Avatar: Distorted Reality

by Ogro

After losing Ba Sing Se to Azula, Aang and the others continue to fight an increasingly hopeless battle against the Fire Nation. When Aang is finally able to contact his past lives again, many friends have been lost, and Aang is left so embittered that the past Avatars decide, in order to help Aang regain his sense of compassion, to send him to another world to relive the events leading up to the catastrophe again. Only he finds that this time he must fight alongside Zuko and Azula for the war-torn Fire Nation Islands, against the savage Water Tribes.

400 pages, ebook

Reviews

[Dorotheasreadingcorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not think that mere words are enough to describe of how much I love this novel. The world-building, the plot twisted around along with the characters, and the development?! Gosh, chef's kiss 💋

Book 1 does seem to follow the season 1 of ATLA's story, yet as the story progresses, the book develops its own flavor and plot, becoming unpredictable as time went by.

The author has also put some time and effort into developing and shaping each of the characters differently from perceived such as Azula, Zuko, Katara, and many more to say without making them stray away from their original personalities. Azula still had those crazy, psychopathic tendencies at times but she is still a 'good guy.' Likewise, Katara is charismatic and seems to still care for Sokka, yet shows how those good traits can also be used for bad as well.

It was interesting to see how Aang has adjusted to these changes and formed a relationship with his new folks, considering Azula was the villain in his world before and now he has to work with her.

Overall, the story was beautiful and it kept me on edge. It had me hooked from the start to the end! Although, I felt like book 3 dragged on a bit more than it should, considering how fast paced book 1 and 2 were compared to book 3.

[Moses B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avatar distorted reality showcases a parallel to the ATLA story where Aang teams up with Azula and Zuko in order to stop the world invasion of the water nation. Although the story presents a distorted reality, The beauty of the original is still preserved. A fun read for any ATLA fan looking for more stories with the feel of the original ATLA lore.

[Le Book Rat · Rating 1 out of 5]

This fanfic ATLA comic has an interesting concept with witty dialogue. However, the comic carries racist connotations. For example, the water tribe are portrayed as "savages" in Distorted Reality. In the original series, the water tribe was subjected to the fire nation's false sense of superiority. Katara's the symbol of hope for her people and the world in the face of oppression. In this comic, however, Katara is a sinister princess, willing to murder her comrades for self-gains. It is fun to see Zuko and Azula unburdened by the crown, and Sokka with bending but... Distorted Reality does not demolish (false) century-old stereotypes of indigenous communities. This means that the story is nothing new.