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Flameo Avatar wikians! Bomochu here with part 2 of my review of Powers Saga. Part 1 of the review looked at Switched Powers, the first book of the series. Today I'll be reviewing Hidden Powers, the next book which takes place 61 years after and during Avatar Korra's lifetime.
"But weapons didn't do lots of things. They didn't make friends, didn't show compassion or give advice. They certainly didn't think about things like love or what kind of future they might have. But Fuse... she did all these things. And more. Did that make her more than a weapon now?"
In Hidden Powers, Harmonic Convergence didn't just bring back the airbenders, but it also awoke many different kinds of bending in people across the world. Some became benders of one of the four elements, while others sub forms only. After Kuvira is defeated, Avatar Korra goes to help Fire Lord Izumi as a surge of bloodbenders terrorize their nation, while Bolin encounters a combustionbender trained to be a 'weapon' for her master.
Hidden Powers takes place predominantly in the Fire Nation, which is great since we didn't get to see much of it during Avatar Korra's time in the canon series. I also enjoyed how this story took the essence of its previous book Switched Powers, especially with its humour and characterisation, and it definitely felt part of the same universe as Switched Powers. And once again, we're treated to some awesome artwork by various DeviantArt users as we read along the way.
So how did Hidden Powers do with the scores? Let's dive in!
Writing Scores:
Spelling/Grammar: 8.6
There were more typos and misspellings in this book compared to the previous, though overall nothing was too distracting. The most common mistakes were missing words, especially ones like 'a', 'an', or 'the'. Others were incorrect word choices, like in Chapter 45 using 'weather' instead of 'whether'.
The new line new speaker issues weren't as prevalent in Hidden Powers as before, and only a handful of times did I find myself a bit confused as to who was speaking. Towards the later chapters it was more of a distraction, as were the typos.
Other than that, there were a couple of formatting errors, like page breaks not typed out correctly, or in Chapter 7 where the final line of Chapter 6 is still there at the end of the chapter. All of these things can be hard to miss though, even for the most seasoned writer.
General Writing: 8.5
There were some great pieces of writing that really captured the right emotions. Zuko and Korra's lines in Chapter 2 and their dynamic together was entertaining, and really drew the reader in. One of my favourite pieces was from Chapter 24, which I actually included as the introduction quote since I liked it so much XD. Examples like these make the story moving and engaging, especially in the case of the characters where it really gives us a connection to them.
There were phrases and lines sprinkled throughout that were a bit clunky to read, or didn't quite convey the right sort of mood. For example, a few of Lin's and Toph's lines in Chapter 4 felt a bit too awkward, and the mood seemed to switch rapidly and made it a bit hard to follow the conversation.
Story Scores:
Plot: 8.1
The previous book ended on a cliffhanger, with Zuko and Katara clashing over the use of bloodbending and whether it should be made illegal or not. And Hidden Powers picks up on this thread right away. Despite being set 61 years after, Zuko and Katara have not fully reconciled their friendship. The difference now is that it isn't just between the two of them; Korra is still recovering after her fight with Zaheer, and Zuko wants to teach her bloodbending so she can move about the same way he does.
The opening chapter has a really nice hook at the end, possibly one of the best in the series thus far, and the following story beats are compelling and engaging. And the next chapter does a great job at keeping bloodbending relevant to the story; the initial problem for the protagonists to deal with are a group of rogue bloodbenders terrorizing the Fire Nation. The rest of the story has a good mix of twists and resolution to keep readers invested, and on the whole, the pacing worked well.
Some plot points I think could use reworking, as they either felt a bit irrelevant/didn't make sense, or weren't resolved properly. Mako's investigations didn't really yield any fruit, as his revelations were already known to the reader and they didn't contribute to the plot, making his role feel a bit underutilized. There were also a couple threads which weren't fully explored, like Izumi's strained relationship with her daughter, or Tomas' grudge against Zuko, which had some light shed on it but not enough to fully understand the situation. In the case of Izumi, it isn't necessarily a bad thing if not every plot thread contributes to the main story, but it also doesn't seem to change much in her characterisation either, which makes mentioning it seem unnecessary.
The main issue with the plot is probably the pacing towards the later chapters. There are a lot of different threads involved, and overall, I felt like the ending lacked the same cohesion found in the earlier chapters or in Book 1. There's nothing wrong with having multiple battles with different 'final' villains, but the way these confrontations are staggered made it feel like the story drags out a bit and then moves too quickly, especially the encounter with Eagon.
With all that said, I do love the final chapter which resolved many of the story arcs in a compelling way. It's more the battles leading up to it that need some padding out, or combining them into one confrontation.
Setting & Context: 7.6
A lot of the worldbuilding revolves around Harmonic Convergence and the explosion of new benders across the globe. And despite the deviation from canon lore, I think the world of Hidden Powers does a good job at justifying this on the whole. We get some revelation as to why the different bending abilities arose, and some of the central conflict in the story and exploration of the characters is tied to this, making it feel like a worthwhile and important worldbuilding aspect.
I did find there was a lack of description when it came to the physical setting, which made it a bit more challenging to visualise what was happening. For example, when the group finally storm the facility towards the final chapters, we get basically no description of what the outside of the place looked like. It's only a couple chapters later where we learn that the facility was built under a 100-Year War memorial to cover up what they were doing and remain undisturbed. This would have been better to include when they arrive at the facility, as it can be tied into the mood and create tension. Perhaps the facility looks so innocuous that they question whether they found the right place? Or it creates this ominous feeling at how well they'd remained hidden all this time?
Aside from that, there were some minor instances of things feeling out of universe. For example, Bolin eating pasta with a fork when it was a Fire Nation noodle house, where you'd expect chopsticks and Asian-inspired food, and some of the names of characters didn't feel Avatar-esque. There were also some holes around some of the worldbuilding choices; if Harmonic Convergence brought about all these new benders, then why did Korra only find out about it after the events of Book 4, over three years later? And how could the facility be purposely built under a Hundred-Year War memorial when they had been trafficking people before the war? While there were some great moments of tying pieces of worldbuilding together, some of these examples could be resolved to tighten up the story a bit more.
Characterisation: 7.7
Bolin and Fuse were some of the most compelling and entertaining characters. For Bolin, his arc involved him learning to make decisions on his own and to deal with his past mistakes, and his relationship with Fuse was a perfect way to facilitate this. There were a few times in the earlier chapters where Fuse seemed to act more like a 'normal' human who hadn't been conditioned, but some of the best parts of the story were moments where she really progressed as a character. Mako's character growth was also a highlight for the book. He deals with his protective instincts over Bolin, especially as he watches him get close to Fuse and is worried for Bolin's safety. But through the story he learns to trust Bolin to make his own decisions, and with some of Bolin's decisions actually turning out well, it made both their arcs feel compelling.
Korra and Izumi were a little harder to connect with. Don't get me wrong, they both had some great moments in the story, like Izumi reconciling with Flare and Korra investigating her kidnapping by the Red Lotus. But as characters, they both behaved rather childishly and aggressively for no reason. For Korra, it was like she acted more like her Book 2: Spirits self a lot of the time. Korra can be a tricky character to write, but I think the scene in Book 3 where she meets Ryu is a perfect combination of her newfound patience and empathy, balanced with her more stubborn side. Izumi also seemed to act in a similar way, which at times was entertaining, but at other times also seemed too unreasonable.
The dynamic between Korra and Zuko in the earlier chapters is something I thought was really well done, and I actually would have preferred if Zuko could have continued teaching Korra rather than Izumi. It would have kept Zuko as a more main character in the series which I think would have been a better choice, especially in light of the themes the story explores, and the way he and Korra balanced each other out made for a really entertaining duo. That doesn't mean Izumi shouldn't have been in the story of course, but I think shuffling around their roles in the story a bit would make their arcs a little more consistent.
Portrayal of Themes: 9.0
Fuse's story is probably one of the best parts of theme portrayal in the fanon. She starts the story as nothing more than a 'weapon', trained in a deadly bending art, and existing only to be contracted out to buyers. After meeting Bolin and the others however, she starts to realise just who she is as a person. There are some brilliantly crafted scenes that illustrate this, like Fuse discovering who her family were, or the scenes in the final chapter, that are captivating and well executed. This journey that Fuse goes on mirrors the conflict Zuko and Katara have in the beginning; Katara feels bloodbending is too dangerous to ever be used, while Zuko chooses to see the person behind the bending, arguing that some people cannot choose what bending they have and should not be vilified for it.
There were a few things that could have strengthened the theme portrayal a little more. Korra doesn't really reflect on her own use of bloodbending as much as she could have. In the debate on whether bloodbending is really immoral, she could have added her voice and experience to the conversation since she learnt it herself to aid in her recovery. Having this would have also made Korra feel more active in the story, and have a more personal stake in the main themes explored in the book.
Towards the end of the book, it also does get rather complicated with the many different villains and their goals. It almost seems like the villains are a compilation of people who all hate Zuko, rather than a group with a common goal. And this works to a degree since some of the villains outplay each other and aren't on the same side, but it does make it less cohesive towards the end of the story by bringing up many other themes like vengeance and justice that aren't really explored fully. One way to tie it together would be to have more of a focus on the bloodbender gangs. I mean, they didn't choose to be bloodbenders either, and perhaps they were vilified before they started committing crimes? This would keep the story in a similar vein to the themes explored through Fuse's arc and the main story, and give a bit more characterisation to the villains.
Overall Score: 8.25
Overall Score for both books: 8.44
Note: Some of the scores for Switched Powers were adjusted, giving a final score of 8.63.
Conclusion:
Both of the books in Powers Saga explore bending in a way that is really captivating, and I enjoyed reading through them. Being an Alternate Universe fanon, it does bend the rules with switching bending powers and Harmonic Convergence granting new abilities, though the fanon conveys these ideas to work towards exploring the characters in a deeper way, which is probably the greatest strength of this series. The first book deals with bending as one's identity, with the main characters learning from each other when they are forced to switch abilities, while the second book goes in an opposite direction and explores bending on a more societal level, showing that bending and power don't define a person but their character and actions do. Both of these ideas are interesting to engage with, and combined with the entertaining plot and likeable characters, it makes reading through Powers Saga a treat.
I do hope that Katrinasforest and Raptorrowan come back to finish what I assume was a third book they had planned, though Hidden Powers was finished in 2016 (I'm only slightly behind schedule... O_O). But for now, we still have the first two books, and I'd definitely recommend them. Especially if you enjoy a deeper exploration of canon and original characters, and an alternate spin on the world of Avatar.
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