Review: The Reckoning of Roku, by Randy Ribay
by
Stuart Holland
I wondered how this one would turn out and I was pleasantly surprised. The other Chronicles of the Avatar books about Kyoshi and Yangchen focused on characters we hadn’t seen much of in the shows, whereas we had seen relatively more of Roku. How would this book square with the personality we saw there? Would it tread too close to the show’s domain and end up not feeling like its own story? But of course, the Roku we know from the Avatar TV shows is the wise old man - offering Aang sage advice from on high. This book is about a younger Roku, newly an adult and who has lost his brother and is still reeling from it.
It played out well, and Sozin (of the comet) being one ofn the major characters was also a nice connection to the rest of the Avatar universe, while still being its own separate thing. Knowing what we do as the reader, you can see the unfortunate arc ahead for Sozin. How he could have been saved before this book, but the ruthless quest for power has overtaken him now, even if some vestiges of his previous friendships still persist.
Gyatso is another great inclusion, and manages to channel some of Aang’s combination of joyful peacefinder with loveable goofball. Similar to Roku, it’s fun to see a younger version of a character that we only ever saw for a short time as a wizened old man in the show.
The story of this book itself is also much more focused than I expected at the beginning. We set up for a world-spanning Fire Lord rivalry - and maybe that’s where the next book goes - and the island shrouded in mist seems like it’s going to be a small step on an Avatar’s journey to realization. But the island is the book. And the book benefits from that focus - it tells one story and well. Malaya’s connection to Gyatso tugs at the heartstrings and her own struggle against the culture of her island that she disapproves of. The conflict between the arriving earthbenders and the people of the Lambak clan doesn’t have clear heroes and villains, just people who are trying to be who they are.
Overall I enjoyed this book a lot. The transition from F.C. Yee as the Chronicles author was easy to make - Randy Ribay’s style is cohesive with the world it describes. I did think the “secret tunnel” callout was too forced, and that’s coming from someone who loves tie ins (just read my other reviews, even earlier in this one). But it all lands well as a story that I very much want to see where the second book takes Roku and us.
