NADYA SKYLUNG AND THE MASKED KIDNAPPER

The adventures of Nadya Skylung and the crew of the cloudship Orion continue.

Nadya and her friends are still reeling from the loss of Mrs. T, the crew’s skylung, who kept the cloudship afloat through the tending of a garden. Moreover, Nadya also lost her leg after the events that closed Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue (2018). Now the Orion is headed to the port city of Far Agondy, a steampunk wonderland, for repairs and to deliver their three pirate prisoners. But as the ship is about to dock, a sudden explosion provides cover for the escape of the prisoners. Indeed, intrigue swirls around Far Agondy, where there’s been a rash of child kidnappings. After Nadya herself is nearly kidnapped, the crew puts a plan in place to thwart them. Seymour paints a realistic picture of Nadya’s adjustment to the loss of her leg; even her can-do optimism sags as she contemplates the reality of living without it. Adding emotional texture is a breach in her friendship with crewmate Pepper. The cast is racially diverse—indicated by references to skin tone and naming convention—and descriptions do not have the exoticizing feel occasionally present in the previous book. Seymour describes his research on what it’s like to be an amputee in the acknowledgments.

An action- and machine-filled follow-up for fans of the first novel with just enough of an open ending for a potential sequel.