Flight Training, Kibi and the Search for Happiness by J.Z. Colby

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“Nec tu caelestem neque terrenum, neque mortalem fecimus,

ut tui ipsius quasi arbitrarius honorariusque plastes et fictor,

in quam malueris tute formam effingas”

Pico della Mirandola (Oratio de hominis dignitate)



“We have made you (Adam) a creature neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal or immortal,

in order that you may, as the free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer”

(Oration on the Dignity of Man)



The quote that better describe Nebador book four (Flight Training) is:

“If Kibi - or any of you - … can’t learn to use your feelings as guides instead of masters, then you must like slavery more than you realize.” (page 27)



Five boys and girls, after being chosen as Ilika’s crew, have to grow up facing happiness (such as love stories, learn a lot of interesting stuff), and difficulties (growing up is always a sloping path).



“So … by passing those tests back at Doko’s Inn, I was applying for the hardest job in the whole … universe?” (page 69)

So Kibi understands which is the hardest job: not only the test per se, but becoming adult.



For the same reason Ilika suggests that “Going into space is pretty complicated, … Yes, it’s one of the biggest tests a civilization goes through before … growing up. For you five, it will mark the end of your lives as simple people from a little kingdom, and the beginning of your adventures in the vast universe.” (page 255)



We have made you a creature neither of sky nor of earth in order that you may, learning from your feelings and proud shaper of your being (sculptor - plaster, potter - fictor, painter - pictor), fashion yourself in the form you may prefer.





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