Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

74 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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Medical content

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

There was a lot of dark content in this book so I apologize if I missed tagging anything. The homo/lesbo/biphobia is not actively enacted by any character, but it's just briefly mentioned by a supportive character that others might not be as understanding.

scramuel058's review against another edition

adventurous emotional relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death

gray's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Kyoshi is one of my favorite avatars because she has a strong presence and a sense of justice. This book explores what she was like before she was that avatar.
I wasn't expecting Kyoshi to be a meek girl who lacked confidence in her abilities, but throughout the book, we see how she goes from a maid in Jianzhu's mansion into the avatar that she's meant to be. She still needs a lot of work on her abilities, especially in her judgment of people, but I'm glad that she has Rangi by her side to reel her in even though they argued for most of the book.
I was glad that this version of the book did not hold back on the violence that had to do with being the avatar, and I feel like that's also a testament to how Kyoshi grew up (versus Aang). She had so much instability and turmoil since she was young, in contrast to Aang's relatively peaceful upbringing in the monastery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: War

I loved the Flying Opera and would love to hear more about them, and I feel like Lek's death was too abrupt and unemotional despite the little ceremony they held at his makeshift graveyard.

ashlikes's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

armin_web's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death and Genocide

deadly_kitten777's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful addition to the avatar universe, though not written like the TV series, Kyoshi is now my new favorite avatar

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia

cursed10fold's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, and Trafficking

urezia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

- Like many people have said, it is almost necessary to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender to have a lot of context regarding the world and politics that take place in this story.

Kyoshi's story always interested me since we learned about her from the show and this has done a good job explaining the beginning of her journey and the struggles that led her to become the amazing avatar we know she is from the animated series.

I think the beginning of the story develops really fast, then most of it develops quite slow, and the last chapters go too fast. The last chapter when faster than many of us would have liked, but I guess that's to make us read the second book? 

The writing was weird at times. I had to re-read many sentences and paragraphs multiple times to understand what it meant, but maybe that was just me. 

I was really invested in some chapters and I wasn't as much in others, but I kept reading because I wanted to finish the book and learn about her story. 

I think emotions and events were expressed very maturely. It's clear that this is not for the same age-group audience that watched  Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

I was hesitant between 3.75 and 4.00 because of the chapters that I found boring and how some parts were written, but overall I loved the story because I love the character! I loved her after the show and now I love her even more after the book. I'll be giving the second book a try. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

somelesbianwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

F.C. Yee should've been a writer on the shows. these books are ELITE. painful, exciting, interesting, queer, fits perfectly in the universe but also with a maturity that the networks and age rating limited in parts of the original shows?? sign me up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment

rallsley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Push everything you thought about Kyoshi from the beloved TV series aside and be immersed in the beginning stages of her life and training. Every page solidified her case for justice, doing right by her promises and ambitions. Fall in love with the unlikely cast of characters she inherited from her parents much like her iconic fans and headdress.

While she never knew her parents as well as her bending teachers, she found that she may not have been too different in idealogoy

Breaking the tradition of avatars being groomed and trained from young childhood, The Rise of Kyoshi makes you question what you thought about their role in the universe entirely along with Kyoshi herself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Vomit, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

kyoshi was abandoned by her parents and worked as a servant in a household. Her mentor dies in front of her eyes by her employer and she revists the memory more than once. These are the main motivations through the book