Pei, and Pei. Battle for the North Pole.
Battle for the North Pole chronicles the Siege of the North, also known as the Battle of the Spirit Oasis, an attempted invasion of the North Pole by the Fire Nation under the command of the infamous Zhao. Occurring in the final year of the Hundred Years' War, it was notable in many aspects. It was during the Battle of the North Pole that Zhao infamously tried to kill the Moon Spirit, which led to Avatar Aang's third entrance into the Avatar State (second, according to some historians). It is known that Avatar Aang had a strong distaste for entering the Avatar State, so the fact that he did so illustrates the gravity of the matter. Zhao himself died during the battle, and his forces were nearly decimated in the greatest military setback the Fire Nation had seen in years.
The notability of the battle notwithstanding, Drs. Pei and Pei's book is itself rather notable. Its disconcerting changes between third-person and first-person points of view have been the subject of unanimous criticism. The analyses of certain aspects of the battle have been found wanting; while Zhao was not exactly a brilliant military strategist, he was certainly more competent than Drs. Pei and Pei claim. In addition, the quality of their prose is uneven at best. Phrases such as "Now I shall throw some random facts about dimension at you" certainly have no place in scholarly writing. Battle for the North Pole could have redeemed itself from these faults had it delivered some new insight into the battle; it does not. This book is now commonly used in writing seminars in the University of Gaoling and the Moon and Ocean Academy as an example of how not to write.
