Tuesday, December 31, 2013

[BOOK REVIEW] Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise Part 2 by Gene Luen Yang




Title:  Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise Part 2

Author:  Gene Luen Yang

Artist:  Gurihiru

Genre: Comedy / Action / Adventure / TV series


Year Published: 2012


Year Read: 2013


Publisher: Dark Horse Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Some Intense Moments)




Introduction:

After reading part one of “Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise,” I was excited to check out the second part of this fantastic series and I was definitely not disappointed by the results of this volume!

What is this story about?

In this volume, after Fire Lord Zuko turns down the Harmony Restoration Movement for the Earth Kingdom, there seems to be an impeding war brewing between Zuko and Earth King Kuei and it is up to Aang and Katara to prevent that war from happening!  Meanwhile, Toph and Sokka try to train Toph’s bumbling students in the art of metal bending in order to defend the school against a class of fire benders!

What I loved about this story:

Gene Luen Yang’s writing: Gene Luen Yang’s writing continues to amaze me with its faithfulness to the legendary TV series!  I loved the way that Gene Luen Yang continues to develop each character, especially Aang and Katara’s relationship with each other, which actually fully reached its “CUTE AND HAPPY” and not the “WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY” status at last!  I was also sitting on the edge of my seat whenever Zuko confronts his father, since it seems that Ozai has an ulterior motive up his sleeves as he is always smiling slyly whenever Zuko visits and it makes me wonder just what kind of impact Ozai still has on Zuko and how it would affect Zuko’s ruling as the new Fire Lord.  We are definitely seeing Zuko starting to crack under the pressure with his present ruling of the Fire Kingdom and I loved the way that Gene Luen Yang portrayed that as it made the situation even more interesting to watch!  I also loved the side story about Toph starting a school for metal bending and how she tries to teach her bumbling students how to metal bend.  It was such an enjoyable experience to see Toph actually teaching students her abilities and I am interested in seeing how this will all play out in future volumes!

Gurihiru’s artwork:  Gurihiru’s artwork continues to remain faithful to the characters’ designs and I really loved the images of Sokka continuing to be the comic relief in this series! My favorite artwork of Sokka in this volume was when he and Toph jumped off of Appa to land at Toph’s new school at the beginning and you can see Sokka panicking throughout the whole ordeal!

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

Not really a big deal, but the only problem I had with this volume was that there was not that much action in the story like the first volume.  Even though this volume does have comedic situations happening to the characters, such as Toph and Sokka trying to teach three students how to metal bend, I actually did wanted to see some battle sequences in this volume.  But, I did enjoy the rising tension with Zuko caving in to pressure of being the new Fire Lord and the possible battle that is about to come between Zuko and Earth King Kuei.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise Part Two” is a brilliant continuation of the first volume and I cannot wait to see more adventures from Aang and the gang as they try to undo all the harm that the Fire Nation brought to the world!





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