- Location
- Maryland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So Micheal Dante Dimartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, has been writing some kids books.
The story is mostly set around Zizzola, a fantasy version of Renaissance Italy. (There's also Rachana and Katunga, which are based on India's Mughal Empire and West Africa's Mali Empire respectively. But Zizzola is the main focus.) In this world, all creative types get what's called a Genius, an animal familiar that's the embodiment of their creative spirit and can channel their art into all sorts of crazy magic.
But in Zizzola, they're supposed to be dead. See, Zizzola's ruler Nerezza declared herself a God and started purging artists and their Geniuses, even though she openly has one herself. Pietro, the setting's answer to Leonardo da Vinci, went into hiding and gathered four young artists in his underground studio, where he teaches them to master their Geniuses and Sacred Geometry, the building blocks of the universe. And the kids go on a globetrotting adventure to save the world from Nerezza and a couple other art-based villains.
The thread title's not totally a joke: the series borrows a lot from Avatar for its themes, plot structure and characterization. The main difference is the transition to some different cultures and the switch from magic martial arts to magic just art. There are some pacing problems that range from minor to significant, I'd say the second book is weaker than the first, and it's clear that DiMartino hasn't fully adjusted to writing prose, to the point where I think this might have been better as a TV miniseries. But it's clearly trying to be its own thing, there's some great worldbuilding, and there are points that come off as DiMartino re-evaluating his own work. I've been having fun with these and I know there's some Avatar fans here, so I thought I'd make a thread.
There's three books planned, and the second one just released this month.
The story is mostly set around Zizzola, a fantasy version of Renaissance Italy. (There's also Rachana and Katunga, which are based on India's Mughal Empire and West Africa's Mali Empire respectively. But Zizzola is the main focus.) In this world, all creative types get what's called a Genius, an animal familiar that's the embodiment of their creative spirit and can channel their art into all sorts of crazy magic.
But in Zizzola, they're supposed to be dead. See, Zizzola's ruler Nerezza declared herself a God and started purging artists and their Geniuses, even though she openly has one herself. Pietro, the setting's answer to Leonardo da Vinci, went into hiding and gathered four young artists in his underground studio, where he teaches them to master their Geniuses and Sacred Geometry, the building blocks of the universe. And the kids go on a globetrotting adventure to save the world from Nerezza and a couple other art-based villains.
The thread title's not totally a joke: the series borrows a lot from Avatar for its themes, plot structure and characterization. The main difference is the transition to some different cultures and the switch from magic martial arts to magic just art. There are some pacing problems that range from minor to significant, I'd say the second book is weaker than the first, and it's clear that DiMartino hasn't fully adjusted to writing prose, to the point where I think this might have been better as a TV miniseries. But it's clearly trying to be its own thing, there's some great worldbuilding, and there are points that come off as DiMartino re-evaluating his own work. I've been having fun with these and I know there's some Avatar fans here, so I thought I'd make a thread.
There's three books planned, and the second one just released this month.
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