Pretense reviewed Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang (Avatar: The Last Airbender, #1)
Review of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I am ashamed at myself for taking so long to finally get to the Avatar graphic novels, but I finally have. The Promise picks up right where the TV series left off, and even though I hadn’t seen the show in a while, I was able to get immersed in the story fairly quickly. The characters we all know and love are back—and to my surprise, each gets a fairly significant and balanced amount of ‘screen time’ in the narrative. The main focus in this volume is on the conflict between Aang and Zuko, the new Fire Lord. At its heart lies questions on whether one has a duty to one’s conscience or to one’s commitments, as well as some significant undercurrents about relationships one has with both friends and family and their influence on our own moral calculus.
Of course, the narrative is fairly simplistic, but it is the …
I am ashamed at myself for taking so long to finally get to the Avatar graphic novels, but I finally have. The Promise picks up right where the TV series left off, and even though I hadn’t seen the show in a while, I was able to get immersed in the story fairly quickly. The characters we all know and love are back—and to my surprise, each gets a fairly significant and balanced amount of ‘screen time’ in the narrative. The main focus in this volume is on the conflict between Aang and Zuko, the new Fire Lord. At its heart lies questions on whether one has a duty to one’s conscience or to one’s commitments, as well as some significant undercurrents about relationships one has with both friends and family and their influence on our own moral calculus.
Of course, the narrative is fairly simplistic, but it is the ‘how’ of the plot that will be interesting here, even for older readers and fans of the show. These characters have clearly matured since the first episodes they appeared in, and this book partially highlights the difficulties they have to overcome in the process of growing up and filling in the shoes of their very adult ‘roles’. Aang, of course, has his diplomacy to bear, and Zuko his responsibilities as the Fire Lord; both find that these roles come with their own expectations and perhaps nuances that they do not yet fully understand.
The side characters were also surprising, and I was happy to see some minor figures from the show pop up here again and get a bit more fleshed out. There is also a lot of emphasis on the burgeoning relationship between Aang and Katara, much to the chagrin of Sokka, of course. I know we can’t get too much character development in just one volume, but we do start to see some interesting hints as to the direction of the characters’ arcs… particularly for Zuko, I am eager to see where the writers will go with it.
If you’re a fan of the show, you’ve definitely got to check out the graphic novels! Don’t even hesitate. It is a joy to be back in the world of Avatar, and even to get a glimpse of Uncle Iroh in retirement, who is objectively the best character.
