Kenneth Oppel's STARCLIMBER

You have a guilty pleasure. Admit it. Maybe you take an hour out of each week to curl up and watch Dancing with the Stars, with only your bowl of popcorn as a witness. Maybe, hidden in the depths of your iPod full of Cannibal Corpse and Killswitch Engage, you have the complete discography of Britney Spears. Or maybe you love Twilight.

Personally, I die a little bit inside every time someone professes their undying love for Edward Cullen. But I will admit to understanding the fangirl mentality. Because I walked into the bookstore the other day and almost started crying. There, on a shelf in the back of the store, was a book that I didn't even know existed. There was only one copy, and, as it turns out, the book actually came out last fall. It was a novel by Kenneth Oppel called Starclimber, and was the sequel (well, second sequel) to a book I'd first read five years ago- Airborn. Airborn is, I suppose, my Twilight.

The books- Airborn, Skybreaker, Starclimber- are Steampunk-style novels set in an Edwardian alternate history where airships rule the skies and fantastic scientific discoveries await those with a sense of adventure and a little luck. They follow airship cabin boy Matt Cruse through a series of fantastic high-altitude adventures. It's swashbuckling romance in the style of Treasure Island. And yes, it's probably considered a children's book... but it's a well written one- something I can't say of Stephanie Meyer's novels- and between heavier novels, it's sometimes nice to read something fun and exciting. The characters are convincing and easy to relate to, and the dialogue is witty, in sharp contrast to the tepid and inane drivel that passes for conversation in other novels I've read recently.

These books are an appealing mix of the intrepid spirit of exploration and the effervescence of clinking champagne glasses, with just enough commentary on social classes and gender discrimination not to be obnoxious and just enough romance to not be sentimental. Personally, as somewhat of a fine literature snob, I found Airborn and its sequels to be thoroughly enjoyable reads.