[GarrickW]

So I was just thinking about this the other day, and a question occured to me: is there any fantasy with WW2/Star Wars-style aerial battles and dogfights? Not with people riding dragons or other animals, but with actual aircraft of some sort, magically powered or otherwise. I was thinking perhaps some quirky steampunk fantasy, but I've never come across anything. Anyone ever encountered this?

[Luke_B]

No books come to mind but there is the wonderful Porco Rosso, a film by Hayao Miyazaki. It's about a former Italian World War I fighter pilot turned freelance bounty hunter battling air pirates in the Adriatic Sea. He has been cursed and has the head of a pig. Great stuff.

[oasis seeker]

Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy has airships and a couple of air battles.

[Radone]

Jim Butcher's Codex Alera doesn't have airships, but it does have plenty of people able to fly and great dogfights.

[JamesL]

John Marco's new Skylords series involves flying machines, and I think there is heavy emphasis on aerial travel/combat. Got an ARC on my reading pile...

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series involves flying machines and other such technology. The first novel, Empire in Black and Gold, involves several sequences on an airship.

[KatG]

Well Sarah Hoyt has a steampunk comic spy stuff with flying carpets.

But Thunderer might be something for you, and I know there was a YA series that was well received. I forget the authors off the top of my head. I'm sure there's been some, though.

[columbob]

Kat's comment reminds me that there were plenty of flying carpets in Glen Cook's Black Company series, often used as tools of war.

[KatG]

Yes, there are flying carpets in Bad Company. Also flying manta ray like creatures and top notch battle sequences concerning them, but the guy was asking for more steampunk machines, so I guess we should stick to airships and such.

[tragic]

There's some dirigibles around in China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels, more used as troop transports than dogfighters.

[Sapph]

Well Sarah Hoyt has a steampunk comic spy stuff with flying carpets.

But Thunderer might be something for you, and I know there was a YA series that was well received. I forget the authors off the top of my head. I'm sure there's been some, though.

First thing I thought of when you mentioned that YA series was the mortal Engines Quadrilogy by Phillip Reeve. A pretty fun read to be honest. Worth a read in between books if you need something quick,easy and fun to read. That's really all I can tihnk of as well, I'll have a wee look at my bookshelf and see if there's anymore I can think of.