14. The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story

The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story by Dave Roman & Alison Wilgus. Illustrated by Nina Matsumoto (Canada) - (US)


Pages: 144
Ages: 10+
Finished: Jan. 17 , 2011
First Published: Jan. 18, 2010
Publisher: Del Rey
Genre: children, manga, fantasy
Rating: 3/5



First sentence:

"Prince Zuko, you have shown yourself to be unworthy of the crown and unfit to stand upon the land of our noble ancestors."

Acquired: Borrowed a copy through Interlibrary Loan.

Reason for Reading: This was a Cybils '10 nominee and as a panelist for Graphic Novels was required reading for me. The panelists did not receive a review copy from the publisher and, I, unfortunately, was unable to find a copy before our nominations were due. My copy from Interlibrary Loan request had just now come in.

I have not seen this movie, though I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan movies even when the critics trash them. I have watched the cartoon some years ago when my son was younger, it was one of his favourites but he no longer watches it and while I saw it I must admit to not really paying attention to the overall plot. This is to say I'm coming to the book with very little knowledge, except knowing about the Avatar.

From what I can gather this is simply a very short story of how and why Zuko was banished to find the Avatar and follows him on the first stages of that journey. It is really the story of how he changed from a spoilt, selfish, youngster with no feelings for anyone but himself into a more mature person who is learning to respect others and how his feelings of contempt for his uncle gradually change to honour. It is an interesting, exciting story but definitely aimed at the movie audience. The book ends mid-action with a to-be-continued and there is a follow-up manga of the movie. The book is shorter than the number of pages indicate also as a good portion of the last pages are "Bonus Material" showing a manga writer's script on one page and the artist's sketches from the script on the other.