Castle in the Stars: The Moon-King

by Alex Alice

Overview

What if man journeyed into space in 1869, not 1969? In The Moon-King, the second volume in this breath-taking fantasy graphic novel series, Alex Alice draws on Jules Verne and nineteenth-century romanticism to create a watercolor world of adventure and wonder to enchant adults and younger readers alike.

In anticipation of their maiden voyage, Seraphin and the Knights of Aether had prepared for everything—except treason. The villainous chamberlain wants to overthrow King Ludwig and claim the electro-aetheric technology for Prussia. The only escape for the king and his companions lies in the frosty skies above Bavaria.

The aethership’s first flight is a success, but their respite is short-lived. As long as the chamberlain is free to spread his lies, these travelers will find no safe harbor. To save the king’s throne, they must push the ship even farther—out of the sky . . . and into the stars!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250221599
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	09/04/2018
Series:	Castle in the Stars Series , #2
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
Lexile:	HL410L (what's this?)
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Alex Alice is a French graphic novel writer and artist, working in France and sometimes the U.S. Born in 1974, he grew up in the south of France and had the chance to travel around Europe, where he developed a life-long passion for the ruins and castles of the medieval and romantic ages.

This infused his art, from the grim medieval setting of esoteric thriller “The Third Testament” (1997-2003, co-written with Xavier Dorison) to the primeval, mythic world of “Siegfried” (2007-2011), an operatic re-telling of the northern saga of the great dragon-slayer.

In Castle in the Stars, he draws on Jules Verne and nineteenth century romanticism to create a watercolor world of adventure and wonder, to enchant adults and younger readers alike. His works have been translated in more than 15 languages.

Editorial Reviews

"[The Moon-King] features dreamy watercolor artwork that supports jaw-dropping plot twists and a cliff-hanger ending." –School Library Journal

"Alice's soft outlining and a blended watercolor approach make the illustrations appear dreamlike and surreal, perfectly matching the tone of the piece, while his anime-style facial expressions and action sequences modernize the old-fashioned appearance of the machines and locales. A whimsical choice for high-fantasy lovers." —Booklist

From the Publisher

2018-06-11
Alice knows a lot about the moon, and most of it isn't true.An entire page of this graphic novel, a French import, is devoted to popular historical theories about the moon, and because the story is set in 1870, all of them are wonderfully archaic. "Everyone knows that giant vultures…live on the moon!" one character explains. Another person mentions a scientist who believed the moon was shaped like an egg. These ideas (inspired by Lucian of Samosata and Eratosthenes, among others) are so charming that when the characters actually land on the moon, a few pages later, it's a bit of a letdown. The landscape is mostly pale, unvarying mountains and caverns, and even though they're painted beautifully, the story features page after page of hiking. Occasionally, though, the images are just as gorgeous as in the first volume of the series. When the aeronauts come across an orrery (an enormous model of the planets), it's breathtaking, and the steampunk designs—like a spacesuit with a bird of prey on its breastplate—are always inventive. The prose is less masterful, at least in this translation, with sentences along the lines of, "An ingenious Regnault & Reiset system absorbed harmful gases and replenished the oxygen." The skin tones of the cast are also mostly pale and unvarying.Readers who enjoyed the first book may remain invested in the fates of the characters. Other people might prefer to look up archaic stories about the moon. (Graphic steampunk. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews