for anyone who hasn't read this yet, my apologies if I am revealing anything too soon, this is not a review, just some things I wanted to point out.
As a long time reader of comic books and graphic novels, I am accustomed to story twists, alternate endings, character deviation - so in this book i'm actually expecting this. It's not enough to just ask where his mother is, or what "happened" to her, this brings up an opportunity to take a deeper look at Zuko, Azula, and the royal family, otherwise "the Search" would end up a pretty short story. In part one, we see a nice backstory about Ursa, how her marriage to Ozai was a result of an arrangement (an old custom but still in practice today in some cultures) we are introduced to her former love,Ikem, who will play an important part throughout this series, we see early on in Ursa and Ozai;s marriage, things are going wrong-she is unhappy from the beginning, and Ozai just seems to make things worse. In the more current part of the story, we see the gAang reunted as they attend classes together, and everyone, except Toph at this time, joining Zuko as he embarks on a journey to search for his mother, he has Azula released from the institution where she was probably placed since the end of "Sozin's Comet" and went a bonkers, to join them on the search, and she may have information that he could use. She had been given an opportunity to spend time with Ozai, Zuko even served them tea, hoping it would bring them some dignity. In an earlier scene, during the lecture at Yu Dao, in between all the "blah-blah's" Zuko caught the word "FAMILY", this got his attention and struck a cord. This will also be and important factor throughout this series. this will not only be a quest to be reunited with his mother, but to possibly reunite his family-something Zuko may feel they may not have been much of in the original series. But this is where the writer will ask us to change or redefine what we think a family is: again with the secrets, Azula is told by Ozai where to find some old secret letters by Ursa to her former love, Ikem. One she has burned in front of Zuko just to torment him, of course, and the other she is holding just to taunt him. He is able to get a hold of the letter while Azula sleeps, and what he reads will change everything we thought we knew about Zuko, and his relationship with Ozai., or at least it may explain a lot. Lookig back in the series, I saw many connections to the events portrayed in the Search, and to me it makes sense. So many fans have already expressed disappointment with this very complex turn of events. Yes, very complex; the Avatar series has always been well thought out and well written. To do anything less I think would actually be insulting to the fans. so I hope everyone who reads these books will keep an open mind and just enjoy the story.