On this mystical note starts Airman, the latest offering from bestselling Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer.

If you’ve read the Artemis Fowl series and Colfer’s other books — namely The Wishlist and the Supernaturalist — you’re familiar with his vivid, descriptive and fast-paced writing. But nothing will prepare you for the gripping adventure that takes flight in Airman.

The story takes you to the Saltee Islands off the shore of Ireland in 1878. Conor is born to Catherine and Declan Broekhart, the Captain of the Wall Watch under the guidance of Saltee’s able king Nicholas. In fact, he is born exactly when his parents were aboard a flying balloon, high over Paris. From that day onwards, something awakened in him — a desire to fly, to be one with the air.

As Conor grows up, he develops a passion for science like his mother. Right from the young age of ten, he begins tinkering with old gadgets and chemicals. But he also nurtures a wanton spirit of adventure. He spends most of his free time with Princess Isabella, playing pirate games and, when in trouble, rescuing her from burning towers. When the King brings his friend and aeronaut Victor Vigny from France to tutor the children, Conor finds a friend, confidante and mentor. Vigny teaches Conor not only the science of things, but also self-preservation. Soon, by the age of fourteen, Conor becomes an ace swordsman and an brilliant student of flight. Together, Vigny and Conor also make plans to build flying machines (planes didn’t exist yet at that time).

But life is not all bliss. As is the case in almost every royal family, there lives a treacherous soul close to the King. In this case, it was Hugo Bonvilain — an apt name! Bonvilain is Marshall of the King’s Armed Forces, but wants to usurp power. So, he hatches a plot to kill the King. In a weird coincidence of sorts, Conor stumbles upon the scene of murder. Bonvilain then blames the boy for it and packs him off to the horribly gloomy, Azkaban-like Little Saltee prison. Will Conor’s spirit be broken? Will he die on Little Saltee or will he return for revenge? As Colfer himself puts it, “With two miles of violent ocean separating Little Saltee from Great Saltee on one side and mainland on the other, escaping was a speedy ticket to death. The only way to escape Little Saltee was to fly.”
By the time you finish one-third of the book, the story begins to sound a lot like The Count of Monte Cristo — a man wrongly sentenced for a crime he did not commit, miraculously escapes from prison and returns to exact revenge on the person who incarcerated him. But then, Airman is different. While Edmond Dantes in Monte Cristo is consumed with feelings of revenge, all Conor wants is to fly, to make a proper heavier-than-air flying machine. That is his dream, and that’s what keeps him sane throughout the years of torture.

Mind you, Airman is not for the faint of heart. There’s a bit of violence, but it is mild. In Colfer’s signature descriptive style, you’ll see all the fights and skirmishes coming to life before you. Nevertheless, that is just one portion. Save all your imaginative powers for when Colfer begins to describe Conor’s flights. They are superb — you’ll never say the sky is boring ever again.

A must-read for all those who want to take to the skies one day. And even if you don’t, Airman will still mesmerise you.