Book Review: Castle in the Stars Vol. 3 by Alex Alice

Castle in the Stars Volume 3: The Knights of Mars by Alex Alice

After a successful trip to the moon (except for losing King Ludwig, who may have been transported to Mars), our heroes (Seraphin, Hans, and Sophie) return to Earth. Their next plan is to fix up the ship and have Seraphin's father, Professor Dulac, form an International Society of Aether. The society will establish peaceful exploration and settling of the other planets without nationalistic claims bringing war into space. It's a great ambition but the meeting is sabotaged. Dulac disappears and the Prussians put a lot of effort into finding his ship. The kids have the ship on an island off the coast of Brittany. When the Prussians show up, they are forced to leave for Mars in the professor's ship. The Prussians have already sent a warship to Mars. A warship that hasn't reported back and is long overdue....Maybe Mars already has some locals itching for a fight?

The story is interesting and the art is delightful. I can't wait for the next issue.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Castle in the Stars Book Two by Alex Alice

Castle in the Stars Book Two: The Moon King by Alex Alice

See my review of Book One here.

The king of Bavaria is trapped in the aethership along with Archibald Dulac, his son Seraphin, the son's friend Sophie, and tagalong Hans. The ship has launched into the sky and is moving at a break-neck pace towards outer space. A key component of the engine is missing. The crew assumes the court spy who accidentally launched them took the component for his own country. The ship races beyond the atmosphere and soon they are headed to the moon. What will they find there?

The book continues the "alternate science" from Book One. They crash-land on the moon but it turns out okay since there is a breathable atmosphere when the sun is up. Repairs to the ship and coming up with a new component are the top priority for everyone except the King, who explores the moonscape with unbridled interest.

The action of the story picks up and the ending promises more story to come, though I feel like it may be dissatisfyingly slow in coming. Even so, the art is beautiful and the plot is compelling enough.

Slightly recommended.

Book Review: Castle in the Stars by Alex Alice

Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869 by Alex Alice

What if the great drive to be the first nation in space wasn't the race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s but between France and Germany in the 1860s? That's the premise of this graphic novel. Frenchman Archibald Dulac's wife conducts an experiment to find aether, the supposed matter that exists in space between the earth's atmosphere and other celestial objects. The book assumes aether is real, though the wife has to go extremely high in a hot air balloon to find it. Her latest attempt goes awry. She does discover aether but the balloon goes out of control and explodes at 13000 meters. Her journal falls back to earth. Archibald doesn't find it but does continue his research into aether. Someone in Bavaria sends Archibald an urgent message with a train ticket, claiming they have the journal and need help. At the train station, someone tries to hijack Archibald, whose son has come along to say goodbye. Archibald and son barely escape to Bavaria. When they arrive, they discover people already working on flying machines that will enable trips to the moon and Mars. But is there a spy among the scientists?

The story is an interesting "what if" scenario with just a flavoring of steam punk aesthetic and ideas. The water color art goes well with the old time setting. Too bad the next installment is coming out next year! The story just barely got going but I enjoyed it a lot.

Recommended.