Broken Dragon, in spite of being listed as a shipping fic, is actually a very neatly written character driven story about Ty Lee and Azula that manages to remain interesting and capturing in spite of some very glaring flaws. Throughout the fic we see some severe Character Derailment, most glaringly from Zuko (who turns from a reasonably scared and understandably bitter brother, to a heartless asshole in a moment's notice) , Mai (who's entirely too supportive of said asshole), and Toph. But the author manages to save it by carefully nurturing and raising his main characters throughout it, creating a consistent and decidedly interesting character arc for Azula while remaining true to the protagonists canon personalities, and presenting the development of their relationship in a well thought out and sensible manner. All while maintaining a decidedly neat style. Every aspect of it, from the initial set up to the climax and resolution remains interesting, and the story is resolved in a rather satisfactory manner.
It is sad that Firelight could not follow on it's predecessors footsteps.
While the author retains a fairly neat writing style, the story arc itself seems to take back seat to Azula and Ty Lee's already pretty much set in stone relationship, which quickly makes it devolve into a fluff fest that may as well have come from the pen of Stephanie Meyer. All previously established character growth and development for any plot relevant characters, be it on the previous instalment or on canon, was forgotten, once against the most obvious victim being Zuko. While others were overstated to levels that basically killed all Willing Suspension Of Disbelief, the most obvious example being the aggrandizing of Azula from a self serving conniving criminal driven by deep seated daddy issues, into a righteous ruler, in less than 2 months time. Not to mention that the fic opens up with about 10 chapters of plot about Azula's and Ty Lee's life on a Ba Sing Se (even introducing genuinely interesting original characters) that become completely irrelevant shortly afterwards. That and the constant overplaying of Ty Lee's innocence which eventually starts bordering on stupidity, have made the whole fic unbearable.
My advice to you is to read the first fic, then just assume a Happily Ever After.
Good fic, terrible sequel.
Broken Dragon, in spite of being listed as a shipping fic, is actually a very neatly written character driven story about Ty Lee and Azula that manages to remain interesting and capturing in spite of some very glaring flaws. Throughout the fic we see some severe Character Derailment, most glaringly from Zuko (who turns from a reasonably scared and understandably bitter brother, to a heartless asshole in a moment's notice) , Mai (who's entirely too supportive of said asshole), and Toph. But the author manages to save it by carefully nurturing and raising his main characters throughout it, creating a consistent and decidedly interesting character arc for Azula while remaining true to the protagonists canon personalities, and presenting the development of their relationship in a well thought out and sensible manner. All while maintaining a decidedly neat style. Every aspect of it, from the initial set up to the climax and resolution remains interesting, and the story is resolved in a rather satisfactory manner.
It is sad that Firelight could not follow on it's predecessors footsteps.
While the author retains a fairly neat writing style, the story arc itself seems to take back seat to Azula and Ty Lee's already pretty much set in stone relationship, which quickly makes it devolve into a fluff fest that may as well have come from the pen of Stephanie Meyer. All previously established character growth and development for any plot relevant characters, be it on the previous instalment or on canon, was forgotten, once against the most obvious victim being Zuko. While others were overstated to levels that basically killed all Willing Suspension Of Disbelief, the most obvious example being the aggrandizing of Azula from a self serving conniving criminal driven by deep seated daddy issues, into a righteous ruler, in less than 2 months time. Not to mention that the fic opens up with about 10 chapters of plot about Azula's and Ty Lee's life on a Ba Sing Se (even introducing genuinely interesting original characters) that become completely irrelevant shortly afterwards. That and the constant overplaying of Ty Lee's innocence which eventually starts bordering on stupidity, have made the whole fic unbearable.
My advice to you is to read the first fic, then just assume a Happily Ever After.