To finish up the site's coverage of "Smoke and Shadow Part 2" this is my full spoiler written review. If you are looking for more thoughts on this book then make sure you listen to our super in-depth Podcast Review and my spoiler video review.
Finally this is a spoiler review, I will be talking about all of the big moments in this book, so if you do not want to be spoiled, make sure to read the book yourself before you read this review.
Written By - Gene Luen Yang
Art By - Team Gurihiru
Having now discussed this book with my podcast co-hosts I have an even greater appreciation for this book. I really liked it as you can probably tell from my non-spoiler review, but discussing it in depth with 3 other fans really highlighted how well things are written and set up in this book. I often say that it is easy to forget the middle part of a 3 par series, but this one really does stand out on it's own. It has reveals of its own that are good and present other questions for part 3 to cover, it covers some great Fire Nation early history that will definitely get Avatar Lore fans talking and ends with the return of everyone's favourite ATLA villain, Azula.
I will start at the end with the big last page reveal that the main Kemurikage is in fact Azula. Zuko, Aang, Suki and Ty Lee manage to corner Azula during the kidnapping of Kiyi, though it appears that the other 2 get away with Kiyi. She still has her mask on, but she uses her lightning bending so it is not in doubt that it is her. This reveal is not where we find out that the Kemurikage kidnapping the children are humans and not actual spirits, that happens earlier in the book with the history that I mentioned above.
It is a confusing reveal because in many ways it does not make much sense for Azula to return in this way, she left in The Search leaving behind evidence to get Zuko off the throne and returns part of a plan to get Zuko off the throne. Part 3 will have to explain what happened to Azula between The Search and now and how she took on the guise of a Kemurikage and joined with Ukano to engineer this situation. I was not at all shocked to see Azula be the big reveal at the end, the surprise for me was that she was one of the Kemurikage, I expected her to be a 3rd party entering the conflict just based on her running off on her own.
The other thing with Azula is that her returning really complicates the story. Even without her involved in this series at all there is so much going on with Azula, Ukano, Mai, Zuko, Kei Lo and all of the various relationship issues. Now that she is back there are so many potential issues to also be covered in part 3. The main one that most would agree needs to happen is for Azula and Ursa to have another scene together, Ursa ultimately is the root of Azula's issues so she is the most important person for Azula to resolve issues with. In the Search and even this series so far they have definitely made an effort to contrast how good Zuko's relationship with Kiyi is compared to how really bad his relationship with Azula is, so this book ending with them facing off again could lead to some great moments.
The other thing with her is that in Part 1 they very much foreshadowed Mai and Ty Lee meeting Azula again, and their "betrayal" of her in ATLA was in many ways the key moment that lead to her downward mental spiral so a scene between these former friends is something that I think needs to happen also. There is a lot to cover, but I think how this book ends marks a shift in the focus of the story, the Kemurikage mystery is just a cover for Ukano to slander Zuko and make him look like an ineffective leader unable to counter these "spirits" kidnapping the youth of the Fire Nation. That is no longer a mystery and soon Ukano's involvement in the planning of this will be revealed to all, so the focus of part 3 has to be dealing with Azula and saving the children. Part 3 has A LOT to resolve, but this series has been so well written in the first 2 parts I think Part 3 will resolve everything effectively.
Moving from one villain to another, Ukano. I had a decent amount of sympathy for him in Part 1 because it seemed like he was being manipulated and blackmailed into doing what he was doing, though he still prioritised his society over his family and even emotionally manipulated Mai to make her doubt Zuko. Part 2 really showcases much more of his manipulative side and really lowers the sympathy for him drastically. The key point is that he is revealed to be completely in on the Kemurikage kidnappings, he is aware that they are happening and even seems to be the one picking the children who are kidnapped, the reveal is exceptionally well done, as we just randomly cut to a secret room filled with children including Tom-Tom and suddenly Ukano walks in in complete control saying that it won't be much longer until they can go home.
Early on in the book he is demanding that Zuko introduce a curfew and start a task force to stop future kidnappings, but nearly everyone else thinks this is a bad idea as it would cause mass panic. Rereading the book knowing that he is in on it gives the early scenes so much extra meaning, he knows exactly what he is doing, trying to make Sung (The investigator from the preview) doubt Zuko's decisions and then having Sung's child kidnapped to get Sung more onto his line of thinking. It is a genius plan to defame Zuko, make it seem to the Fire Nation public that Zuko is doing nothing to protect them while Ukano has all of the solutions, including converting his "New Ozai Society" into the "Safe Nation Society" which somehow manages to prevent the kidnapping of a child and instantly gets the people supporting Ukano and doubting Zuko. All the while Zuko is investigating the Kemurikage himself with Aang, Mai and Kei Lo, trying to solve the real problem. The conflict is really well written, revealing a lot, but leaving some things for Part 3. For instance we do not know for sure who the mastermind behind this plan is, is it Ukano giving the orders to Azula as the Kemurikage, or is Azula behind it all and controlling Ukano. They constantly mention that Ukano is afraid of the Kemurikage, we know this from the scenes from Part 1. The key thing is that with Azula in her mental state at the moment, I am not sure if she could have come up with such a complex plan, but it seems like in Part 1 that the first scene is them appearing before Ukano for the first time which suggests they are in charge completely, but Ukano also seems to be benefiting from the plan. I am more and more beginning to think that Ukano has got himself in far too deep, he has some level of control over the plan right now, but the second Azula wants to do something he cannot stand up to her.
My only issue with this plan is that we don't fully know the endgame, it seems like it is meant to lead to Zuko being replaced as Fire Lord, but by who? I assume Ukano wants Ozai back in charge or perhaps even himself, but Azula may also want to be in charge herself. Again part 3 can confirm what their plan is.
Mai continues to be a big focus of the series and I really love what they do with her in this book. Yes some of the focus is on the romances with Kei Lo and Zuko, but through this and more we really get to go in-depth on how Mai feels in this situation and for a character who is not the best at showing her emotions seeing her struggling with her feelings is very interesting.
With regards to the romance what I find the most interesting is that the 4 characters we have together for most of this book, Aang, Zuko, Kei Lo and Mai, they all pay off each other really well. Aang is very eager to avoid getting in the middle of any romance drama always eager to change the topic when drama looks set to happen, you have moments showcasing Mai and Kei Lo as a couple as well as an important 1 on 1 conversation between Mai and Zuko. Most telling is that nearly everytime there is a moment between Kei Lo and Mai, Mai's response is always directed at Zuko. He compliments Mai on how cute she is when she is pessimistic and Mai says aloud aimed at Zuko "I have been told". There are a few other moments like this, but it is clear that Mai even with her current boyfriend is more focused on Zuko and Kei Lo even calls it out at one point. It is saved from being a big romance drama issue like early Korra by the fact that Kei Lo and Zuko seem to have a level of respect for each other. Zuko stood up for Kei Lo in part 1 when Mai doubted him and Kei Lo stands up for Zuko later on when he has to make the tough decision to suspend Sung for going against Zuko's order.
The best romantic moment is definitely the 1 on 1 that Mai and Zuko have when Aang needs Kei Lo's help opening up a door in the catacombs. it is awkward at first and then out of nowhere Zuko just tells Mai "I miss you" and Mai cannot believe he would say that out of the blue, you really get Mai's true feelings throughout this scene as she explains how hurt she has been because of their two breakups, she then gives us her true thoughts on her relationship with Kei Lo, explaining that she knows he likes her a lot much more than she likes him, but that this is what she needs right now, not someone she deeply cares for who could hurt her like before. It is a great scene showing us for certain that she does still care for Zuko a lot, but does not want to potentially get hurt again and that she does like Kei Lo, but not as much she he likes her or I assume she likes Zuko. That is basically where we leave the romance stuff in part 2, it is a very telling scene. I am just worried about how they will resolve the romance stuff in part 3, Kei Lo for the most part seems like a really nice guy, are they just going to have Mai break up with him and get back with Zuko. I am not sure how you resolve this without Mai looking a bit bad for using Kei Lo. I still feel they may set up Ty Lee and Kei Lo as a ship based on Part 1, but they don't interact here.
If I had one complaint about how the romance was done in this book it is that I feel that the writer has forgotten the nature of the Mai, Zuko break up in The Promise. Mai talks about how Zuko has broken her heart twice, the first clearly the letter from ATLA Book 3 and the second I think meant to be the break up from The Promise. The issue I have is that Mai broke up with Zuko and it was a scene done very quickly with not much set up, I get that from Mai's point of view she broke off the relationship because she felt this way, but the scene from the Promise doesn't really get that across all that much just that Zuko was going through a lot at that time. I am sure there is a plan to resolve things properly in part 3, but it is my one issue with the romance so far.
My biggest issue with the book overall is that the Ursa sideplot is not really advanced all that much, it just seems to repeat the same stuff from part 1 again. Kiyi again talks about Ursa's cold hands which is how Kiyi is sensing that Ursa is afraid of being in the palace again, but she doesn't realise yet that the coldness is caused by her mother being afraid. We continue to get Ursa being protective of Kiyi especially when she hears about the kidnappings. The fact that Kiyi is kidnapped at the end of the book does set things up for Ursa to search for Kiyi and potentially run into Azula. Like Azula, Ursa has a lot of things to be resolved in Part 3. Ursa has mentioned Azula in Part 1 and again the root of Azula's issues relate to Ursa, Ursa has to fix things with Kiyi and also potentially Ozai who continues to not get mentioned. The New Ozai Soceity have not really made a move to try and free Ozai and Ursa has not realised that she perhaps needs to talk to Ozai and get over her fear of him and the palace. Perhaps I am asking for too much for all of these relationships to get attention, but I think something has to be done in relation to Ozai.
The last thing to talk about is the early Fire Nation history we get. Zuko's investigation into the Kemurikage leads them to the Dragonbone Catacombs by way of a meeting with Fire Sage Shyu now called Great Sage Shyu. We know the history of the Fire Lords is contained here, but we learn a lot more about the catacombs that they are sealed off at anything prior to Sozin's rule. We learn that even Zuko doesn't know what any of the early history is. We get through the door and learn about the early Fire Nation when it was called the Fire Islands, each one ruled by a vicious warlord, the most powerful among them Toz. He demanded tributes from all of his territories and when one refused he kidnapped all of the children and they were never seen again, the mothers all died of sadness. Later the Kemurikage arrived and began to haunt Toz and his men, eventually they would begin to steal children. This led to Toz's men abandoning him and his fall from power. We get this story from a scroll in the catacombs, later we meet an actual spirit Kemurikage who appears before Aang who tells them the next part. That they haunted the Fire Islands until they were all united into one nation, this happened because of the First Fire Lord who ushered in an era of prolonged peace in the new Fire Nation, she leaves telling Aang that between then and now they have never returned to the human world, revealing that the current kidnappings are not spirits at all. As a huge Avatar Lore fan, this section of the book was fascinating to me.
I love this history, learning that the fire nation a nation we usually consider the least spiritual has origins that are very spiritual and that the First Avatar was Avatar like bringing peace to a whole nation. No wonder Sozin sealed off the early history as he had become more like the evil warlords of the past than what the Fire Lords originally stood for. The Kemurikage explanation is interesting in that I don't think we have been told the full story, my theory is that somehow the mothers that mysteriously died of sadness are related to the appearance of the Kemurikage who are revealed to all be women. Whether that be some sort of an origin story that somehow those mothers are the Kemurikage (We know humans can become spirits in different ways, it could be possible) or the Kemurikage as spirits have something to do with mothers and children, that they are the protectors of mothers and children. The first theory would kind of explain spirits meddling in human affairs. Overall the idea that these spirits are deeply integral to the Fire Islands becoming the Fire Nation is fascinating.
They are quite vague about where exactly in the timeline this is set compared to beginnings. The images we see do not include any bending so they seemed careful to separate this from the Beginnings origin of the Firebenders, it is not that they don't work together, it could easily be the case that the Firebenders in time found their way to the Fire Islands. I assume that Toz's downfall is pre Wan sealing the spirit portals as otherwise why would they be in the world. The other thing would be the human war that Wan dies during, when does this take place is it the fire nation at this stage or people from the fire islands or is it just the firebenders. They don't in anyway attempt to link these events to beginnings, but as fans we want to make all of these connections as much as possible.
So overall I adored this book, a lot of plot progression and character development, even some big reveals and twists. Well worth picking up.
Smoke and Shadow Part 2
Written By - Gene Luen Yang
Art By - Team Gurihiru
Having now discussed this book with my podcast co-hosts I have an even greater appreciation for this book. I really liked it as you can probably tell from my non-spoiler review, but discussing it in depth with 3 other fans really highlighted how well things are written and set up in this book. I often say that it is easy to forget the middle part of a 3 par series, but this one really does stand out on it's own. It has reveals of its own that are good and present other questions for part 3 to cover, it covers some great Fire Nation early history that will definitely get Avatar Lore fans talking and ends with the return of everyone's favourite ATLA villain, Azula.
I will start at the end with the big last page reveal that the main Kemurikage is in fact Azula. Zuko, Aang, Suki and Ty Lee manage to corner Azula during the kidnapping of Kiyi, though it appears that the other 2 get away with Kiyi. She still has her mask on, but she uses her lightning bending so it is not in doubt that it is her. This reveal is not where we find out that the Kemurikage kidnapping the children are humans and not actual spirits, that happens earlier in the book with the history that I mentioned above.
It is a confusing reveal because in many ways it does not make much sense for Azula to return in this way, she left in The Search leaving behind evidence to get Zuko off the throne and returns part of a plan to get Zuko off the throne. Part 3 will have to explain what happened to Azula between The Search and now and how she took on the guise of a Kemurikage and joined with Ukano to engineer this situation. I was not at all shocked to see Azula be the big reveal at the end, the surprise for me was that she was one of the Kemurikage, I expected her to be a 3rd party entering the conflict just based on her running off on her own.
The other thing with Azula is that her returning really complicates the story. Even without her involved in this series at all there is so much going on with Azula, Ukano, Mai, Zuko, Kei Lo and all of the various relationship issues. Now that she is back there are so many potential issues to also be covered in part 3. The main one that most would agree needs to happen is for Azula and Ursa to have another scene together, Ursa ultimately is the root of Azula's issues so she is the most important person for Azula to resolve issues with. In the Search and even this series so far they have definitely made an effort to contrast how good Zuko's relationship with Kiyi is compared to how really bad his relationship with Azula is, so this book ending with them facing off again could lead to some great moments.
The other thing with her is that in Part 1 they very much foreshadowed Mai and Ty Lee meeting Azula again, and their "betrayal" of her in ATLA was in many ways the key moment that lead to her downward mental spiral so a scene between these former friends is something that I think needs to happen also. There is a lot to cover, but I think how this book ends marks a shift in the focus of the story, the Kemurikage mystery is just a cover for Ukano to slander Zuko and make him look like an ineffective leader unable to counter these "spirits" kidnapping the youth of the Fire Nation. That is no longer a mystery and soon Ukano's involvement in the planning of this will be revealed to all, so the focus of part 3 has to be dealing with Azula and saving the children. Part 3 has A LOT to resolve, but this series has been so well written in the first 2 parts I think Part 3 will resolve everything effectively.
Moving from one villain to another, Ukano. I had a decent amount of sympathy for him in Part 1 because it seemed like he was being manipulated and blackmailed into doing what he was doing, though he still prioritised his society over his family and even emotionally manipulated Mai to make her doubt Zuko. Part 2 really showcases much more of his manipulative side and really lowers the sympathy for him drastically. The key point is that he is revealed to be completely in on the Kemurikage kidnappings, he is aware that they are happening and even seems to be the one picking the children who are kidnapped, the reveal is exceptionally well done, as we just randomly cut to a secret room filled with children including Tom-Tom and suddenly Ukano walks in in complete control saying that it won't be much longer until they can go home.
Early on in the book he is demanding that Zuko introduce a curfew and start a task force to stop future kidnappings, but nearly everyone else thinks this is a bad idea as it would cause mass panic. Rereading the book knowing that he is in on it gives the early scenes so much extra meaning, he knows exactly what he is doing, trying to make Sung (The investigator from the preview) doubt Zuko's decisions and then having Sung's child kidnapped to get Sung more onto his line of thinking. It is a genius plan to defame Zuko, make it seem to the Fire Nation public that Zuko is doing nothing to protect them while Ukano has all of the solutions, including converting his "New Ozai Society" into the "Safe Nation Society" which somehow manages to prevent the kidnapping of a child and instantly gets the people supporting Ukano and doubting Zuko. All the while Zuko is investigating the Kemurikage himself with Aang, Mai and Kei Lo, trying to solve the real problem. The conflict is really well written, revealing a lot, but leaving some things for Part 3. For instance we do not know for sure who the mastermind behind this plan is, is it Ukano giving the orders to Azula as the Kemurikage, or is Azula behind it all and controlling Ukano. They constantly mention that Ukano is afraid of the Kemurikage, we know this from the scenes from Part 1. The key thing is that with Azula in her mental state at the moment, I am not sure if she could have come up with such a complex plan, but it seems like in Part 1 that the first scene is them appearing before Ukano for the first time which suggests they are in charge completely, but Ukano also seems to be benefiting from the plan. I am more and more beginning to think that Ukano has got himself in far too deep, he has some level of control over the plan right now, but the second Azula wants to do something he cannot stand up to her.
My only issue with this plan is that we don't fully know the endgame, it seems like it is meant to lead to Zuko being replaced as Fire Lord, but by who? I assume Ukano wants Ozai back in charge or perhaps even himself, but Azula may also want to be in charge herself. Again part 3 can confirm what their plan is.
Mai continues to be a big focus of the series and I really love what they do with her in this book. Yes some of the focus is on the romances with Kei Lo and Zuko, but through this and more we really get to go in-depth on how Mai feels in this situation and for a character who is not the best at showing her emotions seeing her struggling with her feelings is very interesting.
With regards to the romance what I find the most interesting is that the 4 characters we have together for most of this book, Aang, Zuko, Kei Lo and Mai, they all pay off each other really well. Aang is very eager to avoid getting in the middle of any romance drama always eager to change the topic when drama looks set to happen, you have moments showcasing Mai and Kei Lo as a couple as well as an important 1 on 1 conversation between Mai and Zuko. Most telling is that nearly everytime there is a moment between Kei Lo and Mai, Mai's response is always directed at Zuko. He compliments Mai on how cute she is when she is pessimistic and Mai says aloud aimed at Zuko "I have been told". There are a few other moments like this, but it is clear that Mai even with her current boyfriend is more focused on Zuko and Kei Lo even calls it out at one point. It is saved from being a big romance drama issue like early Korra by the fact that Kei Lo and Zuko seem to have a level of respect for each other. Zuko stood up for Kei Lo in part 1 when Mai doubted him and Kei Lo stands up for Zuko later on when he has to make the tough decision to suspend Sung for going against Zuko's order.
The best romantic moment is definitely the 1 on 1 that Mai and Zuko have when Aang needs Kei Lo's help opening up a door in the catacombs. it is awkward at first and then out of nowhere Zuko just tells Mai "I miss you" and Mai cannot believe he would say that out of the blue, you really get Mai's true feelings throughout this scene as she explains how hurt she has been because of their two breakups, she then gives us her true thoughts on her relationship with Kei Lo, explaining that she knows he likes her a lot much more than she likes him, but that this is what she needs right now, not someone she deeply cares for who could hurt her like before. It is a great scene showing us for certain that she does still care for Zuko a lot, but does not want to potentially get hurt again and that she does like Kei Lo, but not as much she he likes her or I assume she likes Zuko. That is basically where we leave the romance stuff in part 2, it is a very telling scene. I am just worried about how they will resolve the romance stuff in part 3, Kei Lo for the most part seems like a really nice guy, are they just going to have Mai break up with him and get back with Zuko. I am not sure how you resolve this without Mai looking a bit bad for using Kei Lo. I still feel they may set up Ty Lee and Kei Lo as a ship based on Part 1, but they don't interact here.
If I had one complaint about how the romance was done in this book it is that I feel that the writer has forgotten the nature of the Mai, Zuko break up in The Promise. Mai talks about how Zuko has broken her heart twice, the first clearly the letter from ATLA Book 3 and the second I think meant to be the break up from The Promise. The issue I have is that Mai broke up with Zuko and it was a scene done very quickly with not much set up, I get that from Mai's point of view she broke off the relationship because she felt this way, but the scene from the Promise doesn't really get that across all that much just that Zuko was going through a lot at that time. I am sure there is a plan to resolve things properly in part 3, but it is my one issue with the romance so far.
My biggest issue with the book overall is that the Ursa sideplot is not really advanced all that much, it just seems to repeat the same stuff from part 1 again. Kiyi again talks about Ursa's cold hands which is how Kiyi is sensing that Ursa is afraid of being in the palace again, but she doesn't realise yet that the coldness is caused by her mother being afraid. We continue to get Ursa being protective of Kiyi especially when she hears about the kidnappings. The fact that Kiyi is kidnapped at the end of the book does set things up for Ursa to search for Kiyi and potentially run into Azula. Like Azula, Ursa has a lot of things to be resolved in Part 3. Ursa has mentioned Azula in Part 1 and again the root of Azula's issues relate to Ursa, Ursa has to fix things with Kiyi and also potentially Ozai who continues to not get mentioned. The New Ozai Soceity have not really made a move to try and free Ozai and Ursa has not realised that she perhaps needs to talk to Ozai and get over her fear of him and the palace. Perhaps I am asking for too much for all of these relationships to get attention, but I think something has to be done in relation to Ozai.
The last thing to talk about is the early Fire Nation history we get. Zuko's investigation into the Kemurikage leads them to the Dragonbone Catacombs by way of a meeting with Fire Sage Shyu now called Great Sage Shyu. We know the history of the Fire Lords is contained here, but we learn a lot more about the catacombs that they are sealed off at anything prior to Sozin's rule. We learn that even Zuko doesn't know what any of the early history is. We get through the door and learn about the early Fire Nation when it was called the Fire Islands, each one ruled by a vicious warlord, the most powerful among them Toz. He demanded tributes from all of his territories and when one refused he kidnapped all of the children and they were never seen again, the mothers all died of sadness. Later the Kemurikage arrived and began to haunt Toz and his men, eventually they would begin to steal children. This led to Toz's men abandoning him and his fall from power. We get this story from a scroll in the catacombs, later we meet an actual spirit Kemurikage who appears before Aang who tells them the next part. That they haunted the Fire Islands until they were all united into one nation, this happened because of the First Fire Lord who ushered in an era of prolonged peace in the new Fire Nation, she leaves telling Aang that between then and now they have never returned to the human world, revealing that the current kidnappings are not spirits at all. As a huge Avatar Lore fan, this section of the book was fascinating to me.
I love this history, learning that the fire nation a nation we usually consider the least spiritual has origins that are very spiritual and that the First Avatar was Avatar like bringing peace to a whole nation. No wonder Sozin sealed off the early history as he had become more like the evil warlords of the past than what the Fire Lords originally stood for. The Kemurikage explanation is interesting in that I don't think we have been told the full story, my theory is that somehow the mothers that mysteriously died of sadness are related to the appearance of the Kemurikage who are revealed to all be women. Whether that be some sort of an origin story that somehow those mothers are the Kemurikage (We know humans can become spirits in different ways, it could be possible) or the Kemurikage as spirits have something to do with mothers and children, that they are the protectors of mothers and children. The first theory would kind of explain spirits meddling in human affairs. Overall the idea that these spirits are deeply integral to the Fire Islands becoming the Fire Nation is fascinating.
They are quite vague about where exactly in the timeline this is set compared to beginnings. The images we see do not include any bending so they seemed careful to separate this from the Beginnings origin of the Firebenders, it is not that they don't work together, it could easily be the case that the Firebenders in time found their way to the Fire Islands. I assume that Toz's downfall is pre Wan sealing the spirit portals as otherwise why would they be in the world. The other thing would be the human war that Wan dies during, when does this take place is it the fire nation at this stage or people from the fire islands or is it just the firebenders. They don't in anyway attempt to link these events to beginnings, but as fans we want to make all of these connections as much as possible.
So overall I adored this book, a lot of plot progression and character development, even some big reveals and twists. Well worth picking up.
