Graphic Novel Review – The Moon-King (Castle in the Stars, Book 2) by Alex Alice (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Steampunk/Graphic Novel
Length: 64 pages
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: September 4, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1626724945
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd volume in the Castle in the Stars series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“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 asuccess, 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!”

This is the second book in the Castle in the Stars series. This is a decent book but I continue to find the watercolor-like illustration and small caption boxes to be a bit hard to follow. I like the story and the characters though.

In this book our intrepid heroes end up in the aether on their airship when the worst happens and they crash on the moon. They quickly find out that they have been betrayed by more members of their party than they originally expected and are unsure of whether or not they will ever be able to make it back to Earth.

I enjoy the adventure theme to this story. I also liked that there was a quick synopsis of what happened in the last volume right at the beginning of this one. At times the illustration can be hard to see and follow (some of the characters look alike and the pictures are really small).

The story in this book is getting very political and I don’t enjoy that as much as the adventure the kids had in the first volume. Still, it was decently done.

Overall I didn’t enjoy this volume as much as the first one. There were too many politics and I feel like the illustration was a bit hard to follow. I am unsure whether or not I will continue this series at this point. My 11 year old son also reads this series and he felt the same way; he said it was okay but not great.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge