Airman
By Eoin Colfer
Puffin Books, £10.99 (HB)

Fancy a bit of sci-fi? What about alternate history? Or maybe you’d like some swashbuckling romance, intrigue and high treason? Eoin Colfer manages to bundle all that and a lot more into one cover. And he does it with panache.

Colfer who? Since you ask, he’s the same Eoin (pronounced Owen) whose Artemis Fowl books have been flying off the shelves faster than speeding bullets. But don’t expect any magic (read fairies, trolls and gnomes) in his latest venture. Having said that, Colfer is a wizard whose weapon of choice is his pen and you can always expect truckloads of literary magic.

The story is set in the late 1890s, in a small monarchy off the Irish coast called the Saltee Islands, ruled by the benevolent King Nicholas. The main trade of the island is diamond mining, carried out by prisoners at the infamous Little Saltee prison.

The king (Good King Nick) is a man of science, who is determined not to let the winds of scientific progress pass his subjects by. Not everybody, however, is as noble-minded. The head of the island’s guards, Marshall Bonvilain, is determined to overthrow the king.

There are some in the king’s close circle of friends who suspect Bonvilain of high treason. One of them is Declan Broekhart, the captain of the Saltee Islands’ elite team of sharpshooters. The other man is the Frenchman Victor Vigny, who is the king’s friend, chief scientific researcher and a teacher to Declan’s son Conor and Isabella, the princess. Vigny and Conor also share a dream: to build the world’s first heavier-than-air flying machine.

Matters come to a head when Bonvilain kills the king and throws Conor into the Little Saltee prison on the trumped-up charge of having committed the crime. Remember Azkaban, from Harry Potter? Well, Little Saltee would make Azkaban seem like a creche in comparison. The only way out of this hellhole is by flying. The catch is that a flying machine hasn’t been invented yet. But Conor is determined.

Colfer’s prose is crisp and playful, with dollops of irony and humour where you least expect it. The story has a rhythm that makes it a pleasure to read, especially the last 150-odd pages, which are virtually unputdownable.

So, does Conor succeed? I’m tempted to tell you, but that would spoil the fun. So, mum’s the word. Dig into the book to find out what happens. There’s one thing I can tell you, though. You’ll be very, very excited.