Continuing from their previous adventure, in The Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869? (2017), Seraphin and his father are helping the king build a machine capable of traveling into the aether, a mysterious space that pushes the boundaries of time and reality, in hopes that discoveries will save the kingdom of Bavaria. And much like their mission, the book as a whole feels somewhat out of step with time and reality, in the most wonderful way possible. Though slow building and down-tempo in parts, the narrative as whole feels like steampunk fairy tale, and those familiar with the works of Jules Verne and other classic sci-fi writers will appreciate the many nods that feel lovingly reverential. 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.

Following the events of The Space Race of 1869, this second steampunk graphic novel (translated from the French) finds our heroes hurtling away from political intrigue toward the moon, their ship a marvel of Victorian invention and their journey worthy of Jules Verne. The lush, skillful watercolors convey the mysterious aether and dazzling moonscape. Small panels within large trim allow for rich detail and continued character-building in the epic story.

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)