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
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It is the beginning of summer in Paris. Matt Cruse is looking forward to spending time with Kate de Vries and piloting an aerocrane for the Celestial Tower—France’s great project that will allow the nation to be first in outer space. But Matt and Kate’s idyllic time is short-lived. Matt narrowly survives an attack by the Babelites, a group of people who are opposed to humans reaching the heavens, while Kate is summoned back to Lionsgate City by her wealthy parents, who want her to marry and settle down.
But things look up when the Canadian government makes an exciting offer to both Matt and Kate. Canada wants to reach space first, and the Canadian Minister of Air wants Kate to join the first expedition as an expert in aerial zoology, while Matt is offered a chance at becoming one of the world's first astralnauts on-board the Starclimber by Mr. Lunardi, the owner of the ship. In order to be accepted into the training program, he requires parental consent, so he goes back home to his mother and two sisters. While they are having dinner, Matt's mother shows him a letter from the de Vries, inviting them to their garden party. During the party, Mr. Simpkins informs Matt that Kate's parents will probably marry Kate to James Sanderson, heir to the Sanderson fortune. Upon hearing this, Matt seeks out Mr. Sanderson during the party and chats with him, and tells him about Kate's morbid hobby of taking corpses and reviving them, making it up just to scare him away from Kate.
Matt is enrolled in a space program and meets Tobias Blanchard, who becomes his friend. After a grueling series of tests, only three people make it onto the first voyage out into space, but not him. When he leaves the room after the announcement of the first astralnauts, Kate follows him to try and cheer him up. When she takes his hands, Matt feels something on her left hand. Taking her glove off, he sees an engagement ring and instantly realizes that she has been engaged to James Sanderson. When he asks her why she did that, Kate defiantly replies that it is her ticket to outer space. Matt leaves, heartbroken. He goes to a bar with the rest of the rejected astralnauts-in-training, who tell him that he deserved to be chosen, not realizing that he was more disappointed about Kate's engagement than not becoming an astralnaut. The next morning, Captain Walken comes to his house and tells him that one of the men they chose broke his leg, and offers him a spot on the Starclimber as a replacement. Matt accepts, even though the thought of seeing Kate again is painful.
On the day of the Starclimber's maiden voyage, the complete crew is assembled for the first time: the astralnauts, Matt Cruse, Tobias Blanchard, and Chuck Shepherd; the photographer Evelyn Karr and her pet monkey Haiku; the zoologists Kate de Vries and Sir Hugh Snuffler; as well as Chef Vlad Herzog (the Aurora's former chef), Captain Samuel Walken (the Aurora's former captain), and Dr. Sergei Turgenev. They board the Bluenose, an airship, which is chartered to bring them to their launch site. On the third day, Kate apologizes to Matt, telling him that the engagement was just a way to obtain her parents' consent to the space trip, and that she will break it off when she returns home. Matt is not comforted, especially when Kate tells him that they must be careful about whatever suspicions the crew members have about their relationship.
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