Matt Cruse, a cabin boy on board a luxury airship, befriends Kate, a girl from a wealthy family. After the ship crash-lands on a deserted tropical island, he reluctantly teams up with her in a quest to solve the mystery of her late grandfather’s sighting of a mysterious winged creature near where they are stranded.

What’s not to like? It has action, it has good characters, it has a good grasp of history, it has mystery … and did I mention the action. I don’t think librarians will be able to keep this book on the shelves when the movie comes out (as long as the movie isn’t mucked up). The 355 pages may seem formidable for some readers, but the fast pace and the nearly constant action will make this a quick read. In the first 150 pages, you have a hot air balloon rescue, mysterious words from a dying man, a daring in-air landing, a strange journal, a pirate attack, a crash landing and the discovery of a mysterious skeleton.

The three younger characters – Matt, Kate and Matt’s “rival,” Bruce Lunardi – are all sympathetic. They all are held back and struggling against different things teens will related to: Matt, being poor and having lost his father, wants to advance in a society that is increasingly emphasizing academy education over experience. The adventurous Kate is held back because she is a rich young lady in a time when rich young ladies learned social graces and were expected to marry as soon as possible. Bruce is the outsider on the ship, a newcomer with no experience, and he feels trapped by his powerful family’s image and the need to live up to the family name.

The premise is interesting: what if there were never airplanes, and dirigibles were the ultimate travel mechanism? The history of the time is well done; the language, clothing and descriptions feel authentic.