Festival of Shadows - Atelier Sentô - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Atelier Sentô (Cécile Brun & Oliver Pichard)

GENRE: Graphic Novel.

RATING: 4 Stars.

In a Nutshell: A graphic novel with an intense story that belies belief. Mind-blowing artwork. Left me with many questions at the end.

Story Synopsis:

Naoko lives in an isolated mountain Village in Japan. The residents of the village, mostly senior citizens, are in charge of bringing peace to the shadows--the souls of people who have passed away but have unresolved issues. The villagers get one year to help the souls before they turn monstrous and become stuck in the mortal realm.

Naoko has handled only one shadow so far but that wasn't a successful endeavour. Now a year later, she has been assigned another shadow, the soul of a young man. As the months pass by, Naoko feels close to her shadow and even visits his home in Tokyo to get a better idea of her feelings. But is she doing the right thing, both for herself and for her shadow, by getting personally attached?

We all have heard how reading is about the journey. I am the kind of reader who loves the journey as well as the destination. In this book, I enjoyed the journey, and I know I reached a destination, but I am not sure if that’s the destination I had planned on reaching.

The story is astounding and bewildering at the same time. While most of it is perfectly tame despite the outworldly elements, the final quarter or so goes too surreal. The connections across the characters, both living and shadow, are so complicated to apprehend that I couldn't digest the plot in its entirety. This is not to take away from the story. It's imaginative and quite well-written. Rather, I think I fell short of the minimum requirement to understand the story. (I'm a very poor reader of surrealism, you see.)

By the end of the book, the plot left me neither satisfied nor disappointed, but with a lingering sense of incompleteness. The story still has much to recommend it by, but it also left me with quite a few questions. Can that be considered a successful book? One that doesn’t leave you even after the last page, one that lingers in your head and heart, and one that makes you long for more details instead of feeling frustrated at not having received a narrative that seals all ends neatly? I am not sure. All I know is that I did enjoy almost the entire book, I did like the ending, but I did also have unanswered queries.

The artwork is where this graphic novel transcends typical standards. It is simply gorgeous to look at. Every character, every emotion, every scene, every object - stunning! I found myself lost in the pages, but in a very good way this time. The watercolour illustrations are simply stunning, with the depiction of the shadows in a borderless pattern creating a haunting effect. The monstrous shadows are eerily impactful. So even if the story daunts you, the sketches should compel you to give this a try.

This book was first published in French by the French creative team of Atelier Sentō in two separate volumes under the title 'La Fête des ombres'. Both volumes have been combined for this English edition, due to be published on April 4th.

Definitely recommended. Think Studio Ghibli with more dreamy artwork, a more metaphysical plot and a slightly confusing second half.

My thanks to Tuttle Publishing and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “Festival of Shadows”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.