriate. There is a murder in the story. This story is classified as Young Adult.

Airborn was my first "performance" audiobook and I was highly dubious about the entire idea.

I was well rewarded for my courage. The story was performed well and was highly engaging. We are looking forward to the second book being translated to audio (if we don't just buy the physical copy first)!

My youngest was uncomfortable about some of the material in the story, but my eldest enjoyed it so much that I had to loan him my mp3 player so he could finish it with her listening.

I hope you enjoy this neo-Victorian adventure as much as we did.

Awesome

This was our first introduction to Kenneth Oppel. Not the type of book elementary kids would happen to pick up and read - but Full Cast Audio made it accessible to our whole family. Good, clean entertainment for those long commutes and vacations.

A must read for all ages.

This book should be in schools. It is a great adventure that even youngsters who dislike reading (me when I first read it) will enjoy if they give it a chance.

It has several decently complex characters that book reports could be written about. It introduces the concept of a patriarchal society and paints feminism in a positive light. It also shows how the consequences of one's actions can be mild, severe, or have unexpected outcomes.

It would be a great book for properly shaping a young mind.