Kenneth Oppel Books In Order

Publication Order of Barnes and The Brains Books

Publication Order of Silverwing Books

Publication Order of Matt Cruse Books

Publication Order of The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein Books

Publication Order of The Overthrow Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Chapbooks

Publication Order of Anthologies

Kenneth Oppel was born in the year 1967, in the mill town of Port Alberni located on Vancouver Island, BC. However, despite the fact that Opel was born in Port Alberni, he spent a bigger part of his childhood days in Victoria, BC, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. When Kenneth Oppel turned 12 years, he made up his mind that all he wanted was to become an author. Oppel began by first penning down science fiction novels and then eventually moved to sorcery and sword tales. During the summer holidays, when Kenneth Oppel was fourteen, Oppel began to pen down a humorous narrative about a boy who was addicted to video games. The narrative eventually turned out to be a long narrative, and Kenneth Oppel was forced to rewrite the narrative for the next summer. As luck would have it, one of the family friends knew renowned author Roald Dahl in person.

The family friend presented the narrative to Roald Dahl, and after reading the script, Roald Dahl decided to pass down the narrative to his agent. A few months later, Oppel received a letter informing him that the agency wanted to publish Oppel’s story and try to sell it.

Airborn
Airborn is the first installment in the Matt Cruise book series, and it follows the story of one Matt Cruise, a cabin boy who works on the Aurora spaceship. Aurora is a luxury cruise liner in a different world, where Jules’s dreams become a reality. Unlike a majority of the alternate history narratives, author Kenneth Oppel does not give so much when it comes to world development. The author does not specify the year that the story takes place and the extremely strange mix of technology makes things extremely hard to place the narrative. Matt Cruise is a boy who has always felt at home flying aboard Aurora, a luxury spaceship. Before, Aurora belonged to his father; however, it now belongs to Matt. Matt is hopeful that one day he is going to become a junior sailor. One evening, while Matt was on watch duty, he notices a balloon in distress. With the assistance of his team, Matt can rescue the balloonist, who before dying asks Matt whether he saw them.

The encounter with the old man sticks in Matts’ head as he tries to establish what the old man had seen. It does not take long before Kate de Vries arrives and ultimately turns Matt’s world inside out. Apart from being highly intelligent, Kate is a fast-talking woman who many at times might be a little bit headstrong. Kate is the granddaughter of the man who Matt had rescued from the balloon. Kate has traveled all the way to prove that her grandfather was not a crazy man. Furthermore, she is there to prove that her grandfather had seen some extremely marvelous creatures, while on his normal trips. Readers are going to fall in love with Kate from the word go. Matt, on the other hand, was extremely smart, dedicated and loyal as well. Matt’s opinion of his captain was quite evident, and author Kenneth Oppel did tell and show with Matt’s character development.

Apart from mishaps, Airborn was also filled with adventures and pirates as well. Author, Kenneth Oppel did a fantastic job of creating real characters and in the process getting the readers to care about these characters.

Silverwing
Silverwing is a narrative that focuses on Shade, an extremely young bat, and his day-to-day adventures. Shade was always a rebel, and as expected went against one of the main rules of the bat kingdom, never look at the sun. In the process, Shade’s home was burnt to the ground. As a result, the entire colony had no option but to relocate to their winter home, down south. In the midst of a storm, Shade gets separated and eventually meets with a banned bat, Marina. Marina and Shade embark on a series of adventures, flying across the cities and meeting with two gigantic bats, Throbb and Goth. In the beginning, Throbb and Goth appeared to be nice bats, however, along the way, Shade discovers that these two bats were cannibals. Throbb and Goth, then forced Marina and Shade to take them to where their colony had settled. Along the way, the two giant bats were stopped, and both Marina and Shade eventually made it to safety.

With that said, the main theme in Silverwing is friendship. If Shade would have not met with Marina, then he would have died. Due to the fact that Marina and Shade trusted each other, they survived. The Ending of Silverwing was extremely sweet, though as expected it was a set up for the future books in the series. All the characters in Silverwing, were quite realistic and readers are going to feel as if they are watching real bats with actions and descriptions.

Starclimber
Starclimber is the third installment in the Matt Cruise book series. In Starclimber, we meet once again with the protagonist, Matt Cruise, and Kate De Vries. Starclimber begins as Matt Cruise and Kate are about to embark on an ultimate quest, which is filled with spaceships, romance, adventure, and space monkeys as well. After going through some extremely intense space training, Matt Cruise hopes that he is going to be the one who will be selected for the outer space mission. As luck would have it, Matt Cruise is shortlisted for the mission. Kate and Matt clamor onto the spaceship, the Starclimber. Initially, Matt felt extremely miserable when Kate announced she was engaged. What Matt does not know is that this will not be the only time when he feels this type of sadness.

It does not take long before a huge disaster strike, and Matt’s survival skills are ultimately put to the test. With that said, the Starclimber is an excellent conclusion to the Matt Cruise book series. Readers can easily devour Starclimber in less than three days. Matt Cruise was very likable and did not disappoint at all. Tobias was also well developed and quite likable as well. The choice of words that author Kenneth Oppel used in his descriptions was well selected and rightfully placed as well.