Book Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift part 1

Book: Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift part 1 by Gene Luen Yang with illustrations and cover by Gurihiru and lettering by Michael Heisler

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Sacred Land Defiled!

Avatar Aang asks his friends to help him honor Yangchen's Festival -- one of the highest Air Nomad holidays, which hasn't been celebrated in over one hundred years. But cryptic visits from the spirit of Avatar Yangchen herself lead Aang to discover a jointly owned Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom refinery -- operating on land sacred to the Airbenders! Is this simply a case of corporate greed or is something more mysterious happening?



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

In part one of The Rift, Avatar Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and three of the air acolytes were in Yu Dao enjoying the celebration of the city's new government when Aang saw the spirit of former Avatar, Yangchen. Aang was having a difficult time connecting with Yangchen he could see her but he couldn't understand what she was trying to tell him. However, her appearance did make him remember a special Airbender holiday that's in honor of the former Avatar. So Aang gathered up the group and they all headed off to celebrate the Yangchen Festival.

It's been a hundred years since the holiday has been celebrated and in that time things are bound to have changed. And there were plenty of changes in store once the Gaang arrived. Not only were Aang and Toph having a difference of opinions about the celebration but the group found a town on land that is supposed to be sacred to Airbenders. There is also a refinery that may or may not be polluting the water. During the tour of the refinery with Satoru, the refinery's engineer, the Gaang found out that benders are employed there.

Despite the appearance of unity of all the benders working together and not to mention the refinery is co-owned by Satoru's uncle who is Fire Nation and a business partner who is Earth Kingdom, Aang was trying to do his best to get Satoru to see that the town and refinery should not have been built on sacred land.

This brought even more tension between Aang and Toph where she feels as if Aang is missing the big picture of benders working together in favor of trying to hold onto his past. While he feels like she's so cynical and bitter that she's doing everything she can to run away from her past. When a terrible accident occurs at the refinery they will have to put aside their differences to help. But nothing can prepare Toph for the shock of someone from her past showing up.

This first part of The Rift was so good that I'm really disappointed in how disastrous The Search arc was especially since I felt like I wasted my time and money on it. As for this, the artwork was great as usually but this time it's not the only good thing about it. The writing was great and the characterizations were vastly improved because not one of the characters seemed out of character. Which is not something you could say about how the characters were shown in The Search. It really felt like the author took his time in writing this nothing felt rushed or underdeveloped. I'm actually looking forward to reading part two.

There is indeed a rift growing between Aang and Toph but not one that I can see being permanent. As shown on the animated series and in the short flashback in this, Toph who was born into nobility had a very restrictive upbringing. She wasn't allowed to do any of the things she really wanted to do because it was just not how things were done in their social class. Add to the fact that she's blind, Toph was treated as if she was fragile. This was not the life she wanted and rejected it by running away to join up with Aang, Katara and Sokka.

Meanwhile, Aang whose life among the Air Nomads gave him a sense of peace, tranquility and togetherness made family and traditions important to him. Given the fact that he spent a hundred years frozen in ice then to wake up to find out he's the last Airbender and that a war is brewing between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world. He didn't really have time to sit back and relax. So Aang and Toph's differences are starting to rear up but as I stated before I don't think it will do anything too permanent to their friendship but it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

If you were as disappointed as I was after reading The Search please consider giving The Rift a chance. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the story has been so far.