Roku was always my least favorite Avatar, and in this book he makes for very dumb, punchable protagonist. At some points his characterization makes for good suspense as Roku heads into obvious danger, but at other points makes the plot drag. Young Gyatso was fun to read about, but otherwise I didn’t connect with the main characters (rolled my eyes every time a Malaya chapter came up). 

The writing is a little shallow at some points where evil characters are always evil and good characters are always good. Some plot points of this book lowkey make me hate Roku’s choices even more in the main series - Roku can’t see that his *obviously evil friend* is evil despite a lifetime of seeing Sozin do terrible things. 

Solidly average book, but worth the read for Avatar stans, especially those who enjoy the world building aspect of Avatar.