Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869 (Hardcover) (comics)

What if man journeyed into space in 1869, not 1969?

In search of the mysterious element known as aether, Claire Dulac flew her hot air balloon toward the edge of our stratosphere ― and never returned. Her husband, genius engineer Archibald Dulac, is certain that she is forever lost. Her son, Seraphin, still holds out hope.

One year after her disappearance, Seraphin and his father are delivered a tantalizing clue: a letter from an unknown sender who claims to have Claire’s lost logbook. The letter summons them to a Bavarian castle, where an ambitious young king dreams of flying the skies in a ship powered by aether. But within the castle walls, danger lurks ― there are those who would stop at nothing to conquer the stars.

In "Castle in the Stars", this lavishly illustrated graphic novel, Alex Alice delivers a historical fantasy adventure set in a world where man journeyed into space in 1869, not 1969.

"A visual delight, with myriad small frames that facilitate careful plotting and delicate line and watercolor artwork that revels both in the details of airship and castle and in the cat-and-mouse chase scenes set at vertiginous heights." ― The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

Alex Alice is a French graphic novelist, working in France and sometimes the U.S. His works have been translated into more than fifteen languages. Born in 1974, he grew up in the south of France and had the chance to travel around Europe, where he developed a lifelong passion for the ruins and castles of the medieval and romantic ages. This experience influenced his art, from the grim setting of his esoteric thriller "The Third Testament" (co-written with Xavier Dorison and published by Titan Comics) to the primeval, mythic world found in "Siegfried", an operatic re-telling of the northern saga of the great dragon slayer (published by Boom Entertainment). 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.