Mesmerizing, lyrical writing that echoes the life and works of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his entourage in vivid detail. Even as a translation the character dialogue is true to form of French speech patterns and expressions. I have now pulled my out my dusty copy of Le Petit Prince to read and enjoy again in a new light and in a new chapter of life. ( )

I have loved The Little Prince since I was a child and also loved St-Exupery's Wind, Sand, and Stars when I was a young adult and aerobatic pilot. St-Exupery's life flying early mail routes through the Sahara and the Andes has seemed magical and shrouded in mystery so I was happy to run across Iturbe's book. I was looking forward especially to learning more about St-Exupery's mail flights.

I have to say I almost put the book down in the first chapter because Iturbe got a few things wrong about the mechanics of the first flights he described and it really fell flat for me. It was obvious he's not a pilot and hadn't closely consulted any. I'm glad I stuck with it though because what he really got right is to capture and bring to life St-Exurpery's personality, his era, his passions, his pilot associates, their planes, and the story of his life. He weaves in the story of The Little Prince (and draws on Wind, Sand and Stars and probably other St-Exupery books) and has lovingly recreated his life. I felt immersed and amazed at how well he told this story.

It was fun to look up photos of these planes and people as I was reading and to fill myself in with some of the flight details of the time (like the first artificial horizons were developed in 1929- before that long distance VFR flight was really dangerous). ( )

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The Prince of the Skies by Antonio Iturbe (translated by Lilit Thwaites) is a fictional biography of aviation pioneers Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Jean Mermoz, Henri Guillaumet. Mr. Saint- Exupéry was a famous, award-winning author, known today for his classic book The Little Prince.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wasn’t just a pilot, he was, indeed, one of the best before he even started writing books. Together with Mermoz and Guillaumet they fought wars, set records, as well as open routes for a worldwide mail delivery via the skies.

The Prince of the Skies (A cielo abierto) by Antonio Iturbe is historical fiction at its best. Gripping narrative, relatable characters, rich in history, as well as fantastic writing.

Like many of us, The Little Prince was a staple of our childhood, however I never realized the author’s contributions beyond that wonderful book. I certainly knew Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot, but I never imagined he was pioneer in the field (I also learned how to pronounce his name). He was well established author before his landmark book, winning both the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française (1939), and the U.S. National Book Award (1940), both for for Wind, Sand, and Stars, as well as several honorifics for his wartime heroism.
I also never knew he died flying a mission during World War II.

The book tells of the early days of aviation. The dangers these pioneers felt, the way society looked at aviation as going nowhere (“not a real job”). All three pilots were good friends, yet vastly different. Saint-Exupéry saw the poetry in flying, Mermoz lived life the fullest, with a voracious appetite, and Guillaumet loved to fly, but was very much in love with his wife, Noelle.

Saint-Exupéry was a walking contradiction. A poor aristocrat, a lonely celebrity, a pioneer pilot stuck as an administrator, in love with a Consuelo Suncín, a cheating wife who was his muse.

I loved how the author incorporated scenes from The Little Prince into the narrative, henceforth allowing Saint-Exupéry to build his classic over years. The references are not overt, but for fans of the book, or even if just know it in passing, they’re, without a doubt, unmistakable.

The author, I thought, should have included was a note, an afterward, differentiating between fact and fiction. Nevertheless, this is a marvelous book which was difficult to put down, great job by translator Lilit Thwaites. ( )

Jean Mermoz, Henri Guillaumet, and Antoine were pilots together working to establish mail routes through the air in the 1920's. Plane crashes, love affairs, unexpected fame, and tragedy as they all die in plane crashes. Antoine wrote several adult books before writing The Little Prince.

Really good read about an interesting man who was an early pilot and the author of "The Little Prince". His life, along with the lives of three of his friends and fellow pilots, was filled with danger, travel, and love affairs. ( )