"The Last Airbender: Prequel - Zuko's Story" || Book Review

This is the second book in the ATLA universe that I've read and I was really eager to read it. If you'd like to see what I thought of the first comic book in the series ("The Lost Adventures") you can check it out here.

Zuko is definitely my favorite character of the ATLA universe! I love him and his story to bits so when I discovered this book exists I had to read it as soon as possible! I could not leave it, I really wanted to learn more about his character and backstory!

It is a fun quick read but nothing exceptional. Maybe I feel that way because I expected more getting into it, then I saw that it was good but not as great as I hoped and got disappointed. There were parts of it that I loved and felt really believable and they really belonged with the actual story  (like the appearance of Guru Pathik which I thought was a very nice touch and a connection between Aang and Zuko before they even met). There were also a couple of scenes that I found really emotional like this masked guy Zuko met and what Iroh told Zuko near the end of the book. Then there were some parts that were not so great, that felt wrong, felt like they didn't belong or make sense or that they didn't agree with the main plot and the characters. For example, I always thought that even though Iroh failed at Ba Sing Se he was still an esteemed general, so I always thought that he went with Zuko by choice and despite the arguments of others, not that he was dispatched like this. This did not make sense for either Zuko's arc or Iroh's. There are moments that you feel that the characters wouldn't act this way, or that things would have happened differently.

However, the book manages to create a variety of feelings from pain and empathy for Zuko to anger and despair for all the problems he has to face. At moments it even makes you feel happiness and hope for the characters and for their future. So that was a strong point for the book.

My main problem was the art. I wasn't a fan of the black and white art and I also wasn't a fan of the designs. Obviously, I am not an expert in those things and this is only the second comic book I've read so I have no experience whatsoever, so excuse me if I'm wrong or if I'm missing some kind of artistic point, but I'm only expressing my opinion based on my taste and nothing more. So, back to what I was saying... One of my big complaints was that the characters (the designs) didn't resemble the actual characters (at least as we've known them in the show and other comic books) at all. I tried to look past this and read on, all the while imagining the characters in my head looking like they did in the show, but this still was something that I didn't like.

It does feel like fanfiction at times but not too much and overall it's an okay read. So, while there were things I disliked, I mostly enjoyed it so I decided to give it 3*. It goes by really fast, I read it in two sittings and - even with its advantages and disadvantages - it still holds your interest and attention throughout and it is quite enjoyable.