The Airman

Airman by Eoin Colfer (of the Artemis Fowl series fame) is a swashbuckling saga of audacious adventure and rip roaring revenge served cold. Conor Brokeheart – the hero of this tale, we are told is born to fly. His very birth in a historic flight aboard an air balloon at the 1878 Paris World Fair under treacherous conditions already make him the stuff of legend at the start of this tale. His parents Declan and Catherine Brokeheart are subjects of King Nicholas Trudeau, the progressive sovereign ruler of Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. The early years of young Conor’s life have an idyllic charm and the boy seems to have it all – he inherits his mother’s love for science, which is further nurtured by his French tutor Victor Vigny – the best friend of King Nicholas, who has lofty plans to catapult this small island into a pioneer in the field of aviation. Together Victor and Conor dream of designing the flying machine that will make history and develop a close bond. His father who is the king’s Captain of the guard, and Victor train him in the fine arts of fencing and sparring. Conor also becomes a bit of a hero when he valiantly rescues the princess Isabella, who is his childhood playmate from a near death situation using his ingenuity. And then it all goes to hell very quickly for young Conor. A massive tragedy befalls the kingdom, and Conor loses his family, his mentor, his king and his princess in a swift master stroke of villainy. Framed as the perpetrator of a dastardly attack, denounced by his own father, Conor who is barely fourteeen is left to fend for himself and survive a lifetime imprisonment on Little Saltee – a prison island off the mainland known for its diamond mines that the prisoners are forced to work in. As Conor Finn, he finds himself marked for special attention by his captors who’ve hired a mercenary Otto Malarkey from the Battering Ram Gang to slowly break his spirit. After a brutal beating from Otto, Conor is quite ready to throw in the towel, but he receives some heartening advice from his cellmate Linus Wynter, a blind musician who encourages him to play to his strengths and continue to fight against his tormentors. He uses his ingenuity to get the better of the bully Otto Malarkey and slowly receives the grudging respect and admiration and eventual friendship of Otto, and together they hatch a plan to stash away diamonds below the nose of their captors, and eventually escape from Little Saltee. Connor bides his time, planning his escape, working in solitary on the design of an airplane that will be his ticket out of the hellish prison. The final chapter of this drama is about his adventures as the airman and how he finally gets his revenge on those who wronged him.

As characters go, Conor is quite the archetypal hero. Resourceful and plucky, he keeps his wits about himself even in the most dire of situations and despite the horrors visited upon him does not completely loose his devil may care attitude and his Irish sense of humor. Despite his intelligence and accomplishments its refreshing to see him so clueless and bumbling when it comes to his interactions with princess Isabella. Princess Isabella does not have as much of POV scenes and had this been a multi part series, seeing things from her point of view would have been definitely a plus. The other characters like Catherine, Declan Brokeheart, King Nicholas have a few interesting moments but not too much screen time is devoted to them. Victor Vigny has some nice heartfelt moments with Conor, and you feel the loss that young Conor experiences more acutely due to how this relationship is portrayed. Marshall Bonvillain is a chilling adversary, and his diabolic plans have destroyed many a happy ending. Linus Wynter is the perfect father figure that the wounded Conor needs to survive and maintain his sanity in captivity, and eventually give up his hardened Conor Finn persona to turn back into Conor Brokeheart. The Airman does sometime feel like a happier version of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ but it is still a delightful read and a quick page turner.

Eoin Colfer has a particular knack for wordplay. While L.E.P RECON and Mulch Diggums from the Artemis Fowl universe were particularly creative names, Airman too has some hilariously named characters like Marshall Bonvillain (good villain anyone?) and the Brokehart family (as if to foreshadow some of the heartbreak in store for them) . There are some wonderfully scripted humorous scenes, some heart stopping adventures, some tender young love, aching heartbreak and some good old revenge. Definitely recommended.