This graphic novel was hilarious and well-drawn, definitely worth the money and the hype, and I hope will be successful!

I don't usually read graphic novels, but I'm glad I was able to read this one! It was absolutely adorable. The art work was beautiful and the characters were extremely lovable. It was quite simple with no depth in the plot, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Content Warnings:

Depicted: Violence, Death, Beheading

Mentioned: Death of a Parent, Grief, Blood

Tags:

Chinese Mythology, Found Family, Brotherly Conflict, Ink Painting Like Design

---- Review ----

~ Received as an ARC from NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group ~

Seekers of the Aweto is a beautiful watercolour illustrated story of two brothers who slowly begin to drift apart as they realise their own goals and morals don’t match.

Seekers of Aweto is the story of the brothers, Xinyue and Qilu, and their mother, Bu Ren Niang, who travel from town to town hunting aweto. This rare medicinal plant grows on a chadolo - a guardian spirit-like plant creature. In their travels, they arrive at the Sanamo tribe in their travels, a matriarchal tribe of warriors and farmers. And in the process of stealing the aweto from their chadolo, a young chadolo attaches itself to the youngest brother Xinyue. A young chadolo that happens to be the celestial aweto an even rarer version of aweto that grants eternal life. As Xinyue begins to care for the young chadolo, he begins to doubt whether what his family is doing is right.

The narrative's heart is a beautiful found family relationship, especially between the brothers Xinyue and Qilu. That is put under pressure by the brothers’ secrets and desires. Xinyue slowly realises that maybe his family’s job hurts people, including the chadolo they hunt. At the same time, Qilu sinks deeper into his obsession over the Celestial Aweto.

They are pursued by Ashmi of the Sanamo village, whose chadolo is killed by the brothers in pursuit of its aweto. Without the chadolo’s protection, her village will fall to ruin within two years. And she hopes that returning the stolen chadolo child to their lands will restore the prosperity of her village.

Aweto’s cast is filled with wonderfully rich characters. Each pursues their own motivations and grows and falls into obsession as the story progresses. They are brought to life in a wonderfully rich watercolour art style that invokes the style of Chinese ink paintings. Nie Jun also masterfully pushes the background and foreground by using blues to define the areas of the panels that he wants your eyes to look at.

I don’t really comment on translations that much as it is something I don’t tend to notice. But I noticed that the English edition’s copyright page constantly references the French edition. The exact credit is:

English-language translation by Edward Gauvin, with reference to the French translation and the original Chinese text

Implying that the English edition was translated from the French rather than from the original Chinese. This is disappointing. Translators often have to navigate the difficult balance between making sure that the translation accurately reflects the original text and being understood by the intended audience. When you translate on top of a translation, you introduce more room for errors and misinterpretations of the text. While there was nothing that stuck out to me, I hope Lerner Publishing will seek out the original work for translation rather than licensing another translation. (Also, if this is not the case, I’m also happy to be corrected)

Overall, The Seekers of Aweto’s first volume is a strong, beautiful illustrated piece with a complex brother relationship at its heart. A must-read for fans of fantasy adventure stories.

A stunning book evoking adventure and folklore. The fairy characters and their quest against what the humans think is happening is funny yet thought provoking. And then the discover of what the aweto really are and what they mean adds even more depth and an eco allegory aspect. I can't wait to find out more about this world and these characters.

The colored pencil art in this is just gorgeous. Bright, vibrant but subtle colors with a great use of white as negative space. This reads like traditional Chinese folklore. I liked that the main characters are essentially the bad guys without really realizing it. I wasn't crazy about the ending, especially since I wasn't sure what was happening in the last scene. It's some kind of cliffhanger but I'm not entirely sure what the last bit was about.

While I initially couldn't figure out what was going on in this book, as the plot wore on it cleared itself up. We're thrown directly into the action with explanation integrated into the plot as it passes. The end leaves us in the thick of things with new complications, so there is definitely more to come. The illustrations are excellent, with a softer style that gives it a sort of folk tale vibe.

I knew immediately that the author of this book is also the author of My Beijing. I mean, look at the cute artstyle! But this book is not really my thing since it was a series not a stand-alone and i preferred the heartwarming and stand alone one, not the adventure and part of a series one. But pretty nice tho i like it!

The artwork in The Hunt Is On by Nie Jun is absolutely breathtaking. I loved the use of color throughout. I did find the story to be missing in places. I am hoping these gaps will be revealed in the next edition.

Really beautiful artwork, will remind readers of Avatar the Last Airbender. I was excited to purchase this book for my library.

Secrets of the Aweto Book 1: The Hunt Is On is a beautiful graphic novel with folktale elements that follow the adventure of two brothers who hunt for aweto, said to cure all ills and may even give immortality.

The art in this volume is absolutely beautiful. It looks like it was done in watercolour with parts of it reminiscent of traditional Chinese brushwork. The colours are vibrant and really captures the magic of the story. The character designs and backdrops were also really charming.

The storytelling style is very much in line with traditional folktales. I was not familiar with any of the specific elements such as the aweto and the chadolo which just piqued my interest more. At the beginning of the book, the author has a really sweet note in which he shares his hope that his work will inspire readers all over the world to find out more about his native land, specifically the culture in Qinghai, the Chinese province he was born in. I think he was certainly successful in that pursuit in this volume.

I was so invested in the story that I was very sad when the volume ended. I am so excited to find out what happens next.

2.5 stars.
It feels like this book is begging to be a Ghibli movie. While I've only seen Princess Mononoke personally, I saw a lot of comparisons between it and this story--the art is beautiful, the plot is focused on folklore and deities, and there's more focus on the world than on the characters. I had pretty similar feelings on this as well: I ended up confused and wishing there was more character moments or time to slow down.
The main selling point here is the art. It has ink brushstroke-like linework and watercolors accenting the line work, and it is gorgeous. The characters are pretty expressive and look distinct from each other. The page composition is good too. My only problem art-wise is that the art looked blurry a few times, but that might just be my digital edition.
The story follows a family of three seeking awetos, rare medicinal plants that sell for a high price, as well as the celestial aweto, an aweto that can grant immortality. The group consists of Xinyue, a hot-headed young boy who can control insects with his drum, Qiliu, his solemn insect-winged older brother, and Bu Ren Niang, their mom. They end up raiding the village of two girls named Ashmi and her friend Princess Huoxun to steal an aweto from its chadolo, an earth deity in which awetos can grow. As the plot goes on, they also meet a couple of other side characters. The book is pretty short, so there's not much else to say regarding the plot. I found the ending confusing, with a plot twist that seemed to come out of nowhere and gave me a lot of questions.
Character-wise, I didn't get attached to anyone. The main characters have defined (if basic) personalities, but you're thrown into the story with them without anything to make them endearing. I didn't care for Ashmi or Huoxun either.
For the setting, there's some exposition awkwardly thrown into the dialogue, but the backgrounds and art go a long way into making it believable and interesting. It's an ancient version of China, but with the mentioned fantastical elements in it.

So, overall, worth looking into for the art and Ghibli-type appeal, but it didn't do anything for me personally. This is translated from what I'm guessing is Chinese, so I can't say if the problems I had were present in the original Chinese text or if some things just don't work in English. If the next book is better, I might check it out.

This had an cool premise with beautiful watercolor style illustration. The world it was set in seemed super interesting and the various characters were somewhat interesting. But it all just felt too fast. I didn't feel like there was enough for character development or world building to truly understand what was happening and why it was important to the characters.

The Hunt Is on, book one of four, in Nie Jun's new series is an action packed thrill ride which is bound to have teens wanting book two as soon as they turn the last page. [A few details toward the end of book one felt a little like they came out of no where for me as a reader, but I am hoping that we circle back, narratively speaking, to get the back story as to why those surprises occurred. (hide spoiler)] It will be fun to see where this series goes!

Plot line: Along the Silk Road, Xinyue and his family are seeking for deity like creature called aweto. Xinyue accidentally happens to own an aweto in one of their quests unaware of the fate that awaits for him.
Review: The fantasy world of Aweto came alive with the dreamy watercolour illustrations. The story line was captivating. I can't wait to read the next book.
Thanks NetGalley and Learners Book for the ARC for review.

It was a very nice read and I was delighted by the style I discovered with this author. Like other reviewers mentioned previously it resembles a lot to Hayao Miyazaki's universe.
The main protagonists are Xinyue, his brother Qiliu, and their mother. All three of them are seekers, hunting aweto―a rare, plantlike treasure. The aweto is usually found on earth deities which the seekers mut rob. Xinyue discovers the offspring of a deity - a celestial aweto - and from here the entire adventure begins.
I liked a lot the fact that the action started on the Silk Road and that all was surrounded by magic and mythology. I felt that the first volume was too short and that the author cumulated a lot of info in the last pages, it was like a rush to the finish line and I was a little dissapointed by that. This is the only reason I have not given a 5 out of 5.
For sure I would like to continue the series with the next volume.

An awesome book. The story is a fun Chinese fantasy adventure story. It’s about family, growing up, looking for treasure, and more.

The artwork is amazing. Beautiful watercolor artwork. Some of the pages have so much movement in them that it reminds me of a Vincent Van Gogh or Georges Seurat painting. The characters look beautiful too. The artwork really compliments the fantasy adventure story we are taken on.

The story is great too. It’s about two boys going on a treasure hunt. The youngest boy finds more than he bargained for.... Plus we learn more about the boys Mother.

The ending of the book is a bit abrupt. I didn’t want the book to end. I wanted more and to see what happens next.

I really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fantasy adventure story. It’s a beautiful story with amazing art. Similar to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, you just want more.

I look forward to a second book and after you read this story, you will too.

Stay awesome and keep reading.

This was really interesting. The magic and the universe were well drawn and fun to learn about and the story was a nice setup to a larger epic. I loved the art and I liked that our protagonists weren't heroes (and in fact were exploitive villains, driving whole villages into poverty). Similar to other books from Chinese authors I have read, the structure and plot and characters seem mostly familiar but every once in a while there is a decision or plot point that is just jarring in its unexpectedness. The last minute character revelations seemed a bit ham handed, but there is enough propulsion in the plot and world to have me looking forward to the next volume.

Loved this story! Such a change of pace from the other graphic novels I have been reading. The illustrations are beautiful and you get to know so many great characters. I cannot wait to continue this series!

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

I requested this book due to the front cover. I love watercolour art and this reminded me of Okami and im a sucker for anything mythology.

The art is really well done and is consistent throughout, its dream like which adds to the story. It was whimsical to read and I think its the art that carries and amplifies it. Its calming, peaceful which is at odds with the nature of the tale. However the art is the strongest asset.

The story is based upon Chinese Folklore, however with many graphic novels/manga the story is a little confusing. The pacing is off and you can tell this is due to more volumes. The story felt rushed, i didn't really know the characters and I felt I could be invested more.

Overall I liked it and I it does the job of making me want to read more

The Hunt is on completely blew me away and was way more than I expected. The watercolor art style is stunning and creates an airy dreamlike feel for the story Whimsical story with a cliffhanger at the end that will leave you wanting the second.installment right away!