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A review by supremeleaderev
Smoke and Shadow by Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Gene Luen Yang
5.0
Out of the three Avatar graphic novels that I have read so far, this one is by far my favorite. I loved how this book really emphasized what was going on in the Fire Nation, and some of my favorite characters in the show are rather prominent in the story. I loved the story and the mystery surrounding the conflict of the book, and of COURSE the artwork continued to blow me away. I loved the dark tone of this story, the other avatar comics are usually much lighter in nature, so I enjoyed this slightly different mood.
I loved seeing Mai and Zuko interact in this book, especially with Kei Lo in the mix. I really like Kei Lo, I thought he was rather spunky and I'm glad that he turned himself around and decided to change his ways so he wouldn't hurt Mai. Though I definitely ship Mai with Zuko, I still thought that Mai and Kei Lo's relationship was cute and fun to read. It was nice to see Mai laugh and smile with someone. Continuing on with Mai, I thought it was so cute that her and Tom-Tom's relationship had grown so much since season 2. She was so distant to him in the show, and it melted my heart seeing that their bond had strengthened since then. They were such a cute duo, and although they weren't together that often, I still loved them.
(Spoilers in the next paragraph)
I really liked seeing Azula back in this story, and although she clearly isn't any closer to redeeming herself than she was in "The Search," it was nice to see that she was mentally better. She clearly had let go of the desire to become fire lord, and she had come to peace with her mother, so she was no longer having hallucinations of her. I thought the whole rouse that Azula was doing was interesting, and although I don't fully understand what she was specifically trying to achieve with kidnapping all the children. Even though I don't get quite what she was doing, I do think that the reveal of her was oddly chilling. Just seeing the spark of lightning from her fingers made chills run down my spine, and I was not entirely expecting her to be in this book at all.
In my review of "The Search" I briefly talked about how much I love Kiyi, and I want to talk about her character some more. Between the two books she has gone through so much. She has to move from the home she's always known, her mother changes faces, she finds out she has two siblings (one of which tries to destroy their house), and she gets kidnapped. I love how feisty she is, and love the sweet relationships she has with her parents and Zuko. I'm glad that she was able to and I'm also glad that the creators decided to let her The scene where she did that was so badass and it made we want to scream with excitement.
The only complaints with this book is that I don't fully understand the intentions of every single one of the characters. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't quite understand any of the intentions of Azula or her little posse at all. Also, at the end of the book Zuko made a big speech to some of the fire nation citizens apologizing with how he handled that fiasco and that he would try harder in the future to do better. Personally, while I was reading it, I didn't really get what he was doing that was supposed to be wrong, and I don't know what specifically it was that motivated him to make such a large apology.
I loved this book so much, and I can't wait to read more of the Avatar comics in the future! I love this book so much; from the premise, to the mystery, the characters, to the conflicts, and the art, to the atmosphere. It was beautiful and I could not have asked for anything better. I enjoyed how the book concluded (I especially enjoyed seeing Ursa lose her fear of Ozai and treat him how he deserves) and although I wish we could see a redemption arc for Azula one day, for everyone else it ended nicely. Honestly, I wish every single one of the comics could have focused on the fire nation and the fire nation characters that I love so dearly.
I loved seeing Mai and Zuko interact in this book, especially with Kei Lo in the mix. I really like Kei Lo, I thought he was rather spunky and I'm glad that he turned himself around and decided to change his ways so he wouldn't hurt Mai. Though I definitely ship Mai with Zuko,
Spoiler
and even though Mai and Kei Lo break up in the end,(Spoilers in the next paragraph)
I really liked seeing Azula back in this story, and although she clearly isn't any closer to redeeming herself than she was in "The Search," it was nice to see that she was mentally better. She clearly had let go of the desire to become fire lord, and she had come to peace with her mother, so she was no longer having hallucinations of her. I thought the whole rouse that Azula was doing was interesting, and although I don't fully understand what she was specifically trying to achieve with kidnapping all the children. Even though I don't get quite what she was doing, I do think that the reveal of her was oddly chilling. Just seeing the spark of lightning from her fingers made chills run down my spine, and I was not entirely expecting her to be in this book at all.
In my review of "The Search" I briefly talked about how much I love Kiyi, and I want to talk about her character some more. Between the two books she has gone through so much. She has to move from the home she's always known, her mother changes faces, she finds out she has two siblings (one of which tries to destroy their house), and she gets kidnapped. I love how feisty she is, and love the sweet relationships she has with her parents and Zuko. I'm glad that she was able to
Spoiler
learn to trust her mother againSpoiler
be able to firebend.The only complaints with this book is that I don't fully understand the intentions of every single one of the characters. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't quite understand any of the intentions of Azula or her little posse at all. Also, at the end of the book Zuko made a big speech to some of the fire nation citizens apologizing with how he handled that fiasco and that he would try harder in the future to do better. Personally, while I was reading it, I didn't really get what he was doing that was supposed to be wrong, and I don't know what specifically it was that motivated him to make such a large apology.
I loved this book so much, and I can't wait to read more of the Avatar comics in the future! I love this book so much; from the premise, to the mystery, the characters, to the conflicts, and the art, to the atmosphere. It was beautiful and I could not have asked for anything better. I enjoyed how the book concluded (I especially enjoyed seeing Ursa lose her fear of Ozai and treat him how he deserves) and although I wish we could see a redemption arc for Azula one day, for everyone else it ended nicely. Honestly, I wish every single one of the comics could have focused on the fire nation and the fire nation characters that I love so dearly.