Starclimber

Starclimber

Starclimber first edition cover.
Author	Kenneth Oppel
Country	Canada
Language	English
Series	Matt Cruse series
Genre	Fantasy, Alternate history novel, Steampunk
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	August 26, 2008
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	356 pp (first edition)
ISBN
OCLC	213525892
Preceded by	Skybreaker

Starclimber is the third book in the Matt Cruse fantasy series, written by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel.

"-Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries go higher than ever when they take part in the very first expedition to outer space -- and the journey turns out to be even more thrilling, perilous, and deadly, than imagined.-" Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse is piloting an aerocrane for France's Celestial Tower where he narrowly survives a terrorist attack by the Babelites, a group of people who are opposed to humans reaching the heavens. After the incident, he meets with Kate de Vries, and is saddened to hear that Kate will soon return to Lionsgate City.

Canada's Minister of Air wants Canadians to be the first in space, and invites Kate to join the expedition as an expert in aerial zoology, while Matt is offered a chance to become one of the world's first astronauts on board the Starclimber. Matt decides to visit his mother and sisters. While he is there, he accepts a party invitation sent by Mr. and Mrs. de Vries. During the party, Matt is informed that Kate's parents will probably marry Kate to James Sanderson. Upon hearing this, Matt seeks out Mr. Sanderson during the party.

Matt is enrolled in the astralnaut program and becomes friends with fellow astralnaut trainee Tobias Blanchard. Three people are chosen to be the first astralnauts, but Matt is not amongst them. When he leaves the room, Kate follows him to try and cheer him up. When she takes his hands, Matt finds an engagement ring on her finger. Matt leaves, heartbroken, and goes to a bar with the rest of the rejected astralnauts-in-training. The other astralnauts tell him that he deserved to be chosen. The next morning, Captain Walken tells him that one of the men they chose broke his leg, and offers Matt a spot on the space trip as a replacement. Matt accepts, even though the thought of seeing Kate again is painful.

When the crew is at zero gravity, Tobias is chosen to be the first man in space. He is enthralled by the endless vista of space in front of him and threatens to unclip his harness, provoking Matt to rescue Tobias. That evening, they discover a problem in the cable that endangers the crew. They quickly come to the conclusion that the rocket that pulled the cable up did not reach the proper altitude because of a blown fuse. The team successfully relaunches the rocket, and Matt rescues Captain Walken along the way. Later on, they discover a new creature -which Kate names "etherian"- a limbless creature having baleen that moves by ejecting bursts of air from various holes in its body and emanates light like a firefly.