L.J. Writes

Open Review: The Azula Trilogy by MasterGhandalf

Part 1: Story, Inside and Out

Welcome to the first installment of Open Review, where I review Avatar: The Last Airbender fan fiction that I found particularly good and/or thought-provoking. As a rule the reviews will be on completed stories, whether long or short, so I can give a complete opinion. They can get quite spoilerific by necessity, so don't read past the cut if you don't want to know parts of the story in advance.

The first Open Reviewed story is actually a trilogy of stories, Heart of Fire, Path of Fire, and Soul of Fire by MasterGhandalf. Collectively called the Azula Trilogy, the stories deal with Princess Azula after the end of the war in a thrilling tale of adventure, growth, and good old world-saving. Fast-paced and well-plotted, they are written in a style reminiscent of good young adult fiction and are very much in keeping with the atmosphere and theme of the series they were based on.

I first found this story through the TV Tropes fic rec page, which I have found to be a mixed bag but useful as well. (And I can't denigrate it in good conscience, seeing how others have found my own humble tale thanks to amanda_violet's kind recommendation there.) Some stories that I found through the page simply did not catch my interest, but some I found excellent. The Azula Trilogy is one of the latter cases.

( Azula is something of a conundrum... )

tl; dr version: The Azula Trilogy redeems the central character without making excuses for her, and it weaves the external action and internal change together in a meaningful way. Even better, it's fully in character! Next I discuss the writing and execution of the story.

Links:
MasterGhandalf's ff.n profile

The Azula Trilogy:
Heart of Fire
Path of Fire
Soul of Fire

TV Tropes fanfic recommendation page (under "General Fics")
The Azula Trilogy Tropes Page