I realize Zuko is afflicted with a...fractious personality due to his upbringing and maybe even his incestuous heritage, but I can't quite wrap my head around his *CONSTANT* cognitive dissonances.

People from all over the world fight back when he grinds them to finer powder under his boot, and he's angry at them for it. If it were an occasional reaction of his, I could understand it, but even when he's in cool, calm rational mode, his reaction is the same!

It's baffling, and it just seems deeply implausible in someone whose head we occupy so much in this story.

wow :) AWESOME STORY :D ... well, im hoping theres a sequel cause u managed to make this one SO good i really want to know what happens next :) but if there isnt a sequel, i understand ... anywayz, this is SO being favourited :)
~Red

Wow, that was a really good story. It sucks that Zuko has to be hated by the others because they don't know his true intentions. Well, I hope the Avatar doesn't kill Zuko or anything like that. Kudos!

i luv how long and detailed all of the chapters are. great work. i normally dont review until the end but i couldnt help myself this time lol

Yummy!

that story was just pure delight ! since i discovered it, I read it non-stop ! and i was not disapponted to say the last ! fantastic work ! IC for all of the avatar cast, and Aiiro was such a lovable OC !
all my respect and a big kiss on your cheek - if you allow me ^^
ok, end of the review, i'm getting too excited.

Poor Yue!
Besides that this was an excellent finish! Somehow I think that it took me too long to read the whole thing!
Hehe, but now Im finished and Im glad that I did, that ending was really good!

Wait! There is only ONE chapter left and you have added Jet to it?
I wonder if this is going to spell trouble for the fire nation!

Hehe, but it might be a good thing. I do feel horrible for Katara! Poor girl, not even able to see her own child!

Oh I knew that I liked Devdan!
--*Iroh sighed, why was he blessed with such an emotionally constipated family? And why did he love them so much?*--
Now that is something that you dont hear very often. Hehe, its cute though. "emotionally constipated family" Hehe, that is soo funny! I like that!

Oh no. That IS a BIG cliffy! What is wrong with Ary?

Oh how nice!!1 Orli gets treated so well. Honestly if I were Zhao I would be proud of my son. Zuko being fire lord or not, Orli is doing what is best for him, his family, and his nation!

Hehe, belly-dancers! Is that like a bachelors party? I bet that it is!
Wait, Zuko has more than one wife? He has Yue AND Katara? Oh wow, this is interesting. Bet that he even has more!

Ooh, who was that in the end? Her mother? Zuko?

*-Uncle nodded. “All right, how about Lady Ty Lee? She’s a bit free spirited but she always had a good sense of humor. She ran off with the circus but her father offered to have her dragged back if need be?” he enquired.-* Hey this is my favorite character [[in the show]] Hehe, she's lovely, but I seriously doubt that "lovely" is something that Zuko would want! Especialy on someone that will live with him for the rest of his life!
Ooh, no! The day that Mai and Zuko get together is the day that fat golden coins fall from the sky... it could happen, but not in my lifetime!
*-Hotaru shrugged. “Why not marry your pet’s teacher? She’s on the list,” she said airily.-* I SECOND THAT MOTION... RIGHT NOW! Please, please, please.. she must be really pretty and she smart AND she likes Zuko!
*-So, are you going to have a baby-* Aww what a cute and innocent question and it leaves Zuko speechless! Hahaha, I like it!

Aww, poor Ary! Its funny how he got back in his feet! Revenge is sweet, specially when you dont do anything. Yullik is a BIG HUGE fool. If I had an enemy and my best friend makes friends with him... yeah, I would be hurt, but I would NEVER hurt my friend. Its happened before to me, so I undersatnd what Ary was thinking!

Ooh, I like the sound of the next chapter! I cant wait to read it!

You know i am waiting eagerly for the epologue!

Wow. Great job. This story is so amazing. I can't believe I actually stuck through it all! So much has happened since chapter one... This story really captured my attention... I could feel everything the charaters feel, adn i could envision everything. Awesome job.

Wow! Wowwie wow wow. This is quite the fanfiction. It took me a long time to read it! A magnum opus of Avatar, one could say, and it deserves a review to match.

I like:
The OC's- These are, I think, the best original characters I've seen in an Avatar fic. Very well thought out and complete, with histories, flaws, changes, etc etc. Hotaru is a very interesting character, and I think she ended up more like Azula than you might expect. I like her relationship with Devden.
Character development- I love how you slowly change the characters over time, allow the world to affect them and their world views, and change them from start to finish. My favorite character change may be Aiiro (although I'm not certain how you pronounce it without sounding like "Iroh"), simply because we get to see him change, slowly and believably, from a whining, traumatized orphan into a haughty, spoiled prince.
Politics- When I read this story, I really get a feeling for the formality and tensions of the Fire court. Coups and backstabbing and alliances and all that fun stuff. And yes! Someone who understands that royal marriages are more about politics and producing heirs than anything else.
Perspective- The tense you chose, third person switching, is very interesting, and hard to pull off, but effective here, with all the converging plotlines. I especially like how the same person or event appears completely different from the perspectives of different characters (eg. Zuko appears handsome to Yue but ugly to Sokka) or events (Aiiro’s betrayal).
Integration with Canon- This story was started before ‘The Storm,’ but by allowing certain elements of the later episodes to surface, the story maintains a credibility to its AU. Personally, I got a lot of pleasure from mentions of Tai Li, the Mechanist, etc. I especially like how you took these later elements and integrated them seamlessly with the AU (Yue, the Drill).
Nation’s Culture- This is great. I love how you integrate the Fire Nation religion. It actually makes sense that Zuko would be religious, since bending abilities seem to be connected by some degree to spirituality. The use of Inuit mythology for the Water tribe is of course an obvious choice, but Egyptian for the Earth Kingdom is a bit odd. They seem much more Chinese to me, but whatever. It still adds a nice depth to the interactions between the cultures, since they are all worshipping different deities.
Morality- This story is full of excellent, well-thought-out villains and anti-heroes. Even Zhao, the usual scapegoat in fanfictions, is given humanity. I love how Zuko follows in Ozai’s destructive path, ending the war through complete domination, while all the while believing that he is doing the best thing and keeping his promise to Aang. Everyone, even the ‘good guys,’ is capable of cruelty.
The Water tribe reservation hits so close to home that it’s chilling.
I love the use of Greek fire (which was also used in ancient China!)

Suggestions for improvement (not many):
The first climax of the story is amazing, full of tension and, though it doesn’t resolve everything, it leaves the rest of the story feeling like one long anticlimax. The tension present by the second climax is small by comparison. I would actually split this story in two, perhaps between chapters 15 and 16, so that the second part can stand alone without the first climax to compare to.
Over-angsting is a bit of a problem in this story, especially in regards to Devden. The picture we get of him as a young adult is so far removed from the picture that we get of him as a child that we need something to bridge the two, or it feels like you’re adding angst for no reason. Familial abuse does not need to be that extreme to have an effect.
The child abuse scenes, though effective as a device for characterization, get repetitive after a while. The story starts to sound like one long tirade against physical discipline.
Personal quibble- Katara as Mary. Not sure I like the Judeo-christian mixing going on here. A bit too obvious, and I didn’t think that there were supposed to be any very clear signs of the Avatar before birth (hence the need for the Air Monk’s test). I do, however, think the baby Moses reference is awesome and subtle.
Personal quibble- Iroh as Zuko’s father. It is fine that Zuko considers Iroh as his father, just as Iroh considers Zuko as his son, but making him his biological father wipes away a large portion of Zuko’s angst and inner struggle against becoming a monster. I don’t know, but it feels a bit cheap.

Well, all in all, one of the best long fanfictions on the ‘net. Inspiring. I can’t wait for the epilogue!

-Shadow Wasserson