Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Rise of Kyoshi

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The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

2 reviews

pandacosm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this book!! It was so interesting that Kyoshi had such a different beginning from the impression we get of her as a mature avatar in the TV series, and I'm glad one of the ATLA creators warned us at the beginning about it because I might have been very puzzled otherwise.

I think it was clever and fitting that if Kyoshi was going to struggle with bending, it would be because she was too powerful about it. It's not the first time I've seen this trope but it suits well.

I absolutely adored the bi/pan representation, of course, and I had also been hoping for

polyamorous representation but alas... poor Yun... though who knows what book 2 will bring?

I loved seeing Kyoshi get a found family. Every Avatar deserves their Avatar gang! It was touching how the bonds were woven as Kyoshi and other characters battled with the traumas they went through and recognized similar experiences in each other. There were also interesting bending techniques displayed. It was great to see airbenders get to be more involved since they hadn't been massacred yet in this era.

I just hope Kyoshi can find a great airbender companion as well eventually. It feels a shame that she lost Kelsang when we got so little airbender rep in the main show, but I understand why it happened. Part of me wonders if Kyoshi's airbender mother is truly dead?

It was also very interesting to see the corruption behind the scenes of

those who support the Avatar. I had already thought before reading the book that it must have been difficult during times of the Avatar cycle when they're too young to do anything and wondered what people in the past before Aang's long disappearance did about that, guessing that there must be a support system in play. It's touching to see that the Avatar's companions who outlive him who play a part in that. I'm also not surprised at the implied White Lotus involvement, though we'll see if that's confirmed in the sequel.

Fair warning to those who watched the TV series that this book is far darker and would never be allowed to be broadcast to the same audience as an animated show for kids, but I think the majority of us ATLA fans are now old enough to be fine reading it. There's a lot of death, and the only reason I took 0.25 stars off my rating is because

I found Lek's death unnecessary. All the other major character deaths spurred plot and character development, but I feel that Lek's was just unnecessarily rubbing salt in the wound and didn't really change what was going to happen. Kyoshi was already going to meet with Jianzhu to get Rangi back no matter what happened to Lek.

I also don't like that

the found family split up at the end-- why do authors always do this???--

but I assume that will change in the sequel so it didn't affect my rating.

Content Warnings

ashlikes's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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