AIRMAN by EOIN COLFER

AIRMAN by EOIN COLFER

SUMMARY: Conor Broekhart was born to fly. He built his first improvised glider when he was about nine years old. And ever since then he had dreamed about flying. He had a great teacher, Victor Vigney who taught him a lot about planes and fencing. He practically lived in the castle of Great Saltee because his parents were friends with the king and he fell in love with the princess Isabella. But one day Conor saw Bonvilain, the dastardly marshal kill the king and Vigney. Bonvilain threw him into jail on Little Saltee and told his family and friends (including princess Isabella) that he had died. So Conor spent around two years there, making friends with a blind musician and former spy, Linus Wynter who was later released. At last Conor escaped on a hot air balloon. He tried to start a new life on the mainland and quite soon afterwards reunited with Linus. They lived in Victor’s old house where Conor made a glider and glided to Little Saltee to steal some of the diamonds that were dug up there. He was seen and soon known by Bonvilain who had decided to kill him. He (Bonvilain) made a very sophisticated plan that backfired and Conor came back to rescue his family. He succeeded and Bonvilain was never to be seen again.

CHARACTERS:

Conor Broekhart: he’s a kind boy who always dreams about flying. He falls in love with Isabella. He’s also a good fencer.

Conor Finn: he’s really Conor Broekhart’s new name that he chose in prison as a symbol of a new life. He’s very determined to stay alive and not very merciful. He’s more of a thief and a diamond stealer than a scientist. But he is the reason Broekhart survived the imprisonment and escaped.

Princess Isabella: she likes Conor and they’ve been best friends since their childhood. When she thinks Conor is dead she becomes more insecure but eventually gets the courage to charge Bonvilain of her father’s murder.

Declan and Catherine Broekhart: they’re Conor’s parents. They both miss him when he is presumed dead, especially Declan but they start getting over it at the end of the book.

Victor Vigney: Conor’s first teacher who loves flying too and always fantasies about building a heavier-than-air flying machine.

Linus Wynter: a blind former spy who loves opera. He is Conor’s only friend in prison at first.

Hugo Bonvilain: he’s the villain of the story. A very greedy and power-hungry man who would do just about anything to be in charge.

OPINION: I personally loved the book, especially the first and last part of it. The part where Conor is in prison was a bit harder to read. The story is very interesting and well written. I liked the descriptions of flying and how Conor didn’t give up. I liked how even the helpers and friends of Bonvilain eventually realised he was insane and left him to die and I liked that Conor couldn’t kill anyone, no matter the situation.

SUMMARY (extended version (lots of spoilers)):

PART ONE: Conor Broekhart was born in air, his parents flying in a hot air balloon. They were friends with the king of the Saltee Islands, Nicholas, so Conor practically grew up in the castle with princess Isabella who became his best friend. They explored the castle together and one day they accidentally set the King’s room on fire. It was full of explosives because the King was always experimenting with them. They got trapped on the roof but just then, a friend of King Nicholas, Victor Vigny, arrived. He managed to save the king but the kids were high on the roof and no one could reach them. Conor, about nine years old at the time, used the flag as a kite and got Isabella and himself safely to the ground. Well, they fell into the ocean. Anyway, Victor was impressed and decided that he shall teach the young boy too, despite the fact that he came as Isabella’s teacher. Conor learned and he was a good student. He loved flying and so did Victor. They got along very well. One day Conor confessed his love for Isabella to her and found out that she liked him, too. He was really happy about that so he went to a turret and saw Bonvilain listening to king and Victor’s conversation. He (Bonvilain) didn’t like what they were saying so he shot both of them. He saw that Conor was there so he threw him into jail. The soldiers there beat him up badly and Bonvilain drew a tattoo on him so he didn’t look like himself anymore. He then told Conor’s father that Conor was dead and that the guy in front of him was a traitor. Conor’s father, Declan Broekhart insulted the ‘traitor’ and made Conor believe that he hated him.

PART TWO: So Conor was taken away to the Little Saltee Island prison to mine for diamonds. In his cell he met another prisoner, Linus Wynter. He helped him survive. On Conor’s first day of work he was sent into the ocean by a diving bell. A man, called Otto Malarkey, came to beat him up a little every day. That was the way Bonvilain chose to break him. The next day, however, Conor struck back. Using ‘the devil’s fork’ as inmates called a device for picking up diamonds he attacked Malarkey. He beat him hard but let him live. Otto had to promise to leave him alone, though. On that day Wynter advised him to become a new person and leave everything behind. His family, friends, his old life. To choose a new name. Conor Finn. Conor had lots of problems with that. He couldn’t sleep at night so he and Linus started talking. Conor found out that Wynter was actually a spy, sent into that prison by King Nicholas. But because the king died, he kind of got stuck there. He also loved opera. His dreams inspired Conor to try and follow his own dreams- to fly. The next day he taught Malarkey to fence in exchange for information about this island. When he got back to his cell, he found out that Wynter has been killed. Or so he thought at the time. But he found a luminescent rock, too. Lots of prisoners had carved their ideas and troubles in and so did Conor. He sketched the design of the plane he was going to build. When the sunlight shone through this rock, it projected the drawings onto the walls. Two years passed. In that time Conor became a Battering Ram, a part of a secret organisation and he also became friends with Otto Malarkey. The coronation of Isabella was to be very soon and he had a plan to escape on that day. So he hijacked one of the fireworks-like balloons and got to safety.

PART THREE: After half a year he returned with his new flying machine to collect the diamonds he hid when he was a prisoner. On his visit to Little Saltee he also scared one of the guards, Arthur Billtoe to death. So he flew back home and a man, called Pike, saw him take off his wings. When Conor went into town he found Linus Wynter and found out that he wasn’t killed at all. So they started planning to kill Bonvilain together. Around that time Pike and Billtoe met in a tavern and Pike told Billtoe about Conor. They didn’t know his name, of course. Arthur began planning on killing the airman and stealing his wings and the diamonds he stole. So on one of the next nights Conor was flying to see how his parents were doing. He came to their house. He looked inside it through the window and saw his parents with a new baby. He felt bad about that and the fact that they had obviously moved on so he went to steal the last of the diamonds. But this time one of the guards saw him and they had a fight. Conor emerged unhurt bet not unnoticed anymore. He flew back home where Pike, Billtoe and someone else were waiting to attack him. They failed, of course. So when Conor got home he dreamed about how to improve the propeller for an aircraft. He decided it was high time to move to America and get on with the designs. But while he was planning that, Bonvilain and his friend, Sultan Arif, found his hidden home (where Linus Wyinter lived, too) and started shooting. When they discovered that only Linus was home, they started shooting at him. He managed to trigger the emergency flares and warn Conor on the mainland about the danger. Conor came as fast as he could and found his friend tied and beaten up. Linus told him about Bonvilain’s plan (to poison his family and Isabella in a couple of days). Conor decide to be Conor Broekhart from now on. So he started making a heavier-than-air flying machine and with some help from the locals he put it together and managed to fly to Great Saltee. There the wall guards shot his plane down but he was tied to his (improved) glider. He glided through the window just in time to prevent his loved ones from drinking the poisoned wine Bonvilain offered them. He revealed himself as Conor and fought Bonvilain and his assistants. In the end Bonvilain stole the glider and glided into the ocean to leave us with a burning question about his death.

#4stars #eoincolfer #all #reality